First Operation
For the signifier this week I chose the Ace of Coins. I picked this for three reasons:
- In honor of the Spring Equinox this week
- It is the up-coming card of the week next week
- Because it represents the growth of something on the material plane. And what better thing to grow than words on the page?
I divided the four piles and found the Ace of Pentacles in the fourth pile, the Earth pile, the pile of finance, wealth, work, and material things. This will be the theme or the focus of the writing prompt.
Cards Drawn in the Spread
I put all the cards together, shuffled them, and divided them into the four piles again in the same manner of the First Operation, though instead of looking through the pile for cards, I gave the pile a little bit of a shuffle before drawing two cards from the top. Card 1 (Response) was the 7 of Pentacles and Card 2 (Obstacle) was 8 of Cups.
Without thinking, I pulled a third card. Generally, when I do a spread which looks like this, the card placements are Situation, Obstacle, Solution. So, without thinking I pulled the Solution card.
You of course can use this writing prompt however you’d like, but I thought it would be fun to either
- Use this card as detail to the writing prompt
- Or use it as an ‘and then’ situation, or it could be the resulting situation.
Card 3: 5 of Pentacles
Card 1: 7 of Pentacles
In the Rider-Waite Tarot, the 7 of Pentacles shows a man leaning on his shovel, looking at the work he’s done. His face is bored, and all he has to do is wait for things to start growing. It is often pointed out that he is alone in this task, and thus, the work has created his solitary state.
In the Spiral Tarot, the figure is a woman kneeling in her garden, sitting up and looking at what she’s been tending. Seven Pentacles are planted, and behind her is an abundance of veg.
The 7 of Pentacles is a card of waiting for fruition. The work has been done, but there must be patience before anything will come of it. This can lead to obsession at times, causing the figure to focus too much on making the garden grow more, when all is needed is for the hand off to the garden to do what it does best—grow.
Card 2: 8 of Cups
The Cups generally deal with matters of the heart. There’s a lot of joy in the cards, comparatively—the 3 of Cups is about celebration, the 9 of Cups is sometimes nicknamed the wish card, the 10 of cups is satisfaction on every level. And thus, the 8 of Cups indicates that there is something good going on. There are 8 Cups that have filled the figure with satisfaction. Yet, she is called to leave. There is something better out there.
The 8 of Cups is about knowing when to move on from a situation, when something better is on the horizon if this sacrifice is made. The figure doesn’t necessarily know what she’s leaving to find, but she know there is something more for her out there. She just has to trust.
Optional Card 3: 5 of Pentacles
The 5 of Pentacles shows a pair of down-trodden individuals. They make their way through the snow, one injured, the other sick. They are poor, possibly homeless. Above them glows the window into the church, where surely a welcoming warmth awaits. But they are so low in spirits that they don’t see the church, they don’t see the opportunity to raise them up.
The 5 of Pentacles is a card of low spirits, but the message that faith will help those low spirits. Looking upward and seeing what is available to the figures would help them through the night.
Numbers
Numbers: 7, 8, 5
7: The Chariot (Water)
Sevens:
Developmental stage. Wisdom. Spirituality. Great importance. A power number of sages…suggests a theme of spirituality, of acquiring wisdom and knowledge. (Holistic Tarot by Benebell Wen, p. 4034).
The Chariot is a card of action. The driver charges in with higher knowledge acquired through his travels, and he ploughs onward, controlling his steeds, taking his wisdom to the world, and on to his next adventure.
8: Strength (Fire)
Eights:
Justice, Judgement, Business and wealth. Success. Abundance, harvest. Manifestation. Fortuity…suggests a Seeker who is motivated primarily by material achievement (p. 434).
Strength is about treating conflict with compassion and understanding rather than forceful strength. It is about knowing that there is more than one way to tackle a problem, and that violence, anger, and force are not the way.
5: Hierophant (Earth)
Fives:
Shifts. Crisis and transformation. Uncertainty. Changes expected. Adversity. Much activity; events in motion. Strong force majeure at play. Matters of health and wellness. A repeating patter of fives in a reading could indicate a Seeker with a strong, compelling need to feel in control (p. 434).
The Hierophant has a few messages: that of being ruled by faith, and that of conformity. Historically, it was the church which created the societal rules, and thus, in order to fit in, one must act accordingly with the church. It is also about finding answers and higher callings, about listening to the speakers of religion for answers.
Further Numbers: 2 (7 +8 +5 =20; 2 + 0 = 2)
Two:
Balance. Relationships. Cooperation. Duality. Choice. Yin and yang. Existence. Experience…could indicate an overriding need for love and harmony (p. 433).
The number 2 corresponds to the High Priestess in the Major Arcana. She is the passive influence that is the counterpart to the Magician. She listens with her intuition, and is guided by more than the external world. She is the keeper of secrets, and the knower of things which might not be readily available to the mundane. Intuition is the key word when considering the High Priestess.
The Writing Prompt
The theme is finances, which may or may not be a driving motivation for your character. Your character has the foundation for a good business on the go. So far things are growing, and all they have to do is wait and keep on keeping on. However, something challenges them to leave their business in pursuit of more spiritual measures.
What is the calling?
Why are they answering the call?
What are they leaving behind?
Does it result in the 5 of Pentacles?
Is the 5 of Pentacles the driving cause?
