Earth is the manifestation of physical matter. As an element, earth is the mountains, stones, hills, and land; the still matter of time that has been here for millions of years before humans. The earth element is often connected to the ancestral realm and reminds us that these bodies we inhabit come from thousands of people in a long lineage before us. Our bones and our blood carry their stories. We use stones and coins to create simple ceremonies and exercises in the tarot. You may also develop your own ways to work with the earth element using seeds, grains, or other physical, earthy manifestations.
This section begins with the earth element as a way to set the ground for our ceremonial and magical work. You may choose to work through this book in any order you wish, however, touching into our earthly self is a good way to create a strong container to help with divination and strengthening your intuition. Working with the earth, we learn to ground, manifest, and work with the solid forms. Using stones and our bodies, we anchor the energies of the tarot. Depicted in the tarot as disks or pentacles, the manifestation of our emotions, thoughts, dreams, issues, obstacles, and creations come into form through the earth element.
The disks pictured in the Crowley deck signify the currency we use to exchange for goods and services. Disks are responsible for laying a foundation and creating a container or structure for feelings, thoughts, and spiritual energies to inhabit. In the Waite-Smith deck, the coins are Pentacles that contain the five pointed star of magical manifestation. The five pointed star symbolizes the four elements plus oneself and reminds us that all material objects are interconnected with our earth as a living form and the elements of earth, water, air, and fire that combine in a multitude of ways to create the various forms on earth.
In the tarot, disks or pentacles are directly connected to the physical realm of money, matter, and earth. The Latin word mater is akin to the words “matter” and “mother.” We can think of our own mother, parents, or caretakers and how they provided resources for us, just as disks and the material realm are our resources. Financial issues are a common concern for people seeking tarot readings, and the disk cards help illuminate issues with money and physical resources in combination with the other suits of wands, cups, and swords and their respective realms of spirit, emotional issues, and thoughts.
The material realm is a physical manifestation of spirit. Spirit is not necessarily concerned with the how or when but instead is simply energy that reveals itself through physical manifestations. When spirit moves through emotional and mental states, the outcome is affected according to the positive or negative aspects. For example, guidance may indicate for us to move somewhere new, but if this intuitive message from spirit is then overlaid with mental doubts and emotional anxiety it can make the physical manifestation difficult to realize. Alternatively, if the feelings are one of joy, excitement, and trust, doors can open that seem to almost magically manifest this new reality. These concepts and ways to work them are explored further in each of the disk cards and how we can better relate to the earth element that manifests as money, finances, health, and home in our daily lives.
Exercise: Connecting to the Earth
This is a basic grounding exercise to reconnect to the earth. Many people are disconnected from the experience of living on the earth in a real way. To do this, simply go outside and lay down on the earth. Use a blanket or whatever you need to make you comfortable. If you can, lay your entire body on the earth so that you can feel the contours of the land.
Feel into the earth’s aliveness. Lay by a tree and look up into the branches. Reach back the roots of your essential being. After a while, close your eyes and feel your breath moving through your body. Listen to your heartbeat. Feel the supportive nature of the earth below you. Imagine the soil and dirt that lies under your body, the rock below the soil, and the water below the rock. Visualize the roots of all the different plants and trees growing in the soil, supporting the plant life all around you. All the insects and creatures that bury themselves through this earth. Allow your awareness to extend all the way to the center of the earth, to the inner core of the earth, the pulse and heartbeat of the mother. Rest in this pulse, opening your heart in gratitude and thankfulness. Ask the earth to remind you to be reverent on its surface as we are the earth—our bodies, tears, and bones will one day return to soil and waters.
Exercise: Make an Offering
This act is a symbolic gesture that opens your heart to your life, to the day, to receive teachings and wisdom. Traditionally, cultures all over the world make offerings of rice, flowers, a leaf or fern, salt, or light a candle or incense to begin the day and connect in with the divine aspect of ourselves. We may choose to practice yoga or qigong as a way to bring health and life force into our morning and also offering our body, as a physical temple to the unfolding of the day. Taking a moment to light a candle or place a small amount of rice in a designated altar space touches our physical self into our spiritual. As you work through this section on earth, disks, and pentacles, use the simple act of making an offering to connect you to your earthly self and rest in openness before receiving guidance. Before you begin a tarot reading, I recommend lighting a candle or offering a flower as a way to open yourself to the wisdom of the cards.
Ace of Disks or Pentacles: The Seed
The Ace of Disks or Pentacles is like a seed which, when planted, opens us up to infinite potential in the material realm. Like an acorn which contains the entire oak tree within its tiny interior, the Ace of Disks carries all the wisdom of the disks. This includes material loss and gain within the realm of financial, career, home, health, and the physical aspects of our lives. This card symbolizes new beginnings and a fresh perspective. This is a concrete, physical card and can help jumpstart us into the next level of working with money, finances, physical health, building a business or career, acquiring a new home, or starting a project.
