Exploring the Queen of Pentacles

Welcome to Tarot Thursdays! This week we will be exploring the Queen 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 Queen of Pentacles is card number 76 in the deck, the thirteenth card of the Pentacles Suit, and the third card of Pentacles’ Court 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. What I find most striking out of these four cards is the bare feet in the image of the Universal Tarot card. It suggests to me that she is truly grounded and connected with the world around her.

I find it interesting that the artist chose to depict her this way and I like it. It reminds me of the King of Cups in the same deck actually. I think maybe it’s because I don’t like to run around bare foot. I find it very uncomfortable. So any time I see that in any kind of art, it always stands out to me and it denotes a sense of oneness with the environment. Like they are confident to walk freely in the world without that kind of protection. A part of me envies that even as I admire it.

My Analysis of These Cards

They all have these vert earthy and green environments. And they all have a very motherly appearance. Even the dragon in the Dragon Tarot card has an egg she is tending to.

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:

NURTURING
BIGHEARTED
DOWN-TO-EARTH
RESOURCEFUL
TRUSTWORTHY

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:

PRACTICAL
HOMELY
MOTHERLY
DOWN-TO-EARTH
SECURITY

You can learn more about what this site has to say about this card here.

What this Card Means to Me

In many ways, I think this is the idealized “perfect” mom that all of us hope and dream to be when we have that first baby. This is that measuring stick we all use. The problem with that is that for one, none of us are perfect and two, this stick keeps growing. So no matter how are we try or how good we get, the bar is always higher.

We really need to put that stick down. Just set it aside. And look to our children. Look to our families. As long as we are meeting their needs, then it is enough. As long as we are meeting our needs, then it is enough.

Look back up to those cards and see how in each of them, the queen is simply attending to her duty. She isn’t scrambling around chasing perfection. She makes it look easy because she’s only focused on what matters and not on the illusion society tells us to reach for. She knows what it means to work and when to provide support for others.

This card reminds me of all the wise and gentle women we see in various fairy tales. Who know the ones that know a thing or two about life and if we had just paid attention to them in the beginning things would have been so much easier? Yeah, those are the ones I’m talking about here.

So the key phrase I choose for this card is: MOTHER OF THE BODY.

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