78 Weeks of Tarot: 2 of Pentacles

[Trogon]

For information on what these threads refer to, see this thread;

 

78 Weeks of Tarot - Informational Thread

 

The above linked thread gives suggested dates for the cards as well as links to the individual topics.

 

Some of us may be working through the study in a different order and using different decks. If you have general questions or comments regarding the 78 Weeks of Tarot study group, please post in the topic in the above link.

 

Have fun.

[Bookworm]

Deck: Fairytale Tarot

 

Card name: Two of Coins

 

First impressions:

 

A woman, her back to us stands, ready to act,  looking at what I suppose is her thatched-roof house, where a man looks like he’s hanging upside down by his foot in the doorway. There is a cow hanging by the side of the house, it’s hard to tell how she’s stuck there. A baby crawls in the grass. The woman, who has long braids hanging down her back, is holding some wheat. There’s a leafy green hedge between the woman and her house. It looks like the sun is going down.

It looks like things have gotten really out of the control in the woman’s absence from home.

 

After reading the story:

 

Here, the two is also about control as with the two of swords, but, unlike the two of swords where there's a conflict about control over a person, here it is about learning how to control the practical aspects of your life. With this card, there are often too many things going on, and it’s necessary to juggle them.

From the book:

 

Keywords: Juggling many things at once; keeping on your toes; multi-tasking and making it look easy; enjoying a little bit of chaos and risk.

 

The card is about someone who actually likes having several things on the go and still being able to control them all. In the story, it’s the wife who’s the joyful juggler. We assume that by the end of the story the husband has changed his attitude toward domestic work and his wife.

 

The original story:

 

The Husband Who Had to Mind the House, Norwegian traditional tale, in Popular Tales From the Norse, translated by George Webbe Dasent

 

Traditional meanings (from TarotElements.com):

 

Movement; flux; maintaining balance; yin and yang; having ups and downs; a juggling act; growth through change; multi-tasking; a heavy workload; enjoying your work; welcome change; a move into a better phase. In its negative aspect: an imbalance between work & home; not coping with work; discord; resisting change; a turn for the worse; incomplete projects; buckling under the pressure.

 

From 78 Degrees of Wisdom, by Rachel Pollack:

 

Like the Two of Swords, this card strikes a precarious balance, though in general a happier one. We see the concept of balance in the juggler. At times the card means juggling life itself. More simply it carries the idea of enjoying life – having a good time – similar to the Nine of Cups but lighter – a dance more than a feast.

 

Like many Pentacles, the card implies a hidden magic in its ordinary pleasures (infinity sign). The idea of spiritual development through pleasure and amusement, if we’re paying attention.

 

My impressions of the card/story combination:

 

I think the combination works well, despite the story being about someone who doesn’t juggle things well. We get the idea. And having the wife features on the card helps make the meaning clear. I also really like, although Karen doesn’t mention it, that the card shows the husband and the cow, who are tied together, “balanced” up in the air, with the wife, visually between them. It’s all pretty clever.

 

My take (what I make of it/what I might see in a reading where I drew it):

 

I think I would see the idea of managing (or not) many tasks things. What might be missing from this depiction of the card is the simple joy of it, what Rachel Pollack refers to as “a dance, rather than a feast,” which is more apparent in the RWS version of the card. I really like that idea, and I hope I will think of it when I see the card.