In the Waite-Smith deck, the pentacle is being offered from a cloud like a revelation or an opportunity for gratitude and awareness. The disembodied hand that appears in the card symbolizes that doors may open unexpectedly and reminds us to stay open to opportunities and even miracles. This also shows that generosity is an act of openness and is not necessarily connected to a specific person or place. Often we pour energy into a person, project, or idea with the expectation that we will be rewarded directly back; however, our return may come from many other sources and keeping our minds open in gratitude allows for abundant flow to happen naturally.
In the Crowley deck, the green and gold colors symbolize growth and the vital life energy of the earth. This card acts as a doorway to the next level of understanding and activation in our daily physical wealth. When a shift happens in our mindset to move from scarcity toward abundance, the Ace of Disks will appear to show that we are about to receive an opportunity that mirrors our view.
The Ace of Disks is a gift from the universe and may come in the form of a specific opportunity. We may be offered a new job, receive a check in the mail, or find a new place to live. We may receive good news about health, a financial windfall, or a promotion. This may indicate a time to plant a new seed, such as a garden or project, and that assistance is on its way from the universe to help with that. However, if the Ace of Disks appears with Five of Cups and Ten of Swords, which are negative cards, the indication could be that an opportunity, idea, or investment could fail or is not necessarily a good idea.
Ceremony: Finding a Stone
To work with the Ace of Disk or Pentacles, we open ourselves up to the wisdom of earthy manifestation. Go outside and find a stone. Pick a place where you can look for one uninterrupted such as at the coast, near a river bed, or in a forest. Spend time wandering around this place, asking to find a stone or rock that will be a touch stone in your life. When you come across a stone or rock that feels right, take some time to sit with it and reflect on its journey on earth. Around every rock and stone is a family of other rocks and stones surrounding it. It is part of the dynamic web of the natural world you are visiting.
Ask the stone if it wishes to come with you, and respect its response. In some traditional cultures, rocks are viewed as our relations or ancestors. Set an intention that you will work with the energy of the disks or pentacles in harmony with your relations. If the stone agrees to come with you, leave an offering such as a hair or dried herb you feel a connection to. When you return to your home, place the stone on your altar created in the Magician chapter. When you feel down or troubled by health, finances, or other physical issues, use this rock as a literal touchstone to feel back into that place where you found it and center yourself. This stone can also be a way to ground yourself and a simple reminder to connect with the earth.
Two of Disks: The Dance
Following the gift of the Ace of Disks, the energy shifts, and things in life begin the process of creation. After the seed of the Ace is planted, it sprouts into a slender green shoot with two tiny leaves forming on the stem. Similarly, the two of disks or pentacles holds the vital life energy yet is vulnerable to other elements. The two of disks is a card of change and movement on the material realm. This is a worldly card, affecting and affected by the world around you in a physical sense.
In the Waite deck, a figure dances while juggling two disks along a cord of infinity. These disks are intricately woven together—one relies on the other, and they each depend on each other. This playful approach reminds us of constant movement and the dance of energy, even with fixed things in our life. Behind the figure is a clear blue sky with a turbulent ocean and ships cresting the waves, symbolizing the importance of clear communication, listening, and being open even if emotions and situations are in a state of unrest. The green cord that holds the disks reminds us that things are always in a perfect balance even if it does not appear that way in the current situation.
In the Crowley deck we see the word “change” and the energy of the yin and yang. The eye of the yin rests within the yang and eye of the yang within the circle of yin. This is a dance of dark and light, masculine and feminine, winter and summer. We cannot have one without the other. In winter time, on the longest night, we honor the light returning at solstice which contains the seed of summer to come. And in summer, on the longest day, we honor the dark returning in the seed of winter to come.
Because of its suit, the Two of Disks is practical and suggests a positive time to make plans, confirm appointments, and reach out to people. This could be a literal move in location, opening a new office, or the need to shift things in your personal space. The card can indicate an external change that is coming, such as a new roommate or pet, or new garden plot. It can also signify a message that causes some change, or even disruption in your life. This card is highly influenced by the surrounding cards so look to the other cards in your reading as well.
Ceremony: Two Stones
In the yin and yang we see the continuous interplay of light and dark, masculine and feminine, up and down, right and left. The dance of opposites encourages us to see that within all things. We cannot have one without the other. In our own selves, we are the unique mix of a father and mother, a male and female ancestry. When you receive this card, you can use this simple ceremony to help you honor the dance of duality in life as well as what may arise between the binary opposite forces as well.
