On New Year’s Eve, for the second year in a row (here was my 2023 spread), I pulled a tarot spread for the year ahead. I wanted to share it here so I can reflect on it. The five cards (from right to left) correspond with these five questions (shared in an email from Tarot for the Wild Soul last year):
- My card for 2024
- The lesson of the year ahead for me
- What am I being invited to offer my attention to in 2024?
- What Anchor Card can I call upon to help support me in this process?
- What might I need to release in order to do this?
My spread this year was full of Pentacles:
I’m not quite sure what to make of this spread yet. Looking back on last year’s a lot of it resonates. . . I may need to do more reading about pentacles and some reversed card meanings to make sense of this. Or talk to someone who knows more about Tarot than I do.
Reading my Pentacles definition in my deck (from This Might Hurt Tarot), it has this to say:
“The suit of pentacles is associated with EARTH, and covers the material aspects of life. Pentacle cards tend to deal with career, money, and our material possessions. Pentacles are about our bodies, the solid world, and all the joy and hard work that comes with physicality.”
That grounded, embodied definition resonates.
Here’s a short snippet about each of my cards. My deck doesn’t give reversed definitions, I often interpret them as something I’m blocked by or an inverse definition, but I may consult my Rachel Pollack book Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom for guidance.
My card for 2024 – The Four of Pentacles (“The Miser”): This card is about your relationship to your possessions, time, and money. Your money and things are meant to serve you, not hold you down. The Four of Pentacles may be a suggestion to loosen your hold and enjoy your life. If you are capable, use your resources to help others enjoy their lives as well.
The lesson of the year ahead for me – The Queen of Pentacles, Reversed (“Our Lady Who Has It All”): Can women have it all? To this infuriating question, the Queen of Pentacles answers a resounding YES. This Queen is one capable bitch. She earns a decent income, keeps a beautiful home, and takes loving care of her family. She enjoys the material spoils of her labor and uses them to enrich her own life as well as the lives of her loved ones. If you are the Queen of Pentacles, it is time to channel all her positive traits. How does she do it? The answer is stability . . . she has made calculated choices to build a life that is sustainable and within her means.
I looked at my Rachel Pollack book to give a little more guidance to the reversed definition. A few lines stood out about the building up confidence and “a grounding of the emotions in natural things, ordinary pleasures, satisfying work.”
What am I being invited to offer my attention to in 2023? – Ten of Pentacles, Reversed (“Prosperity You Can Pass On”): This card is about finishing on a high note. When [it] appears for you, it affirms your choices and your actions have culminated in material stability. Use your excess wealth for good.
I’m not sure about the reversed meaning. A few things to reflect on from Rachel Pollack in the reversed definition . . .”if the sense of boredom with life increases it can lead to taking risks, especially financial or emotional ones . . . sometimes the risks are justified . . . at other times the risks come less from need than from impatience with what we already have.”
What Anchor Card can I call upon to help support me in this process? – Seven of Pentacles (“Take a Contemplative Break”: It’s time to observe what you have built so far and ask yourself if you are still on the right path. And maybe you are! . . . [the card] is simply asking you to take a moment and think about your project (or your job/house/relationship to your body/whatever else you’ve been working on), and how it is affecting you.
What might I need to release in order to do this? – Seven of Cups, Reversed (“Frozen by the Fantasy of Options”): If the Seven of Cups comes up for you, it’s time to stop daydreaming and start doing. Don’t let yourself be overwhelmed or stuck in the static delight of fantasy. Choose a direction, and start moving.
The Rachel Pollack reversed meaning is short and simple: “This card reversed means a determination to make something from dreams. This does not mean rejecting fantasies, but rather doing something with them.” . . . so what does that mean I need to release this year? Uffda. Time will tell.
With Love,
Natalie