09/13/11: Road to Change | 4 of Cups, 8 of Pentacles, Death

“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” –Anatole France

Change is hard. It’s so much easier to daydream about a different present than to take constructive action to create it.

Today’s Tarot is a 3-Card spread from the Sacred Circle Tarot.  After pulling the first card to assess the mood for the day, I asked, “What might we do about it?” to get the second, and followed with, “What outcome might we expect?” for the final card.

• Four of Cups, here labeled “Discontent” or Lord of Blended Pleasure, associated with Moon in Cancer. It features four rusty, neglected cups standing in front a Yew tree. Yew is known as the Tree of Death, with highly poisonous  berries historically used to add lethality to weapons like arrowheads or spears. But the tree is also is also considered regenerative, since new trees shoot up from the springy decay of the old trunk as it dies off.
• Eight of Pentacles or “Skill,” also known as Lord of Prudence and associated with Virgo Sun. Like most versions of this card, the last disc is unfinished—work yet to be done. Here,the discs are pictured against a Winter landscape. We’ve completed harvest by now, but that remaining disc suggests preparing for upcoming changes, perhaps new growth or a potential new direction for the coming Spring.
• Death or the Child of the the Great Transformers, associated with Scorpio. Here, we’ve got the Dark Harvest Goddess, the  Cailleach (Crone).  In Scotland and England, there were traditions requiring the last corn harvested was fashioned into a woman’s figurine representing the Crone, and the farmer who was slowest with his work was responsible for looking after the totem until the coming harvest, a position not envied since it was associated with bad luck. Death always deals with significant and total transformation. There is NO going back.

Emotional discontent is indication something is amiss. Like the Cancer moon, this is a but a feeling, and most likely hits close to home. While we don’t like the sensation, often dissatisfaction is the most reliable indicator we are not living the life we might, you know? Like a dull ache that doesn’t go away, it can be an early warning signal of an impending flare-up. Now, maybe all that’s needed is an attitude adjustment, but whatever the realm, the Four of Cups is indicative of the habit of dreaming instead of doing. And like other Tarot Fours, it’s is a stable energy. Nothing is changing without  intervention.

So what to do? Well, work on it! Like any Virgo sun would tell you, the details matter! Specifically, don’t finish your work on that last disc—representing manifestation into the material world—exactly the same as you’ve completed the first seven. Otherwise, you’ll get exactly what you’ve gotten thus far, you know? If you want a change, make it.

As far as what to expect…well, Death is an integral component in the cycle of life. Compost feeds coming crops. One relationship ends so that another can begin. One job is complete in to allow for moving on to the next. A life cycle is over, but from those experiences, you can feed the next one.

While this kind of transformation is seldom easy, it’s nevertheless deep and meaningful. If it’s time for something to die, it will regardless of what’s done in hopes of reprieve. Delays in feeling the effects may be possible, but not avoidance. Only the illusion of avoidance, and that takes a whole lot of energy to maintain. Winter comes regardless. Thank goodness it’s followed by Spring.

Are you feeling some discontent?

The Sacred Circle Tarot: A Celtic Pagan Journey by Anna Franklin

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