The Tarot Year: January 1-10

the decan

the III of pentacles covers the second Capricorn decan, roughly January 1-10. this is Material Work – a card with a very clear narrative, a scene, almost. a monk, an architect, and a mason gather around the plan of a church or cathedral doorway. the finished item will clearly be spectacular – and people will marvel and be humbled at the entrance to God’s House.

what does the 3 of pentacles mean in tarot?

those people may also stop to appreciate how very few great things are achieved solo. we are standing on the shoulders of giants and everything we achieve is collaborative, even if it’s only the collaboration of learning, of the knowledge of the past having been handed down to us. if you are reading this, thank a teacher – one of your collaborators.

everything is a collaboration with the past on some level, of course. it’s not a surprise these figures represent the past, present, and future of this ‘material work’ – planning, execution, and end user are all present here – so as you’d expect from PCS, the mundane image reveals the divine message.

what does the king of pentacles mean in tarot?

the Tarot I drew to interpret this decan is the King of pentacles, representing Virgo in the court cards. these two cards present a positive aspect, suggesting this is a period where work can be planned, launched, developed, executed, or reflected on with forward momentum and detailed focus.

together, what these cards recall us to is the divine purpose of Material Work in our lives. sometimes the material world gets a bad rep – ascetics deny its pleasures, others renounce it as attachment, and of course greed is the curse of life, as Lao Tzu wrote.

but these views often eclipse the just-as-valid path of the worker, of the artisan, of the householder. it is the most difficult path to tread because it means immersing oneself in the material world and its traps – but that makes it all the more profound. there is no running away into retreat or self-denial, no escape from self. the dangers are somewhat different, but the lay-persons' path is no less profound.

on the material path, one must work at every second to see the divine in the ordinary, one must handle the trials, tribulations, and temptations of the material world at each moment. in doing so we can discover emotional balance, mental peace, and spiritual connection, but only if we see Material Work for what it truly is – a collaboration with the divine.

the advice

if love were our measure of labour, what a different place the world would be

we labour. we deliver projects. we give birth to ideas. the true nature of work?

material work and spiritual work are the same thing

what is mastery? the ability to ask for help with the things you cannot do

no matter our skill, we have but one pair of hands

bad work is an insult; don’t endure it. we’re here to build up, not break down

whether you’re a brain surgeon or a box stacker, your job is the same: bring love into the world with everything you do

doing what you love can be a great way to destroy it; turning passion into profit can suck the pleasure from your life

take work addiction seriously; get to a WA meeting

to keep your feet on the ground: remember material work is growth, not gain

the symbols

on the surface, the RWS III presents a scene, but it also presents quite a clear narrative. here, the mason, the monk, and the architect gather around the plans of the Gothic arch to discuss and decide some matter presumably related to their collaboration.

the monk represents divine inspiration – fire – the architect represents giving form to thought – air – and the mason represents physical manifestation – Earth. the hidden element is water – represented in the image by the symbol of the gateway itself – more on that later.

so although there is a simple, literally concrete narrative here, it’s the underlying story of how this enterprise balances the elements which reveals what the message of Material Work really is.

feet are important here – the architect has none, or rather they are not shown – and this confirms his link with the world of air and thought. they need to be able to reach into the heights of the mind, while the other figures provide their grounding.

we see one of the monk’s feet in the re-coloured version (above) – which struck me as quite unusual. based on his posture we should be able to see the other foot, and if we compare this with the original colour scheme (left), we can see that the right foot is indicated in the drawing but is somewhat merged with the object next to it, the column.

I think this is a deliberate gesture on the part of PCS – note also how his habit merges with the column. the monk is the ‘end user’ of the ‘product’ – the ‘customer’ as it were. what we are looking at is bricks and mortar, but it will be through the activities of the monk that the building will be suffused with spirit. God is in the spaces, they say, but without conscious intention the divine is nowhere.

the worker has both feet very clearly shown, and is the most active figure, at work executing the design. his mallet, like all hammers, is a symbol of active, masculine energy, and alongside the chisel is phallic. because of this active character, the movement away from the colour scheme in the original is, I feel, a mistake.

the original is deliberately ambiguous in terms of gender – tucking the apron in and giving the appearance of a cinched waist, bigger hips and booty – so, like the II of pentacles, PCS gives us the shape of a woman in the appearance of a man. and look at how the apron extends forward – this may even be a pregnant woman. again, the recoloured version doesn't get it.

with the dark doorway representing the element of water and, as we shall see, the divine feminine, the card provides a symbol of sacred sexuality, the union of masculine and feminine in the divine 'work' of sex. more on that later, too.

