Welcome to Tarot Thursdays! This week we will be exploring the Three of Pentacles and how it can be used as a prompt or brainstorming in our writing.
Tarot is an interesting thing. It’s based upon symbolism and metaphors through imagery. With these images the subconscious mind is tapped into through the story provided. Not everyone gets the same thing from a piece of art. Each piece will influence each person in a slightly different way.
Introduction of the Card
The Three of Pentacles is card number 66 in the deck and the third card of the Pentacles Suit in the Minor Arcana of the Tarot.
Let’s take a look at the following examples of this card below.
Card Examples
Notice the similarities between them and take note of their differences. Do any of these move you more than the others? Take your time and allow these cards to tell you their story.
My Analysis of These Cards
Normally I think of the pentacles as coins, but here with the Mythic Tarot in this card, they look like they are materials or supplies being presented to the craftsman. So in this card it looks like they are getting ready to work.
In the Universal Tarot and the Tarot of Dreams the work has begun. The difference here is that in the Universal Tarot you can see two additional men with the craftsman. I get the impression that these men consulted with the craftsman before he began. Maybe they commissioned him for the work and wanted it done a certain way. Whereas in the Tarot of Dreams, he is alone. This could be that the task is entirely of his own design or that those he consulted with didn’t stick around. Whatever the case may be, the man here is fully confident in his skills as he begins the task.
The Dragon Tarot card I’m not sure about. It looks like the dragon has gone into the forest with the intent to harvest mushrooms. Having studied Food Service, I know how rare and highly prized truffles were at one point. Truffle farming today is still a lucrative practice and still requires a great bit of skill and knowledge to do. Like I personally couldn’t just start one up on the fly and expect it to go well. There is so much involved. I don’t know if this is what the artist had in mind, but this is what comes to my mind when I look at this card.
Themes of the Card
Each card has a set of keywords associated with it that serve as themes for its image. These keywords will vary somewhat depending on who you ask.
According to the Learning the Tarot website, the keywords associated with the card are:
- TEAMWORK
- PLANNING
- COMPETENCE
You can learn more about what this site has to say about this card here.
According to the Biddy Tarot website, the keywords associated with the card are:
- TEAMWORK
- INITIAL FULFILMENT
- COLLABORATION
- LEARNING
You can learn more about what this site has to say about this card here.
What this Card Means to Me
You see me often say in a variety of contexts on this blog that it takes a village. Whether I’m talking about growing up, raising a child, setting up a support network, completing a project, or what have you more often than not you need the help of others in some way.
You need information, resources, skills, assistance – the list goes on. And not all of that can always come from you. It’s important to remember this when writing our characters too. Our characters shouldn’t be capable of doing everything all by themselves. It’s not realistic. They should need to turn to others for various things from time to time in order to achieve their goals.
The keyword I chose for this card is: COLLABORATION.
Music Playlist
In this spirit of all this, these are the songs I have picked out for this card.
The Writing Exercise
This exercise is a free write. Permit yourself to write whatever comes to mind based upon the theme of this card. Choose a keyword or key phrase and run with it to see what you come up with.
I would love it if you linked or pinged back what you wrote so I could see where you went with this.
Happy writing!
Mythic Tarot by Liz Greene (Author), Juliet Sharman-Burke (Author), Tricia Newell (Illustrator) © 1989
Dragon Tarot by Terry Donaldson (Author), Peter Pracownik (Author) © 1996
Universal Tarot by Lo Scarabeo (Author), R. De Angelis (Illustrator), A. E. Waite (Designer) © 2001
Tarot of Dreams by Ciro Marchetti (Author), Lee Bursten (Author) © 2015
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