Renaissance Tarot (Jones / Lyle) - 9 of Pentacles

Sulis

I LOVE this card.

Here we see 2 branches cut from a tree, both in full 'flower' with the flowers being coins or pentacles. There are 9 of them.
The branches are held together but not tied together at their base by a golden ribbon and are joined at the top by a single pentacle which seems to be cradled by leaves from both plants.

Nines are about completion and to me speak of the pause before the push into the next cycle, ended and begun by the Ten.
Nine is when we stop and look back at where we have been and at how we have got to where we are. They are related to The Hermit and show the accumulation of a cycle of events or knowledge.
Because they are related to The Hermit they are often quite lonely cards and are about a sense of completion and maturity that comes from within.

So here we see the near culmination of the Pentacles suit.
After the movement towards balance and progress shown in the eight we now see the blossoming of the nine.
This is a time when we have what we need and what we've worked for in the previous cards. Often in this card we see a lady in a garden. She is wealthy and disciplined and has all she wants yet she is cut off, perhaps by the very things she has worked so hard for.
This is a card then of looking at what we have and at what we've worked for and for assessing how we got these things and how we got to the point we're at now.
A time for looking back and also for looking forward.
The single Pentacle at the top to me is the lady in the garden. She has everything she wants and needs, physically but she is separated from others by her very success.

This card came up as an advice card for me recently and it clearly told me to stop worrying about others and what they have and focus on myself (that single pentacle at the top).

I've included images of the lady in her garden from the Rider-Waite-Smith card and also of the 9 de Deniers from the Heron Conver as this TdM version really reminds me of the Renaissance Tarot version in the way it cradles the central coin.
 

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Enchanted

When I first looked at this card, into my mind came "How does your garden grow?" The answer "pretty damn fine!" :D Your efforts have born fruit, that planted seed has grown, with all your efforts and look what it has become. Well done you!!!

Sometimes for me the pentacles are about effort, hard work, dedication, study, planning, which is why I find it hard to see this card, or more, the woman that is usually depicted on this card as a "kept" woman. For me, it is the epitome of solid effort, and here is the reward, the results.

I love this...
Sulis said:
This card came up as an advice card for me recently and it clearly told me to stop worrying about others and what they have and focus on myself (that single pentacle at the top).
that is great, it makes a whole lot of sense to me. Perhaps you could even take it one step further. Not only, not worrying about what others have but REALLY taking the time to acknowledge your own worth and accomplishments. Take the time to smell the roses, give yourself a pat on the back for what you have achieved, not deride yourself what you have YET to achieve.

If you tie this card back to the Hermit, I like to think of it as the capacity to be happy alone, to depend only on yourself and to be able to take care of yourself. Sometimes, I think that that can be a piece of advice from this card... it's ME time! Forget everyone else for a bit, take time for you.

Take a break, take a potter around your garden, or a park, go for a stroll, just enjoy all the earthly sensations, the smell of freshly mowed grass, the way after rain has fallen, the leaves on the trees shimmer as the raindrops stay on them like lots of little lights when the sun shines on them. A butterfly that dances its way around you, the song of birds. Simple, yet inherently naturally magical. :) This is what this depiction of the 9 of pentacles says to me.

If I were to rename this card, I would want to call it "Grace", that word really personifies this card for me.
 

Sulis

Enchanted said:
When I first looked at this card, into my mind came "How does your garden grow?" The answer "pretty damn fine!" Your efforts have born fruit, that planted seed has grown, with all your efforts and look what it has become. Well done you!!!

Sometimes for me the pentacles are about effort, hard work, dedication, study, planning, which is why I find it hard to see this card, or more, the woman that is usually depicted on this card as a "kept" woman. For me, it is the epitome of solid effort, and here is the reward, the results.
Yes 'How does your garden grow?' goes really well with this card :)

The 'kept woman' analogy doesn't work for me either and for the very reasons you've mentioned. When I see the woman in the garden I think that she has worked hard for what she's got herself... She's not a sit around do nothing type of gal. I reckon that if she's got the nouse to train a falcon then she's probably made her fortune herself.
The way the plants have been cut and tied with a ribbon makes me think that whoever has cut them down has done so to enjoy them and they've grown and tended them themselves too. They are the fruits of someone's labour.

Enchanted said:
that is great, it makes a whole lot of sense to me. Perhaps you could even take it one step further. Not only, not worrying about what others have but REALLY taking the time to acknowledge your own worth and accomplishments. Take the time to smell the roses, give yourself a pat on the back for what you have achieved, not deride yourself what you have YET to achieve.

If you tie this card back to the Hermit, I like to think of it as the capacity to be happy alone, to depend only on yourself and to be able to take care of yourself. Sometimes, I think that that can be a piece of advice from this card... it's ME time! Forget everyone else for a bit, take time for you.

Take a break, take a potter around your garden, or a park, go for a stroll, just enjoy all the earthly sensations, the smell of freshly mowed grass, the way after rain has fallen, the leaves on the trees shimmer as the raindrops stay on them like lots of little lights when the sun shines on them. A butterfly that dances its way around you, the song of birds. Simple, yet inherently naturally magical. This is what this depiction of the 9 of pentacles says to me.

