Ace of Pentacles – Two Sides of the Coin

‘In most cases, strengths and weaknesses are two sides of the same coin. A strength in one situation is weakness in another, yet often the person can’t switch gears. It’s a very subtle thing to talk about strengths and weaknesses because almost always they are the same thing.’

Steve Jobs.

I have come to really love the Ace of Pentacles.

When it is thrown on to the table, my heart lifts. There is a sweetness to this card; maybe it brings hope, a promise of renewal and it certainly bodes well for a financial shift but there is more to this card than that. I feel that this Ace is an answered prayer. It very often appears in a spread after a time of restlessness. Perhaps friendships have lost their fizz or life has been stilted and nothing appears to be working. Ideas can be lost in the ether and one’s material well-being has been well and truly squandered. With the arrival of this Ace there is a sense of a new beginning and we might not get another one quite like it so it’s best to grab it with both hands and run with the ball or in this case the pentacle!

The universe has been listening and it shows that we are now in a position to co-create but the thing is do we know what it is we want to create?

The universe conspires with what is in our heart. Each and every intention, if it is to be successfully brought about, has to come from the heart and not a whim or a trifling fancy but a deep resonance within the heart. This energy acts as a magnet pulling towards you.

Central to this card is the ability to have fun exploring your material potential. Aces are the hand of spirit, the inspiration that lays the foundation of abundance yet to come.

Pentacles are our ensign for being in our kingdom.

If this world is a place where we can improve and grow then pentacles are a great navigational tool that shed light on how we can make the best of this life. Usually this is by being in balance and then we can hear what the universe has to say to us. I have found the primary message from Tarot is not wasting energy and get your anxieties into perspective, both of which feed off each other and are way too time consuming. As the Two of Pentacles teaches us, we only have so much time and energy to play with.

The Pentacle is made up of the five pointed star or the pentagram.

I often see the Leonardo da Vinci image of the man with outstretched limbs in the pentagram within a circle. Here we see the body and the soul, our primary essences. The Little Prince by Saint-Exupery carries a pentacle message: ’It is only with the the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’

Gratitude is also the way of the Pentacle and we are to be thankful for what we have and also what we are likely to achieve once we find our rhythm and rhyme. What is most exceptional about this suit that on the one hand it shows us how the material world can manipulate us adversely but on the other we are shown a blueprint for the right action which will help us avoid the dogma and treachery of the human superpower that pervades so much of our ordinary lives.

In the RWS deck we see the garden, is this the gift from God? To play, to find bliss, to be in the garden…

The passion and the innocence depicted by the roses and lilies, the rounded archway of the gate suggesting the mystical shift of taking the outer world and processing it within to discover a personal truth…and then to live by it. Our time in the garden directs us to a place of deeper awareness and understanding.

In this card is the essence of the Archangel of Presence, Uriel, or Phanuel, the face of God, holder of the golden horn of the last days. He drives away darkness and makes good the great transformation, he guards the gate to the Garden of Eden and will break free those who are no liberated but imprisoned by the physical world. We are here to learn how to fly and this is through the spirit witnessing the machinations of physical life. This is the prima materia, the beginning stage of transforming the physical and material into the spiritual, a recognition of the material as a way for aspiring to the spiritual.

In its shadow this card is stubborn and blind.

It shows a conscious decision not to engage in the elevation of spiritual awareness but to remain at base camp, in denial of everything except materialism. It also tells of fantasy and warped attitudes, vacuous and empty, shallow and lacking in subtlety, only the material world holds any sway or meaning. In this instance the house is not built on rock but on sand and will surely tumble. Another biblical gem which makes good the point is the one: ‘it is easier for a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for him to get into the kingdom of heaven.’ This teaches us that heaven is within and largely of our own making.

The tale of Scrooge by Charles Dickens is another good illustration of the Ace of Pentacles gone wrong.

The miser who placed all his trust in money was not happy. His pursuit of material gains robbed him of his innocence and sweetness. The world meant nothing to him until spirit intervened. It was through the spirit world bringing him the opportunity of transformation that he realised his true compassionate self as a human being.

Our greatest challenge might be that we don’t become swallowed up by the need to consume, a state which is much encouraged by our leaders. This is because, from this place of inadequacy, we try to replace what we already have which is beauty and dignity.

Meditating on the light and shadow of the Ace of Pentacles empowers us to rise.

The Garden of Eden spread.

  1. What seeds am I planting for the future?
  2. What has blossomed so far?
  3. What needs to be watered?
  4. How can I play in the garden?
  5. What is beyond the garden gate?

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