Four of Pentacles - Stability and Creative Energy

The first thing that comes to my mind when seeing the Four of Pentacles today is this anonymous quote.

"My life's purpose is much clearer when I just work to help, not to possess."

The representation seen in the Four of Pentacles is Daedalus tightly clutching all that he has and what he has worked so hard for and accumulated over his lifetime. He's fearful that his nephew Talos is going to usurp his worldly material position, and possessions. Daedalus is angry and jealous feeling based on his fearful attitude that causes him to take hold of his money with too tight a grasp. This only leads to very negative consequences for Talos and Daedalus both.

There's an important message in this card. The more firmly a grip we have on our material possessions the more elusive they become resulting in unhappiness, because we sure can't take it with us, and if our true self-value is bound up in things, what we make and what we have blocks our creative energy, our self-expression.

Four of Pentacles - A Living Prayer

Here in the Four of Pentacles, we see Daedalus tightly gripping his golden pentacles. He doesn't want to relinquish them, and is being consumed with fear of financial insecurity, and the ongoing stability of his life as he knows it. Daedalus is afraid he's going to be replaced by his young apprenticing upstart nephew. Daedalus defines his self-value and confidence materialistically, and by his worldly position.

 One of the most significant lessons in my life was learning how to let go. Instead of chasing happiness or believing that it was somehow elusive to me, and was something for everyone else but me; stability and security didn't seem to exist within the confines of structured religion or in financial wealth or position. These were never my pursuits in life. I was on a spiritual quest, as far back as I can remember.

It took experiencing many years of instability and insecurity to finally discover what would make me feel stable and secure. I now know it was eventually found, after realizing my spiritual quest, and when I began to understand the Divine. This is what I had longed for and when life really started to make sense, and it's what would nurture my creativity and nourish my spirit.

 Living in a very rural area enables me to feel and understand on a deep spiritual level, a real sense of belonging, independence, mastery and generosity.

It was only when I learned how to let go, that stability and security became more often than not, my reality.
Today, learning to let go, is what I would define as being my living prayer.

Four of Pentacles - Order Out of Chaos

 "When the student is ready the teacher will appear." This is a statement attributed to a number of sources. It's a wise one regardless of who said it, and it has born out to be true in my life.

 Sometimes the teacher resides within ourselves. We learn from our mistakes, we let go of the people, places and things we have been holding tight to our chest, be it material possessions, our looks, our health, home or relationships etc.

We see in this card the apprentice and the teacher. The teacher is holding tight his pentacles seemingly threatened that his position might will be usurped in some way. He doesn't want to let go of what he has worked hard for to get.

Most of us aren't really welcoming of change and we get comfortable with a certain status quo or situation. When we see others making progress and positive changes, this can cause us to compare ourselves to others or it can motivate us to take an inventory of our own lives. This action can be an opportunity to grow and move forward. It's our choice. Change is inevitable. We either move forward or backward, never staying still..

And so taking a personal inventory of ourselves can be a teacher and if we can accept ourselves as we are, as human beings with grace, humour and humility we learn to be our own best friends, and finding serenity in the storm, and making order out of chaos. Art and creativity help me to do just that.

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Four of Pentacles - "The Fear of Loss May Mean No Loss, But Means No gain

"The fear of loss may mean no loss, but means no gain." This is a quote from my Mythic Tarot workbook about the Four of Pentacles. I drew the Three of Pentacles yesterday and discussed professionalism. Today's daily card , the Four of Pentacles has followed naturally, considering the order of things.

 Finding myself without a car for the last month has been difficult, and as per usual my financial situation is always pressing in on the realities of living day to day, and month by month.
I have learned to let people, places, and things go more over the years an especially so these days. My fear of financial insecurity has lessened over the past few months, and though things are certainly not ideal, however if I focus on what I lack and hold on tight, I will be miserable, stressed  and anxious. I have to say I really hate anxiety. This habitual anxious behaviour I can attribute some of it to my early home life, and often being in a state of hyper-vigilance. I am not exactly a nervous Nelly, but I can be an anxious Annie! Undertaking my latest creative project and wanting to do the very best I can, I really cannot afford too much worry, stress and anxiety. Stress blocks my creative energy and my self-expression.

