Our Material Selves

Here we are in the second quarter of the year. Spring is springing, where I live. The snow is mostly gone, the temperatures are petty consistently above freezing, and precipitation is more likely to be rain than snow. In these parts, we call this ‘spring’!

And with the new quarter, we move to a new Tarot suit. From new year till now, we’ve been considering the fiery passionate energy of the suit of Wands. From now until the end of June, we’ll be spending time with the steady, reliable, methodical Pentacles.

The suit of Pentacles is the polar opposite to the fiery, volatile, passionate Wands. It’s about all things material: your health, your home, your work, your finances. As a friend puts it, “If you can build it, bank it, or bang it, it’s Pentacles”. The energy of Pentacles is steady, methodical, sometimes even plodding, but it’s solid. Solid as the earth, which is its element. Solid, steady, comforting.

Pentacles is that friend who is 110% reliable. They’re not the life of the party, they’re not playful and imaginative, but when you need some practical help with a tangible problem, they’re the one who turns up to help. And really, how useful is ‘playful’ when your toilet is backed up and your smoke detector keeps going off for no reason in the night? There are times when Mr or Ms Pentacles is the only person you want around!

So, as we work our way through the Pentacles, we’ll be looking at all things material. Our bodies – how to deal with aging in a culture that idolizes youth. We’ll talk about sexuality and the mature. (It may have shocked our younger selves, but, it turns out, sex is not “gross” when the skin is wrinkled!) We’ll discuss menopause as a beginning, not an end — and retirement, too, as a beginning. We’ll talk about family connections, and, if I  can find a more knowledgeable guest poster, there may be a post or two on finances in, or approaching, retirement.

So join me as we talk about these things and others, and explore how our material world affects us emotionally, and spiritually, too, and discover how Tarot speaks to all of that!