Druidcraft study group - Princess of Pentacles

WalesWoman

Good catch Voodoogayl! I've thought that this card is so much about the transition from girlhood to womanhood and this would represent that physical unmistakable symbol of it.
 

Laurelin

I hope this doesn't get too personal for the group. I know a young girl of 14 who just got her period. She looks about the same age as this princess. This young lady has been through plenty, her mother's surgery and recovery, her parents' divorce, teasing from kids at school, and all manner of difficulty. I have known her since she was about six. She was such a ball of energy when she was younger that she literally wore out all the adults in the room with her antics. She was a wall climber. Though only fourteen now, she's mellow, well rounded, introspective, and smart. Her experiences have made her into a young lady very young. When she started her first cycle, she was very proud and reflective about it. She pondered the meaning of the changes and went forth with pride at entering this new stage in her life. She reminds me so much of this card... all I can think of when I see it is my little Jade.

She, like the princess in this card, is ever pondering the next stage in her life and where it may lead. This card just drips with "rite of passage" to me. The tomb/monument behind her, the cool, mossy rocks, the dusk/dawn of the sky, the tummultuous clouds in the background, the leafless tree... it all looks like new beginnings. 'Though I've been prone to "cry birch" in the past, this tree really looks to me like the silvery bark of a birch tree. It's hard to see from the scan and without any leaves present, but even if it's just my impression, I think it's valid and salient to the meaning of the card.

--Laurelin
 

Arania

I was thinking of blood, too.

The first thing that comes to my mind when seeing this card is - she knows what she wants to do already, she is just thinking up the best way to implement it. The direct way may not be the best, so she is using her female intuition to use the path of least resistance.

The double spiral is, if I am not mistaken, the celtic symbol used for the journey to the next life. This probably refers to the princess' journey to womanhood - is that why there is blood? Has she just experienced the first menstruation?
 

inanna_tarot

I do love this Princess too (but I love all the cards lol)

I hadnt thought of the first blood rites, but now you've all expanded on it, the more I see it! Shes out on her first moonlodge, like the vision quests of the native americans. This where she is crossing 2 worlds, of child to adult, of the individual to the tribe.
The spirals are like the spirals of the Strength card, that the energy of Nwyfre, that the movements of Gaia will continue to nourish and protect us if we open up to them, otherwise we are disconnected and alone.

Looking at this scene and I dont see it being too far away from the Ace of Pentacles, like she has been in the Tomb of the bear after her first blood ritual and is now left to meditate and ponder on what has happened and her future, the past of her people and what her blood remembers of the land rather than what she knows of the land.
Also i've heard of some first blood rites offering a red cloak or veil for this is a girl going into woman hood.. and then when the time of Croning comes the red cloak is removed and replaced with a white one, or sometimes a black one.

I cant see any ogham here other than the Birch/Beith. But then thats good. This is earth or earth, of the life energy of the earth. I can almost see Cernunnos' eyes in the light of the dawning sun (earth/north of midwinter and rebirth), and like the Princess and Cernunnos come to an understanding, an awareness of knowing their place in that energy. I can see the elders of her tribe saying she is wise beyond her years, but its not wisdom, its the truth of her land that she feels.

I agree with all the hobbit ideas, shes definately got a low centre of gravity! lol.
She is one with the ancestors of Blood and Bone, of Earth and Stone.
 

Willow Huntermoon

I too agree that the little Princess was sent out to think upon her path as she is now entering into womanhood. The pentacle encompasses all the elements and spirt. I have heard somewhere that we all carry the wisdom of our ancestors in our blood, the spirals symbolizing a journey into womanhood.

Even her stance has a lot to say as she is firmly planted her legs apart and opening up to the Earth. This little Princess is connected to Mother Earth and the cycles of life as she nourishes the Earth with her wise blood (life blood) contributing to the ancestral songs/voices on the wind.

Knowing to the Earths Mothers womb we will all return one dayand recyled back, we never will cease to exist.

I love this card, it is so wide eyed and innocent.

Willow Huntermoon ;)
 

Aedrielle

I drew this card as my daily yesterday and I spent some time looking at it and using my intuition to interpret it and I'm happy to say I came up with a lot of similar things as you guys did. I also didn't even think of some of the things mentioned here, either, so it's really great to get another perspective.

This Princess is my favorite, I think. I wish I knew her. She seems like a very grounded person who's wise beyond her years. A true Old-Soul. Like the type of person who always has something to share, and it's always something good. :)

She seems lively and spirited without being brash and hasty. I think she thinks about things a good long time before she does them.

I like her :)
 

nellie juson

Picked this card yesterday for my daily card. My first idea was that shes looking at the pentacle and trying to decide where to hang it.....maybe in a decorating-the-home way?
 

hopena

This was my card, when I first started studying the deck, after Christmas 2005/beginning of 2006. Even though I was 30 at the time, so it probably wouldn't be chosen as my significator by anyone else, she kept showing up, so I have a fondness for her.

She looks very sweet and calm, curious, but grounded.