does 'failure' mean failure?

i can't get past the negativity of some of the cards in this deck. the 7 of disks/ failure is one of them. this card was in the 'insight' position of a spread i did, and i don't like to think that all that will come of this situation is failure.

even though i'm prepared to accept that i was wondering whether there are other readings possible? maybe it's the key word thingy in general that i can't see past.

(funnily i did a reading for a friend with the 7 of cups in it. she was very taken by the card 'oh i like that colour green' and she was very amused by 'debauch').

Well, there is a reason for the much cliched line: "Failures are the stepping stones to success"

Or as Nick in My Family thought his dad said: You can't learn without screwing up once in a while.

Yes it is a negative card and I'm struck by how many of his cards are negative but they are also capable of great beauty too.

funny. I don't really see the 7 of pentacles as failing. I see it as needing patience, and not to rush through something, and stay in control of a situation.

could it be that the 7 of pentacles meant that in the reading you did?

Kenny said:

Or as Nick in My Family thought his dad said: You can't learn without screwing up once in a while.

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at least you made me laugh at this one. i can just see him sying that!

celticnoodle said:

funny. I don't really see the 7 of pentacles as failing. I see it as needing patience, and not to rush through something, and stay in control of a situation.

could it be that the 7 of pentacles meant that in the reading you did?

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i don't know if that's what it meant. maybe i'll post the whole reading in the other forum...

In an "insight" position especially, I might see it as telling you, "Ask yourself what's the worst that could happen." What does "failure" actually mean in your situation, and is it really as bad as what you're afraid of? Is fear of failure holding you back?

Well according to the book of thoth, the imbalance of the 7 of pentacles is due to lack of effort. It's a failure that may have been avoided had you not allowed yourself to succumb to laziness, sloth.

Now with that said, I've always found this card to appear in readings for people in material matters where acting prudently would have taken "too much" effort. So they took a chance and lost miserably. Such an example where this card appeared was for a friend who was apprehensive about loaning money to a friend because she had a poor track record when it came to repayment. Against his better judgment he loaned her the money because it was easier to just comply with her request than to explain why he couldn't. His desire to avoid conflict and follow the path of less trouble for that moment resulted in loss of money later on. She avoids his calls and lies about her situation to further push back repayment. Since that event, his readings almost always have the 7 of disks present, a reminder that his current financial difficulties could have been avoided if he had just listened to his gut instead of dismissing it on sheer hope that despite all the other people she had let down, that she wouldn't do it to him.

If this card is supposed to represent something insightful, I would say it's the warning beforehand that there is no such thing as easy money. And that a fool and his money will soon part. Watch out for quick money schemes. In the event of loans, don't expect to get paid back, because the person's money is no good.

I, personally, don't care for the one word descriptions on the cards. They definitely are a part of the card's description, but one single word cannot stand for the card's entire meaning. The meanings of Crowley's/Harris' cards are so complex, contradictory, and dependant upon the context in which they are pulled that the word seems to do a great discredit to the beauty of the art. I got so fed up with my readee's seeing the word on the card and making their own determination of the meaning of the card, that I whited them all out! (only from the minor arcana, of course) Especially failure. There are so many intricate and possible aspects to this card, but when a reader or readee sees the word "failure", there is no escape from that connotation.

I highly recomend the white out!! Without the words, you are free to interpret what you see and experience from the art on the day and context that you pick the card. That's where the meaning lies for me: the knowledge of the numbers (7), the insight of the suit (disks), and most importantly the power of Frida Harris' art. Those single words have no place in that equation.

The 7 of Disks looks to me like a big pile of dead leaves. Maybe that you have been too lazy to sweep away. But there could be life under those leaves that cannot reach sunlight. Maybe it's a time to sweep away the old ways, the old thoughts, or the old, unfinished projects so that your current new project can have the space and sunlight to grow. Or maybe it's saying that a project is old and dead and needs to be let go of in order to decay and free itself from your life.

Failure – so explode the meaning. It’s a beginning, not the end.

Failure for whom? Failure of what?

Failure of things to turn out the way you envisioned them?

Failure to fail is failure. Failure for a self-fulfilling prophesy to fulfill could be kinda cool.

Failure to get sick, failure to succumb.

Failure to out and have a good time with friends because you choose to stay home and work on a project that could change some aspect of the world in 10-years?

Failure could very well be unable to see the payoff…

I have a friend who has this card as one of her three decan cards.

It usually comes up in a reading or a group Tarot workshop for her.

She is sort of resigned to it, but doesn't really get it.

But she is always failing. If she reads this she will be angry at me, but really, to me it's so obvious. She comes up with a great plan (I'll give her credit for that) but due to flaws in it, or it being out of sinc with her nature I just KNOW it's gonna fail. It's obvious to me, but she gets ponky if I voice it, as I have no faith in her. (not true, I do have faith in her for the things i know she is good at), but she always comes up with these plans and scemes that I know are'nt going to work or be done to the end. So there is all these failures littered about her environment physically and psychically.

And I see her problem as the same as the message in the card, and the lack of understanding this principle a big problem with humanity at large;

LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES.

Not just that, pull it apart and see where it went wrong and next time TRY TO REMIDY the weak or faulty point. Knowing what is beyond you helps as well. Those with giant big ideas and little way of fulfilling them, although they try is certainly a formulae for 'failure'.

So for me, this card gives the advice above.