I’m not sure if that is what the Manara erotic tarot is going for, but it’s something heading in that direction.

back to the RWS. in these three figures we have the different stages of work, therefore – planning, in the past – making, in the present – and completing/handing over, in the future. above their heads are three pentacles, another reminder that material work must not only balance the elements, and follow the arrow of time through past, present, and future – but also serve a higher purpose.

taking into consideration the integration of masculine and feminine present in the card, along with the balance of the elements, it’s fair to compare this card to XXI The World.

but whereas the world dancer has integrated all aspects of physical and spiritual reality into self, here we see these elements needing to be integrated into our understanding of the world around us. perhaps the RuPaul Tarot chose Sonique to illustrate these meanings, and, if so, wisely.

few of us have every skill we need to be self-sufficient, and on our way to self-realisation a lot of collaboration is needed, in fact, is essential.

so the King of pentacles arrives to explain how we act on the divine message of the apparently mundane card, Material Work. the King gives us the other end of the scale.

here is someone who has achieved mastery, indicated by the orb and sceptre, a symbol of rulership, as well as a phallic, masculine symbol. sometimes these orbs are topped by a cross, but this one isn’t, suggesting that this mastery is material, not spiritual.

however, note that the Virgo king focuses his attention not on the sceptre of power, but on the pentacle – his love of work.

he ignores the palace and ocean behind him and prefers to sit in an autumnal garden (Virgos make great gardeners, by the way). whereas the III celebrates process, King celebrates results, but he keeps it real. he sees through the illusion of power, and knows his hard work is the real source of his authority.

his throne is adorned with bulls and goats – symbols of Taurus and Capricorn – reinforcing his mastery of earthly reality through the symbols of Fixed and Cardinal aspects of the element.

his foot on the head of a boar says he has mastered the negative aspects of earth energy – licentiousness, gluttony, laziness, moodiness, and so on.

I think the Ceccoli Tarot picks up neatly, if surreally, on the negative aspects of earth energy, with its III battling a salivating bug.

the vines all round the RWS King – merging with his dark and grape-decorated clothes – also suggest completion, through the ripening of the crop. with grapes being symbolically interchangeable with wine, this reinforces the idea of work completed, and to be celebrated. reversed, this could be intoxication with one's own achievement, or addiction to work.

again, the king being outside his castle and in his garden reminds us he knows wealth itself is meaningless. the true riches are the work that got him there, the experiences along the way, the colleagues and collaborators who became lifelong friends.

the dangers of being too materialistic is present in both these cards – the monk merges with the church, but it’s only a building, not a living, spiritual being. the King merges with his throne and his garden – but work isn’t everything, and we should not substitute a job, or a role, for our identity.

but arriving together, these cards point us towards the positive message. they ask us to think about treating all aspects of our work with care – whether that be the beginning, the middle, or the end.

these cards ask us to think about where to place our individual effort, and to reflect on where we need, and must ask for, help. these cards ask us to look at our own specialisms and remember that no matter how advanced we are in a field, we only have one pair of hands, and nothing great is truly accomplished alone.

even if one person takes the credit – has their name on the brand, or banner, and so on – there’s always a team of incredibly skilled professionals working alongside them, even if only in the background.

the Muse Tarot provides a lovely image of three-heads-is-better-than-one – reminding us that great minds think alike, and if we put our heads together – you see where I’m going with this.

these cards remind us to be humble about our work and expertise – to give credit and thanks where they are due – and to acknowledge the process of work is also our own process.

in making a change in the world we change ourselves, mature, and grow. remembering the value of material work is growth, not gain, will ensure we keep our feet on the ground – our collaborators on side – and ourselves moving forward.

beneath the surface

there is a strong connection between these cards, beyond the narrative of collaboration leading to mastery. astrologically we have Mars in Capricorn in the III – the planet lending drive to the already work-facing nature of Capricorn.

it’s a great match up to a point but could easily tip over into a reversed card of overwork, work addiction, disagreements over direction, or even the end of the friendship. the King of pentacles brings stability and dependability beyond the call of duty – but Virgo is Mutable earth.

it is noteworthy that the Queen of pentacles represents Capricorn, and the Knight of pentacles represents Taurus – but all the Kings are Mutable signs of course. however, due to the solidity of the earth element, these cards invite us to think about why this is so.

the key is in the throne of the King, which displays the goat and the bull heads in pairs, and that boar’s head underfoot. Virgo has integrated the lessons of Fixed and Cardinal Earth, perhaps.

more than that, it is decidedly black, the colour of potentiality, amongst other things. what the Mutable energy of earth allows the King to do is integrate the positive Fixed and Cardinal aspects, and overcome their negative aspects. in being able to operate between and across earth ‘modalities’ we might say the King earns his place as master of all.

mutability is not without its downsides of course, but the King teaches an important lesson in this decan. yes we need drive, and we need to collaborate in order to achieve our goals. but we also need fixity – the qualities of stability, durability, persistence, and so on – and we need Cardinal, creative qualities – innovation, leadership, curiosity.

in terms of the Tarot Year, the message goes beyond the importance of integrating all aspects of energy into self, life, and world. but before we move on, compare the King to XXI The World. this is also a kind of ‘World’ card but at a more mundane level. the King is centred by having integrated the four corners of one kind of energy, as shown by his decorated throne.

returning to the Tarot Year, you may remember I’m playing with re-ordering the calendar into three sequences, Cardinal, Fixed, and Mutable. instead of breaking the year into suits/Major Arcana astrological months, or into seasons, these three sequences described the tarot life (if we were to follow it) as triple.

