That autumn feeling - 9 of Pentacles - Tarot of the Hidden Realm

Tarot of the Hidden Realm, 2013

Tarot of the Hidden Realm by Barbara Moore and Julia Jeffrey, Llewellyn 2013

I have a new tarot deck for the autumn season, and I'm very eager to get started looking at it! Today is the first draw from Tarot of the Hidden Realm (Moore & Jeffrey 2013). I've got 9 of Pentacles!

Here we see a lovely faerie lady standing amongst rosehips and brambles,  holding a robin on one hand and a blackberry in the other hand.To me, she seems like the perfect embodiment of the bounty and satisfaction of the harvest season. She isn't standing in a fine, cultivated garden in fancy clothes holding a costly bird of prey, as in the traditional RWS. She is closer to the true treasures of the earth, as they come naturally, without intervention on our part.

Rosehips, brambles and robins are all very commonly seen growing wild in the UK, in what is known as the 'hedgerows' (pretty much the only 'wild' places left on this crowded island, to be honest). As such they are often overlooked and undervalued by those who are not consciously tuning in to earth's bounty.

As Star Child Herbs points in in the link above, rosehips are a bit of 'doormat plant', but they are packed with goodness, and really are little treasures. From a magical point of view, the rosehip belongs to Jupiter and is associated with health, wealth, prosperity, fertility, and prevention of nightmares.

Bramble is featured in the Druid Plant Oracle (Carr-Gomm and Worthington, 2007), and the companion book describes bramble as 'the perfect symbol for tenacity and rootedness...holding your ground and protecting all that you hold dear' (21-22).

The above link about the robin proclaims it a 'year round bird whose presence is cheering and comforting.' The website universeofsymbolism.com has this to say about the robin: '[The] special totem energy for the robin is abundance...a gentle reminder to us that one does not need money to enjoy the abundant beauty Mother Nature has bestowed upon us.'

So despite the fact that the Tarot of the Hidden Realm companion book says that the figure in the card has donned her finest gown and jewels and is standing in her private garden preparing for the year's harvest revels, I see it differently. (I'm sure the faeries do, too--what is 'bounteous' and 'personal property' to us must surely mean different things to them!)

I'm certainly starting to get that 'autumn' feeling. It's that time of year!