Prosperity Mandala, Day 4
Apr. 23rd, 2019 12:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarot_scholarThe next card in this mandala represents energies for the antidote to remove all barriers to prosperity and again it's fitting that the card in this spot is one that as an antidote—it's a card I chose as a solution to the problems I have with wealth and money (which were the 5 of Swords and the Ace of Pentacles).
I chose it as a solution to those specific problems because it seemed to be the happy medium between the two extremes represented by the 5 of Swords (cut-throat, ruthless profit chasing) and Ace of Pentacles (my resistance to accepting help, materially and otherwise). The compassionate, nurturing, mothering energy of The Empress is a bastion against the callousness in the 5 of Swords. If you're operating on that Empress vibrational energy, how can you muster enough hate and venom to torch the city to the ground? (I forget if I mentioned earlier, but yeah, the 5 of Swords in the Petersburg Tarot is a little more hardcore than the usual Waite-Smith imagery; the figures have settled their dispute against the backdrop of a city in flames.) But also, on a deeper level, if you have the plenitude and the abundance of the Empress, you don't feel to compete and to accumulate. "I've had enough, someone else can have the last slice of cake."
As for the Ace of Pentacles, for me the Empress is a reminder that people find it fulfilling to help and give (as I do!) and that allowing them to engage that Empress energy is doing them a favor, in a way. There is no shame in accepting something from someone who offers it as a gift out of love rather than as a condescending handout out of pity.
The last card in this mandala is supposed to be your personal key to prosperity (or however it's phrased), but I think this one is worth extra thought as well. How to bring more of that good good Empress energy into my life?
There is the surface level of Venus and beauty: indulgences, creativity, SEX sex sex. This brings up a crazy-long dream/real life conversation I had with a friend that I've been meaning to record here for aaaaaaages but I have been thinking about the role of love and beauty deities in my life, especially beauty (inasmuch as they relate to beauty rather than, say, fertility). It's very easy to work with energies that are things you value in yourself and others, while working with something you hold in disdain is much harder. And yet, are there rewards? This has been on my mind a lot. I want to think about it more deeply soon.
There's also the mothering aspect of this card: nurturing and caring for other living beings. Gardening comes to mind, and I do love my houseplants—but surely they're not the antidote that will remove all barriers to prosperity????
Anyone who knows me from THE INTERNET would maybe be surprised to hear that in real life I play my BIG OL' FEELINGS close to the vest. I always read my friends list, but when I'm not swamped with life I'm a chatty lil' bitch and my natural tendency is to be extremely...enthusiastic...in my comments. I LOVE THAT HAT YOU LOOK CUTE AHHH DON'T BE SO HARD ON YOURSELF I LIKE YOU!!!! (I might also imagine myself as more enthusiastic than I come across, but the urge is there!) In real life I rein it in HARD because no one likes a creeper. But that's not particulary Empress-y, is it?
I chose it as a solution to those specific problems because it seemed to be the happy medium between the two extremes represented by the 5 of Swords (cut-throat, ruthless profit chasing) and Ace of Pentacles (my resistance to accepting help, materially and otherwise). The compassionate, nurturing, mothering energy of The Empress is a bastion against the callousness in the 5 of Swords. If you're operating on that Empress vibrational energy, how can you muster enough hate and venom to torch the city to the ground? (I forget if I mentioned earlier, but yeah, the 5 of Swords in the Petersburg Tarot is a little more hardcore than the usual Waite-Smith imagery; the figures have settled their dispute against the backdrop of a city in flames.) But also, on a deeper level, if you have the plenitude and the abundance of the Empress, you don't feel to compete and to accumulate. "I've had enough, someone else can have the last slice of cake."
As for the Ace of Pentacles, for me the Empress is a reminder that people find it fulfilling to help and give (as I do!) and that allowing them to engage that Empress energy is doing them a favor, in a way. There is no shame in accepting something from someone who offers it as a gift out of love rather than as a condescending handout out of pity.
The last card in this mandala is supposed to be your personal key to prosperity (or however it's phrased), but I think this one is worth extra thought as well. How to bring more of that good good Empress energy into my life?
There is the surface level of Venus and beauty: indulgences, creativity, SEX sex sex. This brings up a crazy-long dream/real life conversation I had with a friend that I've been meaning to record here for aaaaaaages but I have been thinking about the role of love and beauty deities in my life, especially beauty (inasmuch as they relate to beauty rather than, say, fertility). It's very easy to work with energies that are things you value in yourself and others, while working with something you hold in disdain is much harder. And yet, are there rewards? This has been on my mind a lot. I want to think about it more deeply soon.
There's also the mothering aspect of this card: nurturing and caring for other living beings. Gardening comes to mind, and I do love my houseplants—but surely they're not the antidote that will remove all barriers to prosperity????
Anyone who knows me from THE INTERNET would maybe be surprised to hear that in real life I play my BIG OL' FEELINGS close to the vest. I always read my friends list, but when I'm not swamped with life I'm a chatty lil' bitch and my natural tendency is to be extremely...enthusiastic...in my comments. I LOVE THAT HAT YOU LOOK CUTE AHHH DON'T BE SO HARD ON YOURSELF I LIKE YOU!!!! (I might also imagine myself as more enthusiastic than I come across, but the urge is there!) In real life I rein it in HARD because no one likes a creeper. But that's not particulary Empress-y, is it?