Find one dark stone and one light stone. Find a place outside and take your shoes off. If you wish, do the grounding cord exercise from the Emperor Card. Hold the light stone in your right hand to symbolize the inner masculine and your male line. Hold the dark stone in your left hand to symbolize the inner feminine your female line. Feel the stones resting in your hand and visualize your parents next to you on either side of you and your four grandparents behind them and their parents behind them. Even if you did not know one of your parents, simply invoke the presence of them.
Hold your right hand up with the light stone and state the intention: “I honor and thank my male line, my right side. I now release any and all blocks from my male lineage.” Then throw the stone as far as you can. Next, hold up your left hand with the dark stone and state the intention: “I honor and thank my female line, my left side. I now release any and all blocks from my female lineage.” Then throw the stone as far as you can. This is a very simple act and of course will not clear ancestral trauma in one throw. However, setting this intention and embodying it is one way to begin the process, like a seed to help open the channel for healing to occur.
Continue to feel the presence of your ancestors, and allow them to admire you as the sum total of thousands of human beings who have come before you. See them stretching out like a triangle in support of you and your path, loving you and honoring you without hesitation, without any blockages. When you are done, feel gratitude in your heart and center yourself by touching the earth.
Three of Disks: Manifesting the Vision
As the two progresses into three, the energy opens up to both receive and express more energy and substance. In the plant symbolism, the sprout develops more leaves and growth becomes evident. The roots below the surface reach further down for nutrients as the leaves extend upward for more light. This is a card of outward manifestation, work, and putting one’s mind to creating with effort.
In the Waite-Smith deck we see two architects with a diagram of the cathedral. A young apprentice under mentorship discusses a plan with the other two, sharing ideas. This is the image of artisan work, creation, and physically crafting a labor of love. The work here is shared so that feedback may be received—an important aspect of developing one’s path in career, working with money, or creating a project.
In the Crowley deck the keyword is “work,” and this card indicates that it is time to work hard on something but do so with joy, dedication, and in delight of the creation process. The image shows three disks in the shape of a triangle with clouds clearing behind the triangle. Each of the disks are equidistant, indicating a balance of threes such as a three-legged table where each leg is necessary to balance the table top. The clouds indicate that effort is needed to complete the task at hand; development of a plan or setting realistic goals can aid in this unfolding.
The Three of Disks indicates your willingness to take an idea and make it grow further. Use the ceremony below to add energetic juice to something you wish to create further in your life, as the card is a positive indication of growth and a strong sign of encouragement. This card may also indicate coming together in a group, forming a team or collaboration to bring an idea toward manifestation. As shown in the Waite deck, receiving feedback is an important element in the creative process and gives energy to push the project along, as well as constructive criticism to see where the project is not working or is flawed. When this card appears with major arcana, it strengthens the energy of that particular card.
Ceremony: Energizing a Project
This ceremony is to energize a project or something you are working on. Gather one or two images that symbolize something you are wishing to grow further in your life such as: a hobby you want to learn more about; a skill you are developing; a business plan that is happening; a creative project that you are developing. For example, if you are learning how to juggle, then find or draw an image of a juggler. Choose a project that is already in motion—this is important in the Three of Disks. Unlike the Ace, threes are already happening and the seed has already sprouted. You are adding illumined energy and light to your project to fertilize and develop it.
You will need three stones or coins, preferably gold, and one small yellow candle. Choose a candle that burns down in twenty minutes. The optimal time to practice this ceremony is at night, before you go to sleep, so that you will also seed your subconscious to assist in the growth of your project.
Place your image on your altar with the gold coins or stones in a triangle shape around your image, with one coin at the top of the image and two coins at the bottom. Set the candle just above and beyond the top coin. Call on your directions and guidance.
Light the candle and sit quietly watching the flame burn, illuminating the gold in the coins and brightening the image of your work that you are developing and strengthening in the world. If possible, sit and concentrate on your image, sending it love and light as the candle burns down. If you find this focused concentration difficult, allow your mind to rest every few minutes and focus on your breath.
As the candle burns, state aloud your gratitude for the manifestation, as if it has already manifested or happened. This is an important key to manifestation, as it draws your vision and desire into your current state of awareness. As you state this aloud, then continue to visualize the manifestation with the feeling of love, completion, accomplishment, joy, gratitude, and so on for having manifested your dream. This amplifies the manifesting process and brings it quickly into your current life.
When you are finished, release and thank the directions and guidance. You may do this three nights in a row, burning the candle each night. Another option is to practice this over a twenty-one-day period to add energy to your work. With this kind of focused effort, the project, skill, or practice will be energized triple-fold.