each year is three processes – launching our intentions in the Cardinal sequence – rendering them in the Fixed sequence – and perfecting them in the Mutable sequence, where we currently are, traversing Sagittarius to Pisces.

this sequence is where we review, pull things apart and put them back together, where we cut, edit, and trim, where we prepare the gift of work to be shared – and from the end of that cycle, begin the new one.

there’s more than a touch of maiden, mother, and crone to the Tarot Year, therefore.

and, each of the sequences ends with a gift from the divine – gifts from clouds, as per the Aces.

the sequence ending cards are the IV, VII and X of cups. it’s nice that the Starspinner picks up on this energy and puts it into the III.

the really important thing about pairing the III of pentacles and the King, then, is that it reminds us not only that Capricorn is the Cardinal energy within the Mutable sequence of the year – but also that it tells us how to best capitalise on this particular work-focused energy.

work opens the doors of creativity – or at least it should. work taps into the innate skill of invention we all possess – or it could. work builds our resilience, our ability to cope with difficulty – if it’s good.

work is a mirror where we can see our growth reflected in results. work allows us to let go of ego and understand where the limits of our own power and control lie. work helps us to come to terms with the ever-changing nature of reality. work is a gift.

and that’s why alienated jobs, soul-sucking labour, terrible conditions, and the lack of creative expression in a lot of modern work is such an insult to humanity. examples are depressingly common, of course.

but what they all have in common this insult to humanity – and, by the same token, they are an insult to God, to the divine. we are not here to be broken down, but to be built up. perhaps the graffiti of the Sensual Wicca III reflects a rejection of the poverty of much modern work.

and that is what the III and the King describe in terms of a journey. even the most mundane life can be the ruler of the world through true work. the lie we are told about work is one we must all see through, if we are to find the labour which is the richest soil in which our souls can grow. work is life, work is soul, work is magic. those who make it otherwise are nothing less than criminals.

the numerology and the Tree of Life illustrate the depth of these meanings in these cards. the Kings sit on the sephira of the zodiac, Chokmah, the second sphere which is connected by pathway 14 – assigned to Venus and III The Empress – to the third sphere on the Tree, Binah, home of the threes, and assigned Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn.

between these two cards, then, what we have is the energy that lies at the base of the supernal triangle at the top of the Tree of Life. literally, what these cards show is the foundation on which the divine spark of Kether rests, at the top of the supernal triangle.

in the RWS, of course, the pentacles are shown as an upright triangle – the Wild Unknown varies from this description by inverting the triangle – but it too shows that reaching the highest heights requires a solid foundation.

the image of church building is particularly apposite, therefore. our labours are the means by which the divine can become present in our lives. all our work should be laying the way to live in the presence of spirit, however we conceive of the divine. the church they are building in the III is but the tabernacle in which the divine will reside. work is how we build the tabernacle within our own lives.

let’s not forget that pathway itself – III The Empress. astrologically she is Venus, and her Hebrew letter is Daleth, and her symbol is that of the door. from that it should be clear why the image of building a doorway was the collaborative project PCS showed to illustrate the III of pentacles. perhaps the Cascadia deck picks up on the Zodiac acting through Venus on Saturn by presenting an image of the goddess in its III of pentacles.

the RWS may be “men-at-work” – but the message of the card brought out by the King with the III is the need to balance masculine and feminine energy in work – is the need for us to honour the process and energies by which all things come into being in material reality.

it’s quite widely accepted that the Gothic arch is a symbol of the vulva, and the dark space behind it in the III, therefore, symbolises the womb. we talk about work – but perhaps we should talk about labour – working on giving birth to divine intentions.

perhaps we should think of the Tarot Year as phases of inception, conception, foundation (Cardinal), leading to formation, consolidation, reflection (Fixed), leading to perfection, completion, and delivery (Mutable).

if you’ve read to the end of this blog, you can probably tell I love language, and you won’t be surprised that these words resonate for me. labour – delivery – giving birth to an idea. these words connect the idea of gestation and work so closely, and that’s a clue to the true nature of Material Work.

how rare that work is as careful a process, as loving process, as that of growing a new life. by placing an unfinished statue of a woman – possibly Venus – outside a church, the Capobianco Tarot gathers these meanings together in a profound variation of the RWS.

if love and care were our measure of work, the world would be a different place. we would not tolerate just how bad some working lives have become, because we would know what true reward felt and looked like.

with thanks to the decks and designers – the RWS of Pamela Colman Smith with Mary Hanson-Roberts, Chris-Anne's Muse and Lightseer Tarot, RuPaul’s Drag Race Tarot, Manara, Kim Krans's Tarot, Siri Rose’s Cascadia Tarot, Elisa Poggese’s Sensual Wicca Tarot, Nicoletta Ceccoli’s Tarot, Antonella Platano’s Tarot of the 78 Doors, Jack Sephiroth’s Heaven and Earth Tarot, Marco Proietto’s Capobianco Nero Tarot, MJ Cullinane’s Crow Tarot, and Star Spinner Tarot by Trungles.