January 2013 The Pentacles

I write this in December of 2012 with the assumption that not much has changed physically. That we have not all been swept up in space ships or have chosen to leave our bodies or are dealing with some major upheaval  caused by the Earth’s magnetic pole reversal, major earthquakes  or any of the apocalyptic events predicted. I assume we are all still be here, still in our bodies. But I also assume there is  an acceleration of major changes going on within on a subtler level, in our deepest aspects, on the etheric plane of our and the Earth’s body, that which is the Great Work given to us by the Ace of Pentacles.

So since we are still here, still in this reality of the Tarot Pentacles, what does that mean on a cosmic level? Let’s look closer at what this gift of life on Earth, the Ace of Pentacles with the symbol of the Pentagram truly means.  Thanks to a recent lecture from Walt Amberstone of the New York Tarot School, I am looking at this card with much more depth than I ever imagined. The pentagram you see with the Waite Smith and on many other decks is also known as the Triple Triangle or the Pentalpha because it’s made of five A’s, an ancient protective symbol. The earliest appearance of this symbol is in 3000 BCE when the Pythagoreans adopted it as a symbol of holistic health, calling it the  ‘hugieia,’ which means “health of mind and body.”  For the Pythagoreans, health meant balance of the four elements of Earth , Air, Water and Fire in a harmonious union with the  fifth element,  Aether, or Spirit for  the perfect  wholeness of  spiritual and physical worlds.

The design of the Waite Smith pentacle shows a pentagram of five points, the five elements in balance  within a circle which  is also the symbol of the human in balance as in De Vinci’s Vitruvian man.  The human within the circle is the physical being balanced with the cosmos.  We also call a pentagram a five pointed star and what comes to mind when you think of a Star? Magic ?  Unattainable distance? Boundless ambition?  Searing, brightness of light?   When we wish upon a Star are we not calling forth our universal magic?  Our original being?  For the stuff of stars is what we are made of and we were once as expansive as a Star before we came into incarnation, before our essence became manifest into “unique” matter. Now notice the ‘Star’ is circled twice. What happens with this first containment?  An immediate separation from the cosmic whole.  We’re now in body, limited to our own personal universe, with a more practical magic of creating what we want in the physical world.  Then with the 2^nd circle comes an even stronger seal of separation, a symbol for the ego, so our reality is now seen only from our unique perspective. Sealed off from the cosmos, we are now of this third dimensional reality.  Our greater being and connection to all becomes hidden and for many of us lost and not even remembered.

So the suite of Pentacles /Discs becomes all about you, your uniqueness.  You as substance.  You as a manifester, for without these boundaries and separations, there would be no individual experience or expression and the incredible diversity of our world would be gone. As Walt Amberstone would say, “we are created to be as free as Divinity but we are kept separate to describe Divinity.“  We are here to explore and discover as Divine source, so the Pentacles become the holiest of symbols, as Source is given a chance to experience the world created through you.

So, why are we still here?  We are not finished.  In fact we have just begun for we are now becoming conscious of who we are in physical reality.  We are now becoming conscious that we create our reality with our responses and our unique talents.  We are now becoming aware that we can create a positive future with the genius of our minds for we are Source enclosed in the physical.

So what is happening with you now in 2013 within the circle of your ‘reality’ as a human being?

A reading for you as the Ace of Pentacles      Your unique separateness

1.     Pentagram, the Star

One card for your center, your Star, your magical cosmic essence.

2.     First circle which limits the Star’s scope   

One card for what is possible to do with what we are given, how to use your unique magic for creating what you want in the ‘real’ world?

3.     Second circle   which is your hermetic seal the symbol of your ego separating you from all other manifested things. 

       One card for your unique joy                              One card  for your unique pain

One card  which asks how do I use my unique drama for the betterment of the whole?

4.     The Whole of You as a Star being in cased in the physical

 One card -- You can do whatever you want within your own personal limitations, so what keeps you from enjoying your physicality, your separateness completely?  What keeps you from creating the most positive reality possible?