If I were to rename this card, I would want to call it "Grace", that word really personifies this card for me.
I really like this.
The advice I got from the cards a few weeks ago was more along the lines of 'put your own house in order before you worry about others' but I've also had the 9 of Coins telling me to do just what you advise, to look at my achievements and pat myself on the back :)
 

Papageno

I really like that idea of "how does your garden grow" and "grace"
but I'm having a problem grasping the solitude thing....Hermit #9 etc.
just never been able to grasp this concept of singularity that everybody sees :confused: tending your own garden? .....living in your own little world? :confused:
 

Enchanted

Sulis said:
The way the plants have been cut and tied with a ribbon makes me think that whoever has cut them down has done so to enjoy them and they've grown and tended them themselves too. They are the fruits of someone's labour.
Yes, I very much see craft like hobbies in this card, the way it is arranged with the ribbon at the bottom, it almost looks like something you could make or arrange yourself. The ribbon seems to add a prettiness and also a completeness, like the finishing touch, or something that has been crafted with a great attention to detail. Hmmm, perhaps there could be a piece of advice there too... pay attention to the little details? Maybe?
Papageno said:
I'm having a problem grasping the solitude thing....Hermit #9 etc. just never been able to grasp this concept of singularity that everybody sees :confused: tending your own garden? .....living in your own little world? :confused:
I had problems with this also, until recently, one of those lightbulb moments which are always so nice! :) I always felt like I kinda got it, but not really, something was missing. I feel like the 9 of Pentacles, like the Hermit, knows the difference between being "alone" and being "lonely". And there is a difference. The woman (that is usually depicted on this card) never looks lonely to me, she is happy... contented, to be on her own. And I think that she would welcome company, but she is content either way. And this card I feel practically beckons company, it almost looks like a table arrangement at some fancy dinner party, or a napkin ring... all of course home made but nonetheless lovely, in fact probably more so! :) This card feels very celebratory to me in many ways.

In ties to the Hermit, I also do get a certain amount of spiritualness from this card, but perhaps more in an inner sense and perhaps too more in a connection to nature kind of way. If you think about it in purely practical terms, if your material needs are met, then you are able to turn your attention to the more spiritual side of your life. Free from worry and want. Perhaps it is about how you spend your free time, your alone time, what you do for pleasure and to find peace.

The ribbon, in some respects reminds me of the hedge like walls of the garden in some depictions of this card. The woman appears contained, much like this arrangement. I almost see that as some kind of cocoon, safe in the garden, shutting out the outside world, noise and distraction, but I don't think this is necessarily in a bad way, perhaps again this echoes the Hermit, it is a way to find peace within yourself.
 

Papageno

Thanks Enchanted :) I was hoping you'd toss me a life jacket LOL
that's tremendous!
 

Sulis

I think that Enchanted is right about the lonliness / aloneness thing.
The Hermit is alone because he chooses to be alone. He has taken himself away from people and society as part of his spiritual journey or quest.
He's alone but he isn't lonely (I don't think he is anyway).
He's on a quest for enlightenment or wisdom but he'll help others if they stumble upon him.

As well as that I like to think of nines relating to The Hermit because The Hermit is old. He is wise but that's because he has lived so long. In older decks he was represented by Saturn or Father Time. He's at the end of his journey (almost) and he spends his time looking at how he's got to where he is and also looking forward, maybe to his next life and that's what we do in the nines.
Nines are that pause before we reach ten and begin again. They are times of assessment and also of planning and it's that, as well as the aloneness that makes me think of The Hermit.

With the 9 of Pentacles you've worked for what you've got and now you can enjoy the product of your hard work.. You're self sufficient, you can look after yourself. You don't need anyone else to make you happy but if someone else comes along then that's ok too..
 

Enchanted

Thanks Papageno, I'm glad you found my ramblings helpful. :)
Sulis said:
Nines are that pause before we reach ten and begin again. They are times of assessment and also of planning and it's that, as well as the aloneness that makes me think of The Hermit.
I love how you do this... tie in the numbers, I always overlook that as I don't know enough about it. But what you say always inspires me to go off on tangents in thought. And here I go again... :D Perhaps it is nothing but this thought occurred to me.

The pause... as a kind of recharge perhaps? I have found that there are mainly two types of ways that people recharge, one in the company of others, the other alone... not lonely, but alone and enjoying being alone and gaining strength and energy from that. Falling into the latter category myself, I can relate to the 9 of pentacles in this way.
 

Papageno

Enchanted said:
I love how you do this... tie in the numbers, I always overlook that as I don't know enough about it.

ah the numbers......can be very revealing indeed......I once drew 10/swords 10/pentacles with Judgement .......see what I mean

pretty amazing stuff
 

Papageno

Sulis said:
In older decks he was represented by Saturn or Father Time. He's at the end of his journey (almost) and he spends his time looking at how he's got to where he is and also looking forward, maybe to his next life and that's what we do in the nines.

I forgot about that......the hourglass....which isn't depicted as much anymore