Taking Stock Of Your Harvest With The 7 Of Pentacles

Hey All,

I am so thrilled to be taking part in this first ever International Tarot Day blog hop along with so many interesting, inspiring and diverse bloggers. I hope you enjoyed reading all about the 6 of Pentacles over on Heather's blog and in mine, we'll be tackling the more pensive 7.

The 7 of Pentacles to me is like the pause before fruition. This is why for many decks, you’re going to see the scene on this card depicting a sort of growth. In the traditional RWS, we see what I assume is a farmer reflecting on the work that’s so far been achieved - 7 coins blooming in a bushel representing the results of our labour.

This is not an action card. When the 7 of Pentacles shows up, it’s time to take stock and reflect on what’s already been planted. Is it growing healthily? Does it need more water - sun or other forms of TLC? What is the maintenance of the stock costing you? Is it more trouble than it’s worth? And finally, exactly how long is this thing going to take before it reaches maturation!?

Before the 7 of Pentacles lands in a reading, we can use the essence of this card to consciously inform any project, relationship or endeavor that we’ve embarked on. I like to call this the 7 P’s to Growing Your Seed To Success.

So, think about something where you’ve planted those proverbial seeds in the hopes of reaping the benefits and rewards that they promise. Maybe it’s a new project, business venture, relationship or a matter of self-development. Basically, any instance where you’ve invested of yourself whether it’s time, money, effort or a combination of all three.

Once you can think of your thing, let’s examine its potential for growth. You can do this in one of two ways. You can take the following prompts and journal your own responses allowing your answers to come consciously. Or, you can perform a spread using tarot or oracle to help you fill in those blanks. The prompts are below and following that, i’ll provide an example reading using a hypothetical situation so you can see it play out.

1. Plant: The nature of or essence of what’s been planted.
2. Purpose: The intention behind the seed and what you hope to achieve or receive from it.
3. Prepare: What can be done to prepare yourself to receive the fruits of your labour.
4. Provisions: What sustenance, energy or action your seeds require to reach full maturation.
5. Price: What your seeds are costing you (while it may be a financial cost, perhaps it’s something else i.e. emotional, mental etc.)
6. Patience: What you need to keep in mind to remain patient while your seeds blossom.
7. Possibilities: The possible result of the seeds you’ve planted.

Below is a sample situation with example cards drawn to emphasize how this spread may be interpreted.

Situation: “I have been seeing someone for a month now and I’d really like to see this relationship grow and develop into something more serious. Is it worth my time and energy?”

Plant - The Fool: No matter the length of time invested or energy exhausted, this relationship is still in its infant stages. For you, or perhaps both of you, you are hopeful of where it is headed, but you’re also uncertain. You’re not necessarily thinking about all the ways in which it could go wrong, but are rather focused on diving in and enjoying the experience of it on its own.

Purpose - 3 of Swords reversed: This looks like a scary card to receive in this spot, but I’d suggest that this is showing up to indicate that perhaps your hope in this partnership is to overcome past hurts and disappointments. If you’re recently out of a heavy and disappointing relationship, or even if the hurt took place years prior, this card says perhaps there is something to acknowledge there.

Prepare - The Hermit: Go within and reflect on where you hope this will go and what you’re looking for in a partner and relationship. With the 3 of Swords, it seems there is still something unresolved and it would be better to make peace with that before embarking fully into something else.

Provisions - 6 of Pentacles: This relationship, in order to continue to flourish, will require a give and take. It cannot be all one side. If you’re giving too much, you run the risk of being taken advantage of and becoming resentful. If you’re taking too much, your partner may grow to resent you and flee before the relationship has taken off. Make sure a balance is being struck.

Price - 7 of Cups: It seems there is a lot of activity happening mentally around this relationship so it’s quite possible you’re spending a lot of time thinking up all the possibilities and where it can go. Your seeds are costing you energy in the form of fantasy and reflective thought. While it’s okay to daydream now and then, it’s important not to live in this space and remain very aware of what is actually happening in reality.

Patience - The Sun: You’re likely eager to see where this will go, but the best you can do while you wait and watch is to remain hopeful and optimistic. Continue to focus on the things in life that bring you joy and give these things equal energy and attention. This will also help to create balance between your relationship and your independence.

Possibilities - 3 of Cups: While it’s not certain if you’ll be in a full blown romance, it looks like a good possibility that whatever is being cultivated will be lively, fun and energetic. At the worst, you may have a new friend and lots of new social opportunities and beyond that, a more serious relationship may be possible if you can let go a bit of the expectations and allow things to happen organically.

So, are you waiting idly for duds, or are your seeds worth the time and effort they require? Life is a balance and so it’s important to make the effort to attempt to grow what we want. But also, we need to know when enough is enough; when it’s to the point where all the time, money and energy in the world isn’t going to produce what we’re dreaming of. For me, the point of the 7 of Pentacles (and the spread I’ve shared) is to help determine one from the other. Once we know if it’s worth our persistence, then we can make a much more informed decision to either stick with our plans or dig it all up and start again!

I hope you all have been enjoying this blog hop! Please see Jessica's blog at Ever Blue Intuitive for the next next entry. Conversely, if you missed the 6 of Pentacles, feel free to head backwards and visit Heather at All Roads Lead To The Kitchen! Thank you for reading and a huge thank you to Bree for putting this awesome hop together. 

Julia