Today’s card is the Queen of Pentacles.
I recently took a Tarot 101 class with Moriah Simmons, and she encouraged us to tune into the elements represented by cards to help identify their meaning. Pentacles is the suit of earth, and the Queen is the court card of water. So we’re looking at a lot of muddy energy today for our writing and our creative journeys. :)
Just kidding. Pentacles controls the physical world corporeal concerns, money. The Queen rules the inner real, the senses and the emotions. So the big energy today is using our intuition to guide us in earthy matters.
In this card from my Morgan Greer deck, there’s a lot of autumnal imagery—orange leaves, acorns, yellow, red. This is a wise queen, she’s seen some seasons and learned their lessons. She’s an earth mother.
For Our Stories:
This card might relate to your characters needing to see to how they use their physical resources. How do they increase their practical knowledge of the world while also feeding their deeper knowledge?
On the other hand, this might be a literal mother in the story. She has a love of the world and inspires truth and security. Or, when reversed, the Queen of Pentacles might be the evil stepmother in Cinderella. Over-managing, fanatical about housework, covetous, obsessed with status. Alternately, it could relate to how your main character learns to mother themselves.
Story Prompts:
-Write about your MC’s relationships to moms and mothering. Even if she isn’t in the story, your character’s relationship to their maternal figure influenced their development. Absence of a maternal figure will also influence them.
-If your character is a mom, write about how they follow or deviate from societal expectations of the mother archetype.
-Create a character that is both intuitive and practical. A kitchen witch, for example.
For Your Creative Journey
Mothering yourself is a big theme today. I literally had a conversation with a relative this morning about it. When it comes to our writing, this relates to the boundaries we set and the nurturing we provide for ourselves.
You can’t talk about earthy/feminine energy without brining up creativity. We tend to consider creatives and femininity as things to be domesticated. The wild quality of creation is feared and untrusted in polite society.
This is a trick because, yes, in order to produce you often do need to impose structure and boundaries on your creativity. But if you go too far into the realm of the rational mind and the masculine structure of logic, you can leech all of the life from your art.
So this is where we have to master the art of balance. Yes, you need to set boundaries with yourself. Set aside time to devote to your work. Make sure you edit your drafts so that your message comes through. When you catch yourself procrastinating or avoiding the work, get real with yourself about what’s really happening and redirect that energy.
But also? Let yourself go wild. As professional creatives, we sometimes forget that , creative work can, and often should, feel like play. Sometimes we have to put our bare feet in the grass and imagine that the cloud up there is a dragon. Sometimes we need to let flights of fancy lure us into daydreams. And sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to take that nap, spend a day indulging in researching some arcane topic that fascinates us, or taking ourselves on an artists date to fill our wells.
The Queen of Pentacles reminds us that we can be both practical (earth) and emotional (water) about our craft. Sometimes we’re the indulgent mom of our art, encouraging exploration and nurturing the deep longings of our imaginations. Other times, we’re the mother of our craft, nagging us to get off our phone and write for 30 minutes, damn it.
Questions to Ask Yourself Today:
-How are you learning to trust yourself and your art right now?
-When was the last time you grounded yourself by connecting with Mother Earth? (I know we’re all spending a lot of time inside. Go take a walk! Or watch a nature video or listen to nature sounds while you practice slow breathing.)
-How have you prepared the soil for the seeds you’re hoping to grow with your creative efforts? Are you climbing down out of your head and into your body enough? Are you sleeping, eating and drinking water? Are you reading good books? Are you being kind to yourself?
That’s all for today, my friends. Happy writing!
Oh thank you for this one! Queen of Pentacles was always "my card" through my younger years, so being reminded of her senses and the imagery has been great. Also the "leeching life out of creativity" hits hard right now. I am feeling uninspired, so hoping some garden work and hands in the dirt this weekend will help.