A Gentle Start for the Week

art, books, historical fiction, movies, Quotes, Tarot, writing 1 Minute

Ten of Pentacles from the Art of Life Tarot by Charlene Livingstone

This card immediately made me think of “Little Women”. If you’re a guy and haven’t read it or even know what it is, it’s a book by Louisa May Alcott about four sisters during the Civil War while their father is off fighting and they and their mother and aunt try to keep the household running. The family was financially strapped (except for the wealthy aunt), and between the painting of the two girls and the sentiment of the quote on the card, it seems to be the embodiment of that book. I think of the girls in the picture as Jo and Beth (Beth was the musical one, played by Claire Danes in the 1994 movie based on the book. Jo was played by Winona Ryder, and Christian Bale played Laurie, their neighbor).

Though the March family is struggling financially, they pull together and do what they can to help support the family and eachother. Never were there four sisters closer and more devoted to eachother in literature (and probably life. Although the lives of the Bronte sisters has some parallels with the March girls). They write and perform plays to amuse themselves and their families, make personal sacrifices for eachother, spend time aiding neighbors in more dire straits than themselves. I think that fits in nicely with this quote by Senn. They enjoyed their time as best they could despite their lack of material wealth. I often wished my family had been more like this. My sisters and I were more often at eachother’s throats. Oh well.

The Ten of Pentacles is often called “the Wall St. card” because it speaks of great wealth, and as a pentacle (earth) card, this is usually of the material variety. This card suggests we look beyond material wealth to other things that truly make us happy. You can live without a lot of ‘stuff’ when your heart is full. An old Russian blessing says “May your purse be heavy and your heart be light.” Well, maybe our hearts can be light even when our purses are the same.

Have a great week.

Published by D. D. Syrdal

Writer of vampire stories and science fiction. First novel, "Revenants Abroad", available now at Amazon. If you like a vampire you can go out drinking with and still respect yourself in the morning, I think you'd like Andrej.

Published

16 thoughts on “A Gentle Start for the Week”

  1. For all the times that you refer to this deck, it must be one of your all-time favorites. I can understand why. I never did read this particular novel, but maybe I should. I sounds more upbeat than Margaret Mitchell’s, Gone With The Wind, that apparently covers the same time period. Maybe I should now look through the deck again, now that I’m off work. 🙂

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    1. I like to lead off the week with something uplifting. So many people I know are having a rough time right now, in one way or another. And I need this as much as anyone. I also like the deck as much for the art as anything. 🙂

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  2. I lost count on how many times I read Little Women.

    And the Alcott family’s real life was even more fascinating in regards to their heavy involvement in the Transcendentalist movement and social reform.

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  3. You know, I think I only read it once, but it was one of those books that made a HUGE impression. I never forgot it. Thinking about it now, Jo wanting to be a writer may have been the catalyst for my own desire to write. I should re-read it, though. I think I was like, 9-yrs-old when I read it. Way past time for a re-read 😉

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      1. Quickly, um no.

        But storms mean that Autumn is getting closer right? Cold fronts and such? (just agree with me here, my sanity needs it.)

        😉 Have a great afternoon!

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  5. I loved Little Women – Jo was my favorite. The movie also with K. Hepburn. Everybody should read it. So innocent, so well written. Love when you post T. cards. Very intriguing to me.

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      2. Oh no! And you never get books back. That’s too bad. I was thinking of trolling Powells for a lovely old hardcover copy myself. I’m sure my mother threw away the copy I had as a kid (she threw away anything that wasn’t nailed down).

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      4. In a world that values only the material (read: the 1%), it can be hard to keep perspective. Buddha said “Desire is the root of all suffering.” And yet we live in a society where the acquisition of ‘things’ equates to success and happiness. Makes it tough to remember sometimes getting things is not the goal.

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  6. Peace is the goal, I’m convinced of this. I apology for writing this in this way, but I wanted you to know first. I’m thinking of terminating my blog. It’s gotten very flat partly because of all my worries. it’s hard to write when you’re panicked over so many things at once that I keep from everyone. I also can’t seem to find the time to write anything else. I’ve lost readers, feel it’s my fault since the quality has lessened. in any event, I will pen a post telling everyone but you and Jimmie Chew were my first readers so I felt the need to tell you. Again, sorry for putting it on fillingspaces.

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  7. I’m very sorry to hear that, Susannah. I know how much you love writing. I appreciate you letting me know. I think readers come and go, you can only write what you feel moved to write and not worry about trying to please an audience. Maybe a temporary hiatus while you sort out what you want to do would help? I hope you won’t give up writing entirely. We all have our ‘dark nights of the soul’. There have been plenty of times I nearly threw in the towel myself. If nothing else I’ll hope you’ll pop by once in awhile, or drop me an email (you should have my email address from your blog). ::::::BIG HUG:::::: I hope things get better for you soon.

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