FIVE OF PENTACLES—the luminous mysteries
The Five of Pentacles appears to be about stuckness, and scarcity, but it can teach us a lot about the luminous mysteries.
FIVE OF PENTACLES
The Modern Witch card shows two figures wrapped against the cold. they echo each other's poses, hunched forward, driving into the snowstorm ahead. The colours of their clothes are complementary, with mint green, caramel, and black woven through each costume. They are in sympathy, but not communicating directly, each lost in their own struggle against the elements.
The focal point is the stained-glass window that dominates the card. Five illuminated golden stars, the pentacles, are set against lighter yellow and luminous green. This building might be a place of worship, or a deconsecrated church that has been turned into luxury apartments. it could represent an institution or a place of safety and comfort. What's interesting is that the figures appear completely unaware of this place which might at least offer temporary shelter from the storm, as bent as they are on continuing their journey.
THE LUMINOUS MYSTERIES
The traditional meaning of the Five of Pentacles is about scarcity, lack, and struggle. The figures are so narrowly focussed on survival that they don't see that help is at hand in the lighted window of the church.
I think there is another meaning available in this card, and, like all tarot cards, the Five of Pentacles isn't inherently good or bad, it is just giving us information to work with.
A church, an institution, a luxury apartment: none of these things necessarily provide succour for those in need. In many cases, there might be more harm within than outside in the storm. The figures are cold, but they are moving. Their clothes are appropriate to weather the snow.
What if the lighted window is a luminous mystery to meditate on, a step on the path that the figures must continue, a deep journey into the more extreme recesses of their unconscious that they must do alone?
TAROT PROMPTS
This spread is about what happens if you meditate on the luminous mystery, while continuing your journey in the snow.
Inside the church are all those who inspire and support you: influences, teachers, peers, published authors. Outside, you feel their presence and power, but you are also able to accept the possibility that you are the expert on yourself.
What do you really want to write? if no one else was watching, and you had no external pressures, what would you really want to write?
What happens if you follow this path, and write what you desire?
What happens if you don't follow this path?
WRITING PROMPTS
Write what you don't know. Feel your way through the darkness, the storm, the blizzard towards the outline of something that feels uncomfortable, and even terrifying. Come out of your own perspective as fully as possible and write your way towards the unknown. You can do this by setting a timer and allowing anything at all to come out on to the page. Don't question it, and don't self-censor. You can always burn the page when you're done if you don't like it. Let that possible annihilation allow you the freedom to dive into the deep unknown.
Write a piece about a character (you or someone else, or a fictional character) who is lost in the wilderness. How do they feel? What is going through their mind? If they saw a sanctuary, what would they do?
Light a candle in a dark room. Watch the flame for 3-5 minutes. Write an account of what went through your mind as you watched the flame.