tarot work diary no. 7 | queen of cups, seven of pentacles, knight of wands
this is my tarot work diary: an intuitive practice for art & business through contemplating the tarot.
this last week's tarot pull is a message about channeling and balancing the Scorpio + Aries archetypes within myself (Queen of Cups + Knight of Wands) in pursuing the pentacle practice of creative labor and materialization.
summary distillations
- queen of cups - the practice of psychic diving + containment
- 7 of pentacles - finding resistance to material gardening
- knight of wands - channeling raw creative energy and enthusiasm
queen of cups - psychic diving + containment
the queen of cups is one of my favorite cards of the minor arcana -- probably because I've always identified most with the element of water, and yet, have so often experienced the feeling of drowning and lost in water, or being overwhelmed by water. the queen of cups seems to be in perfect equilibrium between her self-possessed presence and that of being part of the watery consciousness of the emotional, unconscious, and imaginative worlds. she is able to dwell in both; to travel in the watery realms like a mermaid, and to preside and reign over it.
I appreciate Rachel Pollack's description of her as a way of giving form and vessel to elemental creativity:
“The unity of water, land, and the Queen implies that we do not feed the imagination by giving it complete freedom to wander where it will, but rather by directing it into valuable activity, an idea that most artists would endorse. This idea appears even more strongly in the Nine of Pentacles, emblem of creative discipline.”
Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack
since I'm very much interested in translating wisdom into daily, embodied practices, what comes to me in contemplating the Queen of Cups is the practice of psychic exploration, and psychic containment. that is: how I channel the Queen of Cups archetype to dive into my creative subconscious, everyday, perhaps through the process of meditation, sensing into inspired urges, or deep journaling?
then, equally (if not more importantly), how do I contain that energy in a vessel -- hold it in an ornate chalice -- so that it may be transmuted and alchemized into another form: a new creation, or energy? why is containment important? because only once you hold something -- give form to it -- you're able to examine it, work with it, pull its momentum, and transform it. I wrote about this in exploring giving the flame of a vision a jar. the queen of cups is the same principle, but it asks me to be more deliberate and practiced with this act of containment -- in order to use it as power in feminine leadership.
7 of pentacles - resistance to material gardening
I've read interpretations of this card as being about: unripened fruits, putting in hard effort without harvest or results, a symbol of failure.
but in my own readings, I've also thought of this card as about the act of material gardening. planting seeds that may generate wealth in the future. as in: not being inside the hard labor and craft itself (like the 8 of pentacles, which would represent service-oriented work), but instead, to be a creative farmer who has planted something that could grow on its own; crops that could yield year after year, with the right kind of care, and maintenance work.
in my own business, I've been transitioning from thinking about the practice of sharing my work -- to the practice of making paid offerings, in a way that feels deeply soul-aligned and effortless. in a previous tarot work diary with the Six of Cups, I wrote about feeling called to turn my focus from a service-based model to products and subscriptions -- to not spend my energy making things (ie, building brands or websites) for a few high value clients, but to make multiples of something as a sacred offering.
I've been deep in the work of exploring what that is, and how it looks and feels as an ongoing practice. there's some anxiety that comes with this: because to sell products and subscriptions in a sustainable way requires a higher volume of people purchasing, rather than simply attracting a handful of clients (and doing work that may be a form of compromise). perhaps a part of me is afraid of having that kind of reach, feeling self-doubt at even being capable to attract enough people, or, contrary, what that level of visibility and exposure would mean, for me.
the seven of pentacles invites me to look at my labor, resistance, and fear from a distance, and ask: what, inside me, is keeping these pentacles from prospering? simultaneously: how can I allow myself to surrender to this process, and let a deeper wisdom guide me?
knight of wands - channeling raw energy and enthusiasm
“Without some grounding influence all this excitement can dissipate itself as he tries to fly in every direction at once. Allied to a sense of purpose and aided by some Air-like influence of planning, the Knight of Wands can provide the energy and self-confidence for great achievement.”
Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack
I really like this balanced perspective Rachel Pollack gives on how to work with Knight of Wands energy -- the need for purpose and Air-like planning. in this current draw, I don't have an Air suit, but I do have a Queen of Cups.
I think of this archetype as my Aries moon self; ignited by bursts of inspired fire in so many directions, but feeling a bit trapped in patterns of constant movement and momentum to really see any projects to completion. the initial enthusiasm is high, but sometimes I get distracted and bored.
the knight of wands is such a powerful, creative force -- if given a direction and a vessel for all of that fire. I think about how the Queen of Cups would offer guidance to the Knight of Wands without dousing his flames. the two of them represent very different parts of me, taken to the extreme -- my Scorpionic tendency to wade into the deep waters of the psyche, and my Aries fire in creating new flurries of excitement without fully completing the cycle.
I think the Queen of Cups would have to rule the Knight of Wands by, first, practicing radical empathy -- understanding his innate energy and desire to start fires, and holding space for that in a way which is contained, and, connecting him to his sense of purpose: that that deeper, watery nature of emotion and intuitive knowing, even as he blazes forwards.
the message
- to own my Queen of Cups practices of psychic diving + containment; to both excavate the subconscious through daily shadow work and listening to creative inspiration, as well as creating and holding contained vessels to alchemize its energy into a different form.
- to examine my simultaneous desire + resistance to Seven of Pentacles labor of cultivating prosperity through material gardening -- by channeling Queen of Cups to dive into my psyche for shadow work, and once transformed, to use Knight of Wands energy to push forth with full speed enthusiasm
- to use Queen of Cups to give deeper purpose, emotional motivation, and psychic containment to the wildfire of Knight of Wands energy -- not to douse its flames by getting bogged down, but to inspire and use his speed and movement in a way that'll be most impactful.
- theses process require so much capacity to hold, and continual discernment, hence the Queen of Cups is really the leader in this spread; calling me to cultivate my belonging to the deep sea of the unconscious, and to myself.
💌 I write a weekly newsletter on creative alchemy & world-building called guide.notes. I also have a podcast: botanical studies of internet magic.