Four of Disks: Setting a Boundary
With the Four of Disks, we move from the dynamic and creative qualities of the three into the foundational and structure of four. This card indicates a solidifying of outward manifestations. Fours symbolize stability and strength, allowing for the creative energy of the three to ground and take root. Four corners of a space or building are connected to the four cardinal directions, four elements, four suits of the tarot, et cetera. With the earth element, fours are successful and empowered in the process of manifestation, money, and resources.
In the Waite-Smith deck, the image of the four of disks is very similar to the Emperor. Both figures are wearing crowns and the color red, and have both feet firmly planted on the ground. This indicates a connection to the earth, strength, grounding, and authority. Unlike the Emperor, the figure in the Four of Disks is holding a disk or pentacle squarely in front of his chest, like a shield. There is a sense of distrust, wariness, and a feeling or need to protect one’s interests.
In the Crowley deck, four disks are placed in the four corners of a square symbolizing the foundation of a house or four cornered structure. The background is peach and orange colored indicating creative energy and growth. Bridges connect each of the four squares that rest atop of pillars that rise up out of a human-made water stream, such as a moat or channel. This may indicate the need for boundaries and protection between outer and inner expressions. The word here is “power,” inspiring you to call in your resources and give them a sense of shape and container in focus and direction.
This card may indicate the need to examine a conflict and perhaps confront the issue by standing squarely and looking at it directly in the face. There are two main ways to look at this card, depending on the other cards in the reading. It indicates that the issue is either withholding resources or love or a need to protect these resources from others … or maybe a bit of both. Likely, there is a need to set clear boundaries and firm up one’s resolve in material matters and how they affect relationships and development of a project. This card encourages the seeker to examine what should be withheld and what should be more freely given in terms of material wealth as well as emotional energy. The card encourages less dreaming and more action needing to be taken; or to notice the actions one is creating in the world in relation to business, money, contracts, and physical needs.
The Four of Disks may also be encouraging you to form a specific physical container for your work such as getting a studio space, putting more energy into how you dress or present yourself, or solidifying an investment plan. Creating a specified container for a project, relationship, or health issue can actually allow and encourage more healing and growth as the intention is focused and vision is crystallized.
Exercise: Setting Clear Boundaries
This exercise is to create boundaries to prevent taking on issues from others and also cultivate a strong container to build your personal energy. This can be used if you are struggling with financial issues, an unresolved relationship conflict, or a nagging feeling about something that you haven’t really taken the time to face.
Gather four stones. Go outside and arrange them in a square, each stone in the four cardinal directions: east, south, west, and north. Sit down in the middle of your square facing the north. Call in your helpers and ancestors. Notice yourself sitting on the earth; feel the breeze. Practice the grounding cord exercise from the Emperor card to firmly root yourself energetically with the earth. See and feel the energy of your grounding cord extending down from your root chakra, or the base of the spine to the center of the earth.
Call into your mind the issue you are working on. Visualize the stones forming a protective field of light around you, creating a container to help you see and clarify the issue. Ask yourself: Do I need better boundaries with this person/issue/conflict? Be open to receiving guidance as to how that might look. Do you need to lessen contact with the person? Is there another way to communicate? Do you need to set boundaries with yourself ?
As you inhale, imagine the protective stone qualities immersing your aura and body. Feel your connection to your bones, teeth, and structural body. Acknowledge your connection to stones through the minerals in your body.
When you are finished, you have the opportunity to set a vow for yourself if you wish. Make a decision to face the issue and take a step towards resolution, even if it is a tiny step. For example, if you have unresolved debt, determine how much debt you have and begin the necessary conversations to work on resolving it. If you have a project that needs to be finished, map out a series of small, realistic goals.
Five of Disks: Carrying the Burden
After the four of disks in which one is trying to protect or withhold resources, we move into the five which indicates a loss. This is one of the heavier cards in the deck, a card of physical loss that affects us emotionally. We are confronted with the loss of our security, something we hold dear and which threatens us on a deeper level as well. This may indicate a time of loss that affects us and others around us including friends or family members. The energy of this card along with the number five indicates a kind of burden and the need for change or adjustment in order for the way to clear again.
The Waite-Smith card shows two figures out in the cold snowy winter, struggling to survive. They are hungry, cold, and desperate. They pass a church, a sanctuary, but are unable to see the refuge that could help them. This card reminds us that loss is often felt with another, as the two figures huddle together, looking to each other for support. There may be love and connection even amid depression and sorrow.
In the Crowley deck, we see five hardened disks arranged in a downward pointing pentacle symbolizing loss and negativity. The word for this card is worry which indicates the conflict that appears when we are faced with loss and challenges to our material security. The heaviness of the card is a reminder to rest and settle for a moment before taking action, to take a moment to feel the weight of gravity and the pressure of our body and physical reality.
