Gaining Entry to the Bridge and Winning a Pentacle

Queen of Pentacles, 3 of Pentacles, 10 of Pentacles

Look how these cards shine! I love the reds and greens in the Queen of Pentacles and the contrast between the pink of the moat with the grassy banks in the last card.

The Queen of Pentacles is sometimes my mum. I hate it when some decks throw out a dull image of this queen and this one from The Tarot of Reflections is thankfully far from that. Okay, she's not quite like my mother, but there is a maternal warmth that generates from her as she proudly holds her gold disk. For today, I'd say she represents Mum and something she needs to do. As the opening card in this trio, I'd say this is her story.

As I recently mentioned here, my mother got a fine for speeding not so long ago. Even though just six miles an hour over the speed limit, it was her first offence at the age of 66. If you know my mum, you'd understand that this worried her greatly. She paid the fine but also paid that bit extra to go on some kind of theory course, which she went to this morning. Even though others who have been through the same sort of thing told her not to worry about it, she has been anxious about going and set off early this morning so that she would be there in time. Apparently, it was held in a hotel near to where we used to live, so getting there half an hour before she needed to, she went for a cup of tea.

I find it interesting that today's cards throw two large buildings into the mix. They could be one and the same, but I am tempted to see the one in thee 10 of Pentacles as the hotel where my mum is attending the course. It is stable, protected, and offers great rewards. The building and planning for these rewards can be seen in the second card, which shows work and preparation. The positioning of the bridge over the pink moat is very important to me, because it links the castle to the 3 of Pentacles on it's left. It confirms that effort and the team are the way to success.

In this threesome, I can see where the reflections from this deck can add light to interpretation. The queen sits with her back to the buildings, holding her pentacle as an achievement. However, her reflection looks back at them, remembering what she has learned on her course. She looks proud and an inner confidence has been restored; that which was knocked by the speeding fine. She enjoyed the course, working in teams to sort out problems, and says that she learned a lot.

The house is full today. My uncle and cousin are here working on the kitchen. The tiles are being set, the electrics are all now working and the old cooker has been moved out to the garden. The buildings in the cards (especially with the scaffolding, planning and ideas of teamwork) also remind me of the work being done on our house. It's getting there, slowly but surely.

I have mentioned a dispute between two friends on my blog in recent entries. It's kind of sad that they have fallen out; especially since it seems to be over silly and unacknowledged problems from the past, escalating in one big drunken misunderstanding. I don't enjoy being in between them, so I thought I would draw three more cards to see how things will materialise in the next month.

4 of Cups, 3 of Cups, 5 of Wands

Aside from the beautiful pink and red in the first two cards, the thing which first stands out for me in this reading is how the two women sit back to back. There really is some kind of stand off continuing between them. Even though their 'reflections' take a sneak peek at one another, they remain detached and don't acknowledge each other publicly. The lady in the red looks towards the future, holding up her cup. She is pregnant with all that is new and decides to nourish friendships and a social community which are important to her regardless of the split. The 3 of Cups is a card of friends after all, I find (notice what looks like people raising their glasses to her in the background). The woman in the pink sits amongst dark surroundings. She faces the past and finds it more difficult to move on. The 4 of Cups finds her emotionally stuck and feeling empty. They are both responding to their parting in different ways.

Because the lady in the red holds her glass up to the couple in the 5 of Wands, I would not be surprised if she enforces a move on the woman in pink at some point. I'd say she is definitely thinking about it. Will she run into her by surprise or eventually make unexpected contact? The 5 of Wands is a card of strife and struggle, but it is also one of competition. With a handful of mutual friends, I wonder if these two women will end up using them in a tug of war, trying their best to prove who is the most important and influential.

I am not one for numerology usually, but I did notice that these cards, when their values are added, make up 12, the number of The Hanged Man. He is a card of suspension, so I would guess that little moves will be made in the next month as they both dig in their heels and stay separated.

Illustrations from The Tarot of Reflections by Francesco Ciampi