Seven of Pentacles
Completed January 21, 2002

Some Reflections on the
 Seven of Pentacles

        I've noticed two schools of thought about the Seven of Pentacles.  I'll call them the "Satisfied" and the "Dissatisfied."   There seems to be some general agreement that the card signals a resting point where one "takes stock" of what has been produced by one's efforts, but once the examination takes place, what then?

         Tarotists in the "Satisfied" camp look at the Rider-Waite-Smith image, for instance, and see a person who has been engaged in a significant effort which has paid off (in a bumper crop of pentacles), and the person has reached a point where (s)he can step back and let the project grow on its own.  Inherent in this line of thought is the idea of being willing and able to rest, to wait, to watch patiently while said growth takes place.   All-in-all, though, the "Satisfied" interpretation signifies a positive reaction to the perceived results, a well-earned-rest-after-labor time.  Pentacles energy has been wisely invested, and will take root and grow, to the general or specific benefit of the seeker.

        Tarotists in the "Dissatisfied" camp, on the other hand, see a person who has been engaged in a significant effort and has reached the point where (s)he is pausing to "take stock" of what has grown so far, but the person is not necessarily content with the yield.  Readers in the "Dissatisfied" camp tend to view the card as signifying a time of personal introspection concerning the work put in so far, and further, the introspection seems to be revealing some problems - a vague disquiet has surfaced.  Maybe the effort has not paid off as well as it might have (a person who has put a lot of energy into building a small business which just hasn't taken off), or maybe it has paid off, but the laborer has come to the realization that this wasn't what he really wanted to be doing after all (the young lawyer who realizes half-way through her first year of practice with a big insurance defense firm and a six-figure salary that she really went to law school so she could help battered women). "Success Unfulfilled", the Golden Dawn called it.  Isabel Kleigman labels it the "Is this all there is?" card.  Or, as the Rolling Stones put it, "I can't get no . . . satisfaction."  Crowley goes even further:  "Blight", he calls the card.  Nothing good there.

        I tend to fall into the "Dissatisfied" camp most of the time, largely because I've never thought the guy on the RWS 7 of Pents looked very pleased, and also because I just can't feel seven as being a balanced, satisfied, "rest on your laurels" number.

        It is this concept of introspection, evaluation, vague disquiet, and "looking to see what else might be out there" that I've tried to capture on my card.   The woman is obviously successful in the material sense - she is beautifully groomed and richly dressed; her house and furnishings are beautiful, her houseplant is blooming with pentacles.  It is evening - the end of the day, or the work week.  She is takes a quiet moment to rest and look in the mirror, and sees. . . . herself, or rather her Self.  She realizes that she is, or can be, much more than the fruits of her physical labors.

        Key concepts:  Introspection concerning one's use of earth energy.  Evaluation of the fruits of one's efforts.

Notes on Creating the Card

        This card was created in Photoshop 6.0.  To those fellow tarot students out there who have decks inside their heads struggling to get out, but (like me) can't draw, can't paint, and are dissatisfied with their results in the cut-and-paste collage medium, I can't encourage you strongly enough to get a good image editing program and try it!  Yes, the learning curve can be steep, but the rewards are well worth it.

        When I first began trying to figure out what sort of image I wanted to put on this card, I had the idea of a person looking at herself in the mirror.  I usually try to use my husband (the real artist in the family) as a sounding board when I'm still in the thinking/talking stage.  Interestingly, when I told him about the meanings of the Seven of Pentacles, he also immediately responded with the idea of a person looking in a mirror.  The magic of Photoshop let me create it the way I wanted it, something I could never have done with cut-and-paste.

        I have found it interesting how the medium can begin to shape the concept after awhile.  One of the coolest things about digital art is that you can design the image the way you think you want it, and then play with it in any number of ways.  In simply experimenting with filters and other adjustments once the image was basically completed, I came up with the idea of having the woman sitting in a darkened room.  Now, as I look at the completed card, I find I'm not entirely sure whether she's looking into a mirror or out of a window.  I've also realized that the woman's reflection merging with the stars could also be interpreted as signifying her great satisfaction with the results of the pentacles energy she's invested . . . it would seem that I've come full circle with this card!

        I found the woman in a painting by John William Waterhouse, entitled "I am Half-Sick of Shadows, said the Lady of Shalott."  To see it, as well as other works by Waterhouse, visit The Art of:  John William Waterhouse, a sister site of Artmagick.com.  The mirror was borrowed from a Design Toscano catalog.  The starry sky was extracted from an old web background I downloaded so long ago I can't remember where I got it.  I had to "make" the pentacles in Photoshop (feeling very Eight of Pentacles-ish as I did so!), but I started out with the a set of pagan/wiccan woolbats which can be downloaded here.  The font is Lublick, and it can be found at ArtToday.com.

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