Often the five of disks indicates a difficult and challenging loss such as a contract falling through, something stolen, losing money, a forgotten bill, or a debt suddenly resurfacing. Although this is a troubling card, this minor arcana offers us the opportunity to clear the way before moving forward. We do not progress on the path without obstacles and this card reminds us to stop, take stock, and remove the burdens that are weighing down on us. Often our burdens can be relieved through asking for help, shifting our perspective, and remembering gratitude.
Exercise: Making an Offering
When a loss threatens to appear on the horizon or there a loss has recently happened, it is helpful to make an offering to assist in the situation. Offerings soften our hearts and help dissolve our smaller selves into the larger, expansive oneness of the universe. We often take loss personally and forget to find the opportunities or lessons that are inherent in any kind of loss or struggle in our life. When we make an offering we allow the feelings of sorrow, grief, sadness, or fear to move through us instead of taking hold and growing larger. Also, if the card is set in the future, making an offering can actually help prevent the loss from happening as it sets out to right the balance. You can use the offering ceremony in the Ace of Disks card to make an offering and open your heart.
In some traditional beliefs, when something is stolen, lost, or disappears, it may indicate an imbalance with our relations and our ancestors in particular. We may need to cultivate a stronger connection with our ancestors and feed them with our tears, or blessings, or honoring. Also, this card brings to mind the concept of tithing. In prosperity books, one of the ways that we can open ourselves to experience more flow and abundance in our life is to tithe 10 percent of our earnings as well as offering reparation funds to organizations that support vulnerable communities. The idea is that if we don’t do that, then it will come off another way from our earnings, such as loss, theft, unexpected bills, and so on. It’s like a spiritual cleansing of our income to assist in keeping our energies flowing and hearts open.
Take a moment to offer something generously to someone in need, create a flower, herb, or candle offering for your altar or set an intention to pay off a bill or debt. Remember that in times of burden you can ask for help and also be open to receive as well.
Six of Disks: Collective Wealth
The Six of Disks is a card of balance and restoration after the loss in the Five of Disks. This is a card that reflects from outward things happening in our life to help guide us to understand where we may still be out of balance regarding wealth and generosity and how we can work to stabilize this in self and our work with others. Sixes bring the qualities of harmony, balance, beauty, and joy.
In the Waite-Smith deck, we see an image of a wealthier man giving to those who appear desperate and poor. It appears that the wealth is out of balance, a reflection of the wealth distribution in our economy. Traditionally, this card indicates that someone is getting something materially, however it may be at the expense of others. Perhaps there is a power imbalance in the relationship between friends, co-workers, and family that will manifest through material wealth and goods. This card may indicate that someone is trying to take advantage of you or you are taking advantage of someone else, perhaps being used or using someone for their skills and gifts, or making money off a situation that is not on equal footing.
Digging deeper into this image we also note that the man distributing the wealth holds a set of scales which indicates the need for measure and balance. In Rachel Pollack’s Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, she explores the idea of giving, but not the right amount. In this way, we cannot give love or wealth generously if the other cannot receive; and we ourselves can only receive what we are open to. What comes into our lives may be a kind of mirroring of how much we are open to receiving.
Crowley’s view on this card indicates a more harmonious meaning with the word “success.” The image shows an even number of pastel colored disks coming together in a circle. This card encourages us to change our views and perspective about wealth distribution to make it more inclusive, community oriented, and collective based. These views are often considered idealized, as our culture is so deeply embedded in our current social system of wealth inequality.
Either way, this card encourages you to look at a group situation in your life and how you view collective wealth and sharing. Perhaps you need to undo old patterning around sharing in a community mindset, and release the mental constructs that encourage a hierarchical view. This card indicates the need to soften and open to others, listen, exchange, and share. In work matters, it may indicate the need to have a meeting with staff members to break down boundaries and resolve issues regarding financial or energetic resources. In personal relationships, it encourages the help of others to be present and find solutions that work for both parties in a family dynamic. This card can also indicate that success is on the horizon in a project, and resources or funding may become available for use with the help of others.
Meditation: Bowl of Light
In the Hawaiian tradition, the soul and life journey are viewed as a bowl of light. We come into the world with a clear bowl filled only with light. When things happen to us in life, such as trauma, pain, disease, loss, divorce, and heartache, they are like stones that find themselves into the bowl. If we don’t take time to empty out our stones, we carry them around and inhibit our ability to receive and express love and light. Here we use a bowl, a vessel that holds water, a link to the emotional symbolism of water and cups. This connection is important—as we begin to deepen our connection to the earth element, we find that our material and physical resources are intimately linked with our emotions and relationships with self and others.
