Welcome to the Lammas Tarot Blog Hop!  Lammas celebrates the grain harvest.

Perhaps you are joining me from Jaymi  Elfords’ blog  (or make sure to back up to her) on this hop around the internet to celebrate the Solstice.  Be sure to continue the hop by moving from this blog to Bonnie Fernandes’ at Intuitive Blogging.   

In these times when most of us go to the supermarket rather than the field to gather our ingredients for dinner, we can easily forget the hard work of bringing in a harvest.  I belong to a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm, Mountain View Farm, so I work no harder than going to the market but I do get to see and listening in on the juggle of farming:  too little rain, too much rain, heat (good for the melons, hard for the harvesters), weeds, and bugs.  There is always a new challenge so to see the rainbow of results reminds us that food is an everyday miracle.

Photo from Mountain View Farm wesite

The woman in the Tarot’s 9 of Pentacles both seems to know the challenge and the sweetness of the harvest.  She stands contented in her garden; she clearly revels in the beauty and abundance but there is a seriousness to her that let’s you know she hasn’t forgotten the work that brought her to this point.

She is a guide that calls you to a deep appreciation of harvest time, both the crops of the outer world and our work of inner growth.  How did she gain this wisdom? Who guided and supported her?

Just as people are a constellation of the traits and influences passed down through families and communities, the wisdom figures appearing on the Tarot cards have their own influences and lineages.
Relationships dictated by number create webs of connections in the Tarot and the 9 of Pentacles is connected directly to the Major Arcana’s 9^th Key, The Hermit, through number.  Both the man and women portrayed are solitary figures.  The Hermit has withdrawn from civilization to seek out his inner wisdom.  The 9 of Pentacles woman has not left society – she inhabits one of its gardens – but she stands alone.  Following the wisdom of the Hermit, she has found that her energy and wisdom come from an interior source rather than being dependant on others. They have both followed a discipline that requires some sacrifice.

There is a more subtle numerological connection to The Empress.  Nine is 3 x 3.  The Empress stands behind the woman of the 9 of Pentacles, perhaps whispering in her ear about bounty, creativity, possibility.  The woman of the 9 of Pentacles has learned to put on these gifts of the Empress; her dress is decorated with flowers that take the same shape as the symbol of Venus on the Empress’ shield.  Love is the overflowing cup feeding the flow of these feminine figures.  The invitation here is to surrender to that flowing mix of love, creativity, beauty (all good things!) and let yourself be carried away by their gifts.

 The Hermit and The Empress are the mother and father of the 9 of Pentacles woman.  She needs both the discipline of solitude and ever flowing love gifted to her by her respective parents to achieve her vision and full potential.

How can we also achieve our harvest, our full potential? These cards suggest a spread I am calling the Harvest Constellation Spread

Hermit-Inspired Cards: 

• What wisdom does my Inner Guide offer to me about bringing in my harvest at this time?
• What discipline is required of me to bring in this harvest?

Empress-Inspired Cards:

• What do I need to let flow freely to bring in my harvest at this time?
• How can I cultivate love as one of the gifts of this harvest?

 Nine-of-Pentacles-Inspired Cards:

• How can I best combine the wisdom of the Hermit and the Empress?
• What will my harvest be if I do this work?

I look forward to reading some of your readings in the comments section.

Now continue your hop by visiting Bonnie Fernandes at Intuitive Blogging

For a full list of all participating blogs (and in case you stumble across a broken link) visit  ‎Kareena Narwani’s blog  

[Note:  Tarot card images are from the Rider-Waite-Smith deck ® US Games Systems, Used with permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc.]