7 of Pentacles

lawguy51

Mind if I jump in here with a new card? Yes, oh well, too late. This is a most intriguing card for me. I once asked Karen what those supposed sheep actually were...they look more like wolves in sheep's clothing or rather carnivorous-looking sheep. When I draw this card I don't see the usual meaning of patience, letting things grow naturally, or, making a decision as to whether or not to maintain the status quo in your life or embark on some new enterprise. No, when I see this card I think, while you're busy being patient, your flock is being eaten by wolves! In other words, don't become so patient that you let something important pass you by or let someone get the best of you or you let your guard down. I see this card as more of a warning than as a signal to back off and let things be. Prudence is looking down on the scene, isn't she. Perhaps it's not so prudent to take your eye off your flock. Thoughts?

Lawguy51
 

Jewel-ry

Are they sheep? I thought they were pigs or hogs of sorts ... Jewel-ry rushes off to find the book. Hold it there Lawguy, I shall return ...

:)
 

baba-prague

They are really very odd looking animals. Their oddity is partly that they are very old sgraffitos that have become worn down over the years. We peered at them a lot (in person - they are on a wall in Old Town - and in the photograph). One possible interpretation is that they are some kind of wolf-like animal that is attacking the other animals. I think I will try to find the original picture. What we found interesting was the nonchalance of the main figure - he seems to be far away and even quite dreamy. As Lawguy says, he is a little out of touch with reality - somewhat reminiscent of the Four of Cups and yet the scene around him is much more active.

By the way, this card has acquired all sorts of meaning for us, as during the making of Tarot of Prague we actually moved to the street that can be seen on the left. It's a street that in any case has a huge amount of significance for me, so that's all bound up with the meaning of the card.

By the way, when I did a reading last winter about our lost cat, Minnie, two of the cards I got were The Tower and this 7 of Pentacles. I read purely intuitively (as a result also of the other cards) and decided that we were being told that she had fallen off the roof and was wandering around in this park. She had, and she was, and after a lot of determined searching and calling we got her back.
 

Jewel-ry

That's interesting baba, I have just been looking at this card and it looks to me like an animal is being attacked!

I don't know what animal they are. They could be sheep, pigs, boars, wolves, who knows. They do appear more wild than animals that have been farmed though. I keep wanting to use that saying 'happy as a pig in ****' ;)

I think this guy could be putting off what he should be doing, procrastinating. The nicely tended fields are behind him, they don't appear to be in his part of the world. He just seems to have a pack of unruly sheepigs to keep him company. Perhaps he is finding life a little tedious? However, when we look at the background, there is a colourful world outside of his mundane brown one. Maybe lawguy has a point, maybe he needs to be a little more on his guard or he could miss out.

His pentacles are growing nicely though!

:)
 

jema

I got this card as my day-card for the 25:th of august.
In my journal I wrote:
Shepard that is daydreaming while a pack of wolves(?) are tearing apart their prey.

And a lot of other stuff too. But I even tried to erase the part about the wolves - it was just too disturbing right then. In the end I still kept that line though because looking at it now it made perfect sense in terms of how the day progressed.
I was a champion of the oppressed that day. I had to be a strong support for someone being "torn apart" by the pack of wolves that don't understand how others work and who prey on those weaker then them.
The images of Temperance and Prudance lets us know that we will be tested, that patience is required of us. That things will take time and that attack is not the best defence.

Anyway, that is how I read this card this week.
This is the meaning it holds for me right now.
 

Bean Feasa

I wonder if he's actually dreamed up the wolves himself, if they reflect some sort of voraciousness/agressiveness within himself. I often think of 7 as the number of illusion - a strange, magical number where everything's off kilter as we break away from the harmony and stability of six. Now nothing is as it seems. The reality of the pentacles is at odds with this I know but his focus isn't on these, his feet are not really on the ground, and I wouldn't be surprised if these odd animals, sheep/wolves/whatever are creatures of his own imagining.
The arch seems to suggest this possibility of two different worlds too - reality versus the magical or illusional, the outer versus the inner, etc.
Or am I getting way too carried away here for the pentacles suit??
 

annik

I had the impression that the character is thinking to pick up the pentacles in the tree but he is so much absorbed that he forgot about what he had under his nose (the wolves and the cattle).