Find a bowl and several stones. Find time and space for a quiet meditation. Sit in a comfortable meditative posture and focus on the breath for a few moments. Feel back into your life as child and slowly walk yourself through your life journey. Focus on times of pain and sorrow in your life: when you lost a friend, got hurt, betrayed by a loved one, or when someone important to you passed away. For each traumatic moment, place a stone in the bowl. Keep going until you have tracked your life to the present. Hold the bowl full of stones on your lap. Perhaps you can feel into the sorrow, heaviness, and trauma of those times. Send healing love and light into the bowl and back through time to yourself in those difficult moments.
When you feel ready, deepen your breath and practice the Ha breath: inhale fully through the nose and exhale while making a haaa sound through the mouth. Repeat the breathing cycle several times, then dump the bowl over and free the space to receive light in your soul once again. Allow the bowl to rest in your lap again, empty and symbolically free of your past traumas and difficulties. Feel gratitude in your heart and remind yourself that at any moment in your life, you can choose to dump the bowl of light.
Seven of Disks: Contemplate and Compost
The Seven of Disks brings with it a time to contemplate and reflect. After the work of understanding giving and receiving in the Six of Disks it is time to reflect on what is going well and what is not. We often find that it is time to compost what is not working, to return parts of our project or ideas to the earth to become soil. Sevens are the number of reflection, taking a pause to turn and look back on the path of our projects, relationships, health, and so on. Everything moves in cycles and the seven indicates a transition into the last stages of development, fruition, and completion.
In the Waite-Smith deck, we see a figure resting from his hard-earned work. The garden is established and growing on its own, and he can take a rest and step back to view this progress. This card may indicate the need for patience in a situation and to take stock before making a firm decision upon the next course of action. The wisdom of the Seven of Disks asks you to notice when things are in the flow or not. When something is not coming easily, we may consider it is not the right course of action for us and can make a choice about stepping into the flow or out of the flow. This is not a card to push or try, but instead discern and observe.
In the Crowley deck, the disks are gray and heavy and seem immovable. The word is “failure”—some aspects of the project, work, or relationship are no longer working. The leaves are dead and heavy, needing to be discarded and reworked into the soil. This card also encourages you to use the resources you already have in a new way. I have always called the Seven of Disks the “compost card,” in which we take the scraps of stuff we have used and, with time and turning, transform it into the opportunity for rich, fertile soil that feeds the plants we are currently growing. Applying this to your life is a useful way to gather, reduce, and reuse what is not working well in your life and recreate something new with the same energy.
Emotionally, this card may signify relationships; work or projects that have come to a standstill. Taking time to reexamine what no longer works and let it go can fuel other projects or relationships that you are more committed to keeping. This may be an opportunity to also clear out a closet, clean up clutter in your home or throw away old papers, photos, and things that are just no longer useful. Making a fire and burning old papers, creating ash that can be used to fertilize plants is a nice symbolic way to clear away the old and literally compost something you are growing.
Exercise: Stone Stacking
Stacking stones are an ancient way to mark the trail, make offerings, and leave prayers at sacred spots in nature such as on mountain passes. In this practice, taking the time to gather and stack the stones opens the mind to quiet contemplation and reflection.
Gather many stones that are somewhat flat. The best place to gather stacking stones is around a river bed or at the ocean where the water has worn down the stone, smoothing it out. Choose a place to stack your stones, a place in your yard. The direction west is a good place, as it signifies the time of death, rebirth, and reflection.
You can dedicate your stack of stones to something specific, like a prayer for something that you are reflecting on and trying to work out in your life. Take time to sit and carefully stack your stones. If they fall, stack them again. Perhaps you need to choose a different stone. When you feel you are finished leave the stone as an offering to this place and a reminder of the situation you are working through.
Eight of Disks: Perseverance
After the fallow energy of the Seven of Disks and time spent contemplating and composting, our work and effort begins to flower. In the plant symbolism, the Eight of Disks reminds us of the diligent perseverance it takes for a tree to grow, flower, and finally produce fruit. Eights are fours doubled and symbolize the energy of strength, foundation, and grounding with more structure and deliberate manifestation. This card indicates the value of patience and long, hard work, but a kind of work that is incredibly joyous and to be treasured in its undertaking.
In the Waite-Smith deck we see a figure carefully crafting with tools and then artfully hanging his work. Traditionally, this card is linked to the artisan of old, the real time it took to master a craft, beginning with apprenticeship at a young age. The gray sky behind the figure symbolizes the energy of focus, quiet, diligence, and practice which can be dull at times but is eventually rewarding. Six of the disks hang completed, showing the pride in perseverance; one disk is being finished, and another lays on the ground showing work is still at hand. The disks figuring as artistic pieces in this card (rather than coins) remind us that our work is also our offering, our gift, and our wealth.
