Seize the means of production ☭ Four of Pentacles
Tarot reading for 26/12/22 🌠 Working with the tarot to dismantle scarcity and have restful advent period.
Hello friends, I write to you on the eve of my 28th birthday.
It’s been a year, and now here comes my Saturn return which I can only assume will kick my ass (in a growing and transformative way).
This week I have been listening to various podcasts about Yule traditions, stories and mythology from the fantastic Fair Folk Podcast. If you want a cosy way to connect with the folklore of this season, maybe while you dry oranges, decorate the tree is just veg out, I would highly recommend it.
I have been spending my time this week slowly preparing for the upcoming festivities. Making gifts, finding them, making decorations, navigating plans. The usual. As someone still waiting by the phone for the various places she threw her CV at to call her back (like a 90s woman in a Rom-com), the card for this week is one that hits home. Especially because my beloved and I have finally secured our farm job for next season. Future stability looms but in the present there is uncertainty. This week’s tarot card is not one I often get, but when it does come up there are some key lessons which I take to heart.
Tarot for the week of 26/12/22: Four of Pentacles
I was looking back through previous posts and surprisingly this is the first time Pentacles have popped up in a weekly reading. If you remember my Aces in Tarot post then you might recall me going over what each of the suits means. They each correspond to an element and a vital part of the human experience. Wands are fire; actions and desires. Cups are water; emotions and feelings. Swords are air; thoughts and ideas. Pentacles are earth; the physical body and material possessions.
It’s interesting that pentacles should come up at a time like this. Not only do I associate spending with Christmas, but back home in the UK, the cost of living has gotten astronomical. Heating and electricity bills have doubled in some places and they just experienced snow for the first time in a long while. For places used to snow, the UK is not built for it, nor are they built for extreme heat, climate change is already a rollercoaster. So on one hand there is the urge to spend more because of the dominant culture of consumerism/capitalism/Christianity and on the other, there is the actual need to spend more because your government has actively colluded to line their pockets at the expense of the working class.
So how does this tie into the Tarot? Specifically to the Four of Pentacles?
The fours symbolise the beginning, the growing out from the early stage of a journey or adventure, they can mean meeting an adversary or facing your first real challenge. When combined with pentacles this card is one of scarcity and control. Especially around financial matters. It can mean that you are saving money or even hoarding it. It can also be associated with security, whether it’s seeking it or holding on to it.
I’m not going to say this card is telling you not to spend money. Though around this time there are other ways to show affection and care. Nor am I saying that the scarcity people are feeling is not real. I don’t want to say “buckle up”, or that this is going to get a lot worse. But what I want to point out is why there is this scarcity. And it’s not because some people buy gifts for people around this time, or because they aren’t working hard enough, or any other bullshit.
This imposed scarcity is because the people in power; politicians, business ‘leaders’ and multinational corporations who pay no fucking tax, are dismantling worker protections and our environment in one fail swoop. The industrial complexes that have a stranglehold on the economy purposefully put profits above people.
When I look at the Four of Pentacles, the figure with their two feet on coins, one in their arms and one on their head, I see late-stage capitalism. Wealth hoarding. The means of production so far from the worker’s hands. Behind the figure is a city, which always makes me think of the banking district in London; a soulless place full of empty towers and empty people.
So what can be done? And why such a cheery message around Christmas?
Traditionally Boxing day (the day this comes out) would be a day when the servants in the UK would take the day off and the gentry would have food prepared for them in boxes. Hence the name. This comes from an older tradition, as I learned in the latest Fair Folk Podcast, where roles would reverse in the household, those who would usually do the serving were now served. Around this time of year, it seems, there has always been space to play with other ways of living. Of being. Not only that but the 12 days after Yule have been deeply associated with rest.
So in this dark liminal time, as the light begins to return to the ends of our days, there is space and need for rest and reimagining. As I spoke about in my Six of Cups post there is a need to refill our cup, to recharge our batteries. Ideally, it’s with a goal in mind. So as you wind your way through the days after Christmas, before the newness of next year, take some time to dream. Plan ways in which you can build stronger communities, and how you can resist capitalism and all its clutches. If you are feeling scarcity, think of ways you can ask for help, while also knowing that your time to rest is vital.
During the pandemic, there were the largest civil rights protests ever recorded. The Black Lives Matter protests which were sparked by the cold-blooded murder of George Floyd on May 25 by US Police. While there is still so much that needs changing what is heartening to note is that protests of this size might not have happened if people all over the world hadn’t been forced to slow down. To pause, due to the pandemic. As frustrating as it is, the pandemic gave people the space to protest which some had not had the time for before. In resting, in slowing down, there can be more energy for renewed work. For vitally important movements to finally gain ground.
So rest. Really truly rest. Take time to see people who matter to you. Take time to build yourself back up. Take a breath. A pause. A moment. Accept help when it’s offered. Give it where you can. And then from this space of hibernation, get ready to be born anew. Like a powerful weed pushing through the cracks of concrete, the times ahead may be tough. But you are tougher.
This week consider: How am I making space to rest? What do I need to do to recuperate my energy? Where have I been spending too much energy? Where have I been feeling scarcity? Where have I been feeling abundance? How can I balance these two feelings? How can I bring abundance to others? Who can help me release or reconsider my scarcity? What institutions do I need to burn down to reduce scarcity? What world do I want to make? In what ways do people around me need support? What can be done to create lasting collaboration? In what ways can I resist narratives that enforce the status quo?
Bit of a heavy one for the post-Christmas slump. But here we are. The cards are what they are.
As a reminder, I offer Written and Zoom Tarot Readings. I would love to help you dig into ways you can use the next year to build something new. Something better. I offer anything from 3 to 12 card readings along with live zoom calls where we get to flow with the questions. Not to mention Gift Cards!
I would love to help you work through the year and prepare for upcoming challenges. If this sounds like something that you might be interested in, remember that all my offerings are sliding scale to make them as accessible as possible. I am also always available to chat if you want to work something out financially. I'm always open to trade etc.
Ok, that’s me done. I hope you have a restful time.
Catch you in the ether,
M
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Photos: Anders Olsén
Edits: Iona Glen
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