Apr 16 24
Ten of Pentacles (reversed)
22. Grace
34. The Power of the Great
These first few lines are the general aphoristic returns for the week. They are raw and uninterpreted; there to use how you’d like. (The specific readings follow.)
From “D.G.”: What is the next step, towards healing?
A mooring lost — now a need for simplicity. Do not allow for any distractions for pain. Significant pain/loss changes one forever — this has to be accepted. There’s no going back.
A new opportunity will arise which will demand your dignity and energy — though it CANNOT be rushed.
Still you can never be cocky about your past despair. Healing is not mere forgetting but pain recontextualized through a commitment to virtuousness.
Pain is an opportunity.
Complete Reading
This week we pulled the Ten of Pentacles (reversed). “Tens” in tarot indicate the sort of apotheosis of the meaning of a particular suit. The suit of Pentacles points to areas of security, practical utility, and purposefulness. So, when regularly oriented (upright) the Ten of Pentacles indicates modes like making big, straight-forward pushes utilizing common sense and doing so through very practical perseverance. When reversed as it is here, either because of fantasy or a certain looseness, an essential mooring has been lost. Return to earth.
Our first hexagram this week is #22, Grace. Valuing beauty is fundamental in all endeavors, but thinking beauty to be the main or only thing to consider, can lead to catastrophe — a beautiful surface can mislead, if other depth examinations aren’t appraised. “…at the highest stage of development all ornament is discarded… perfect grace consists not in exterior ornamentation of the substance, but in the simple fitness of its form.” The “beauty of form — is necessary in any union if it is to be well ordered and pleasing rather than disordered and chaotic” however “it is not the essential or fundamental thing; it is only the ornament and therefore to be used sparingly…” It is of cumulative importance for actions and objects to be “well ordered” and “pleasing” in appearance, but these are ultimately surface attributes and cannot speak to actualities that are unseen and casual (think of the beauty of the night sky vs. the information delivered by the Hubble telescope).
There were three changes this week, of which the specific notes are: a beard is not the face and “at the highest stage of development all ornament is discarded... form no longer conceals content but brings out its value to the full... perfect grace consists not in exterior ornamentation of the substance, but in the simple fitness of its form...”
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #34, The Power of the Great. This hexagram details a moment where one’s “movement and strength” is coalescing. It seems like this would be a time to let momentum simply take its course, however, there are tight warnings here: “The hexagram points to a time when inner worth mounts with great force and comes to power. But its strength has already passed beyond the median line, hence there is danger that one may rely entirely on one’s own power and forget to ask what is right. There is danger too that, being intent on movement, we may not wait for the right time… For that is truly great power which does not degenerate into mere force but remains inwardly united with the fundamental principles of right and of justice. When we understand this point — namely, that greatness and justice must be indissolubly united — we understand the true meaning of all that happens in heaven and on earth.”
- Secure a lost mooring and return to earth.
- At the highest stage of development all ornament is discarded, exposing the simple fitness of form.
- Greatness and justice must be indissolubly united.
- Even when your powers are at their height you must wait for the right time to use them.
From “D.G.”: What is the next step, towards healing?
A mooring lost — now a need for simplicity. Do not allow for any distractions for pain. Significant pain/loss changes one forever — this has to be accepted. There’s no going back.
A new opportunity will arise which will demand your dignity and energy — though it CANNOT be rushed.
Still you can never be cocky about your past despair. Healing is not mere forgetting but pain recontextualized through a commitment to virtuousness.
Pain is an opportunity.
Complete Reading
This week we pulled the Ten of Pentacles (reversed). “Tens” in tarot indicate the sort of apotheosis of the meaning of a particular suit. The suit of Pentacles points to areas of security, practical utility, and purposefulness. So, when regularly oriented (upright) the Ten of Pentacles indicates modes like making big, straight-forward pushes utilizing common sense and doing so through very practical perseverance. When reversed as it is here, either because of fantasy or a certain looseness, an essential mooring has been lost. Return to earth.
Our first hexagram this week is #22, Grace. Valuing beauty is fundamental in all endeavors, but thinking beauty to be the main or only thing to consider, can lead to catastrophe — a beautiful surface can mislead, if other depth examinations aren’t appraised. “…at the highest stage of development all ornament is discarded… perfect grace consists not in exterior ornamentation of the substance, but in the simple fitness of its form.” The “beauty of form — is necessary in any union if it is to be well ordered and pleasing rather than disordered and chaotic” however “it is not the essential or fundamental thing; it is only the ornament and therefore to be used sparingly…” It is of cumulative importance for actions and objects to be “well ordered” and “pleasing” in appearance, but these are ultimately surface attributes and cannot speak to actualities that are unseen and casual (think of the beauty of the night sky vs. the information delivered by the Hubble telescope).
There were three changes this week, of which the specific notes are: a beard is not the face and “at the highest stage of development all ornament is discarded... form no longer conceals content but brings out its value to the full... perfect grace consists not in exterior ornamentation of the substance, but in the simple fitness of its form...”
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #34, The Power of the Great. This hexagram details a moment where one’s “movement and strength” is coalescing. It seems like this would be a time to let momentum simply take its course, however, there are tight warnings here: “The hexagram points to a time when inner worth mounts with great force and comes to power. But its strength has already passed beyond the median line, hence there is danger that one may rely entirely on one’s own power and forget to ask what is right. There is danger too that, being intent on movement, we may not wait for the right time… For that is truly great power which does not degenerate into mere force but remains inwardly united with the fundamental principles of right and of justice. When we understand this point — namely, that greatness and justice must be indissolubly united — we understand the true meaning of all that happens in heaven and on earth.”