The image of the card on the Crowley deck shows a beautiful, balanced, flowering tree. The huge pink flowers are at their peak and yet still in the shade, symbolizing the quality of divine timing and trust in the right moment for the flowers to be revealed and turned to fruit. Work is still needed on projects and right effort is important here to continue to bring a vision into fully blossoming form.
My grandfather was a traditional cabinet maker from Hungary, which he learned as an apprentice in the Old World way. He never used nails, only wooden pins crafted perfectly to bring the pieces of wood together. Today’s world is the antithesis of this kind of craft; things are made cheaply and without diligence. We want instant success, instant results, and instant gratification, and our technology supports it. We often focus on the fruits that a tree produces, and so many fruits! Yet it took countless right conditions to produce the fruits: the right soil, water, sunlight, and pollination. Similarly, in our work we must be sure that it is being properly nourished by not just money and finances, but also healthy relationships and connections.
This card indicates success in a project or venture, but only through hard work and careful deliberation. We must pay attention to the process and be willing to learn if we are not doing it right. This card may also indicate becoming either a mentor or an apprentice, learning a craft. If your work has hit a plateau, seek out more advanced and successful people who can help guide you on your path. The appearance of this card indicates the need to continue our hard work, make a plan, that efforts will be rewarded particularly through our own pride at our hard work and focus.
Meditation: Nature Walk
Find several hours where you can take a long walk in nature alone. Don’t bring along your phone, music, or other distractions; instead make a commitment to be fully present in the woods, park, field, mountain, beach, or any natural place. Bring offerings with you such as a small amount of grains, flowers, or herbs to leave at different points along your walk.
As you begin your walk, first notice the season. Take time to observe the different creatures you see along the way. Try to see them with fresh eyes even if you have already seen a thousand squirrels or sparrows or geese. Perhaps they have something new to show you. Observe the diligence of plants, trees, flowers, and their innate knowing of when to blossom, when to fruit, when to seed.
As you walk, find eight points of interest to stop and connect deliberately with the land. Leave some of your offerings and reflect on the interconnectedness of land, sky, water, and sun. Here the earth element expands to include all aspects of earth and material form. Without breath and air, water to drink, and metabolic fires, we would not be alive. Feel gratitude for the earth and all its creative manifestations; in its perseverance to create and continue even in the face of great adversity, namely humans. Feel into the humility of your presence in a natural world that doesn’t need us.
Nine of Disks: Fruitful Efforts
The Nine of Disks indicates a time of incredible richness, growth, abundance, and fertility. The progress, effort, focus, and concentration of the Eight of Disks begins to fully show on the outer level. Nines comprise the number three and six and contain the harmonious qualities found in each of these cards with even more manifestation, complexity, and depth. Plants receive their life force from the air they breathe, the soil, and the sunlight. Similarly, we take in nourishment in a variety of foods and drinks, as well as air, water, and sunlight.
In the Waite-Smith deck, we see a radiant woman delighting in the bounty of her garden. She is dressed in fine clothing and surrounded by lush beauty. She appears full of vital life force in an effortless manner without struggle or sacrifice. The energy of easefulness and enjoyment fills this card as she enjoys the fruits of her labors as well as the labors of others. The sky behind her is yellow symbolizing creative manifestation, illumination, and success. At ease, she holds a trained, hooded falcon on her wrist indicating the deliberate training of something wild into a flourishing intentional space.
In the Crowley deck, the image shows three disks at the center of the card crossing over and connected to one another like a triple circle Venn diagram. This symbolizes the growth of three and that once two energies unite, a third is born. Surrounding the central three are six disks accompanied by vivid rays of light indicating vital life force, growth, abundance, and clarity. The concentric colored rings in the background symbolize the connection different elements and energies in the manifest world.
The key to this card is diversity and remembering that resources and whatever sustains us comes from many sources. Oftentimes these resources may come from different places that are unique or unexpected. Perhaps a check shows up in the mail or we receive an inheritance or a bonus from work. We can receive support for projects, ideas, and relationships from many different places. This support may come in the form of money or physical funds but also emotional and spiritual support, as well as skills and practical help.
This card may also indicate a flow of life in which people are coming and going, bringing us gifts and joy. Friends, family members, and coworkers are part of our everyday world, and we are in a positive grace of sharing and receiving, the interconnectedness of our relations. This is a card of abundance and growth where we are truly able to see our efforts flowering in the manifest world.
Visualization: Interconnectedness
This exercise is to recognize the interconnectedness of all things. When we do this we recognize we are a single strand in the great web of life. This practice is both humbling and awe inspiring to do as a reminder of our relations to others. Take something as simple as an apple. Hold the apple in your hand and notice its smell, texture, and taste of its skin. Then close your eyes and imagine the tree from where the apple came. Imagine how the trunk looked, the branches and leaves. Notice how the soil looks and the other trees in the orchard next to it.
