Firmly planted

PCS Commemorative 

A long day today, my last opening and closing at the library for at least a year. The Knight of Pentacles from Pamela Coleman Smith Commemorative Tarot reminds me to pace myself and be thorough in all the jobs I turn my hands to today. It is a day for tying up loose ends. Rachel Pollack says the Knight of Pentacles is ' responsible, hardworking, uncomplaining' and Mary K Greer adds that he represents 'doing or teaching your accomplishments, using your knowledge.' I guess this shows that today is a day to try to pass on things I know to those who will be taking up my responsibilities over the next year. I ought to go around to the three people who have had my duties divided between them and make sure they know how to do these things and offer my tips, if they are interested.

Out of curiosity, I had a look in Yoav Ben-Dov's 'The Open Reading' to see what he has to say about the Knight of Coins:

'Advancing toward a goal that seems close at hand but somehow eludes our grasp. ...Constantly chasing after money, either due to a real need or because in this frame of mind one can never have enough.'

Now that is not an interpretation I have ever used for Knight of Pentacles, though of course in the Rider Waite Smith deck, the Knight is holding the pentacle, whereas in the Tarot de Marseilles, the giant coin float in the air in front of his face, which could, I suppose, lead to this alternate meaning.

Well, I'm certainly not chasing after money. And in my tarot world, the Knight of Pentacles is the firm, stable, slow-going, patient, hardworking, gentle-spirited, self-effacing one in the tarot courts. Sitting firmly on his big, sturdy horse, well-rooted to the fertile earth, the sky awash with the glow of the life-giving sun, and bunches of lush greenery decorating himself and his horse's harness. I don't think he's materialistic, I think he's grounded, and those are not even close to the same thing.