Envision the laborers coming along to pick the apple and how it got put into a basket, then a bag, then a box, then a truck. Imagine in your mind’s eye following one of the laborers to his home. See his wife, perhaps, and children. See the extra apples he brought home to his children. Notice what they are eating for dinner.
Bring your attention back to the apple and envision the seeds that you know are inside the apple. View them being planted into the soil knowing that at some time in the future, they will yield fruit year after year. This time connect even more deeply in with the feeling of the tree and imagine yourself as this tree. Feel your body as a trunk of tree bending slightly in the wind. Extend your roots deep down to receive the nourishment of the soil and minerals in the earth. Push upward and outward as if you have branches toward the light and the sky. Fell the individual leaves growing effortlessly on your branches, forming into flowers and then fruits or apples. Take a moment to notice the feeling of creating apples that are each filled with seeds, each holding the potential to create another tree full of apples. Breathe into the natural abundance of creative effort and beauty. Affirm your own life giving abilities of creation, beauty, abundance, and radiance.
Ten of Disks: Nourishing the Inner Wealth
Following the coming together of the Nine of Disks, the Ten of Disks is the final card in the suit and the highest expression of elemental earth energy. This is a card of flowering and abundance, a coming together like the six and nine of disks, but on an even greater spiritual level. This card suggests connection to many relations and celebration of a time to dance and make merry, to dress in finery, to give and receive gifts.
The Ten of Disks is a card of radiant joy and expresses itself in the Waite-Smith deck showing a family with the sun shining down with many blessings. The card shows the power and wealth found in personal relations and the importance of community and interconnectedness with others. Building on the Nine of Disks, the energy reaches a full expression and indicates that many gifts and resources are flowering. Connections with others open and are filled with love. It seems as if everything you touch has the potential to turn to gold. We see a wise elder wearing a robe of fruitful wisdom, a couple in love and connection, and a small child playing with two dogs. The family dynamic is healthy and strong and the structures and arches indicate a developed and full expression of one’s dreams, creative endeavors, work in the world, and fulfilling relationships.
The Crowley deck shows ten golden coins in the shape of the Tree of Life, the sacred system of Kabbalah backed by several violet coins behind. This indicates the spiritual manifestation of inner wealth into outer wealth. The inward, alchemical process of transmuting pain, fear, and shadow into light, beauty, and power is the true wealth, the true gift of the human spirit. This card illuminates this process of welcoming inner abundance first, only to experience it outwardly. When this becomes a state of being, true joy, then the outward experiences matter less and we find gratitude and radiance in every moment, even in challenging situations.
Tens indicate the end of one phase, the beginning a new phase, and is the time of flowering and blooming. Often this happens just as the energy shifts; this is the peak card, the card that indicates something has reached its height or has the potential to reach it. Of course, following a peak is usually a descent, a shift, a change, so it is wise to acknowledge the flowering beauty and abundance of this card as well as the natural ebb that will likely follow.
Creating prosperity and abundance in one’s life, true prosperity in the form of joy, love, and radiance, always begins within. I had a dream where I was walking along a path in Hawaii and suddenly an enormous ulu (breadfruit) fell directly at my feet. The ulu symbolizes wealth in Hawaiian and also has the potential to feed many people, particularly a large one! It is a very nutritious fruit that is full of starch similar to a potato. In the dream, this ulu was huge and in perfectly ripe condition with no marks or bruises, a symbolic image of wealth, nourishment, and gratitude all together.
When this card appears in a reading, it signifies fulfillment of a dream, wealth, and abundance. It also indicates the connection with family, friends, and/or beloveds for this dream to be fully realized. Wealth is truly nourishing when shared with others. This card also indicates that the path is in alignment with the divine energy of the higher self that naturally moves to benefit others.
Ceremony: Stone & Seed Gratitude
In this exercise, we affirm our own inner wealth by feeling grateful for all that enriches our life. Becoming wealthy in life is often as simple as tuning into the wealth that already exists in our daily reality. Gather ten stones, paint to use on them, and ten seeds and small pots with soil. Make a list of ten things you are grateful for and ten things you wish to activate or manifest in your life. Before you start, create an altar with pictures and symbols of things you are grateful for and what you wish to manifest. Choose one or more candles to use during your ceremony.
Next, set aside time to create your stone and seed ceremony. Create a sacred space, calling to the four directions, your guides, and your ancestors. Light the candle and then spend time painting each stone with a color, symbol, or word to represent your gratitudes. Then take each of the ten seeds, blow into them what you wish to manifest and plant them in a pot with soil, water, and love. Place a gratitude stone next to the pot, directly linking your manifestation wishes with your gratitude. This is also a symbol of endings and beginnings, as the cycle of disks has reached a new phase in your life.