The Four of Pentacles urges me to let go; reminds me I don't have to hang on to fear and anxiety, otherwise it will be very much to my detriment. In light of this, I also understand I need to perceive how I am contributing to this anxiety, and do whatever I can and need to do, to lessen it. This will also enable me to let go. It is easy to tell yourself or someone else, simply to 'let go". It is another thing to actually do it. We are human, and I don't believe that we can ever completely let go, because we all have feelings, and it is next to impossible to stop our feelings. If we could stop all of our feelings, we would no longer refer to ourselves as human 'beings'. Otherwise we would be automatons.

I certainly can detach from my feelings up to a point, but I can never be completely devoid of them, nor would I want to be. Today I honour my feelings, but I don't want them to control me in negative ways, reacting impulsively, instead of responding.

 I strive to make progress not perfection. I need to remember to pause and ask my Creator for space between my impulse and my action.

I would be wise to have the carefree 'trusting in heaven' attitude, living in the present moment approach like  The Fool, as opposed to the controlling, holding on too tight, attached nature of the Four of Pentacles.

The Fool - Egg Tempera on Porcelain Tile, 2015, Catherine Meyers

Note: This photo I took today is of my completed painting of The Fool...lots of more painted marks and goat horns!

Four of Pentacles - How To Save Yourself From Yourself

Being anxious and consciously attached to material possessions and money, is not a good way to go. It is a continuum in that, the more you have, the more you want. On the other hand, poverty is no fun either, and can cause a similar preoccupation and anxiousness, because you can be constantly thinking and worrying about how you are going to make it til the end of the month, pay your bills or having to  swallow your false pride and humble yourself to ask for help in one way or another, which is difficult for most people. I admit I am guilty of worrying and getting stressed out about my lack of funds. My fear of financial insecurity can be very stressful at times.

The Ten of Pentacles came up yesterday, when I did a reading for a client and again today, in my daily draw the Four of Pentacles. It is often stated that money is the root of all evil,  but in my opinion, it is when people place so much importance on it, more so than on personal values, and a healthy sense of inner well being and serenity that is only drawn from inner resources. This is when the myriad of problems are mostly manifested.

 Perhaps it is our desire for, and addiction to perfection, that causes our preoccupation, and anxiousness. We feel we are not successful, and are always falling short, based on an image and not reality. We strive to fill that void within ourselves, that can only be filled spiritually within ourselves.

Addiction is addiction, regardless of what it is we are addicted to. The writers of The Spirituality of Imperfection address this in their book when  they write,

Addiction represents the ultimate effort to control, the definitive demand for magic...and the final failure of spirituality...the desperate (and doomed) attempt to fill a spiritual void with a material reality to make "magic" a substitute for a miracle. - Kurtz and Ketcham in The Spirituality of Imperfection (1992)


Addiction to material possessions and monetary success, makes me think of what Mother Teresa once said in regards to the East having material poverty, but is rich in spirituality, and the West, does not lack so much in rich  material wealth, but has great spiritual poverty. It is no different for individuals.


I believe this addiction to people, places and things, it is what is wrong with our world. Generousity, having gratitude for what we have, and actively showing  kindness, could alleviate so much suffering in the world.

In the Four of Pentacles Daedalus clutches his four coins and gives his nephew Talos a very angry stare. Daedalus is both threatened of being usurped by his young talented nephew and he is also very jealous of him, and this card is a symbolic warning against envy and avarice.

Daedalus lacks confidence in his abilities to compete, is overwhelmed with feelings of inadequacy due to not being able to let go of his control, and lacks emotional generousity. As a result of Daedalus remains materially and emotional stagnant, without the flow of creativity and energy.

La Larona - Catherine Meyers

Four of Pentacles - Self Value

The Four of Pentacles concerns all things related to the material plane, and to the physical earth. This card is often referred to as the card of the miser. The card usually depicts the miser with two feet firmly placed on the Pentacles in front of him, holding two Pentacles close to his chest, and balancing one on his head. This symbolizes his fear of, and the inability to let go of the material,  and emotional stagnation. He is reluctant to share with others. There is no loss or gain..

On the other hand this card can also be positive, in the sense that there has been success in achieving goals and monetary stability.


The is a reason for everything I believe, and the behaviour of the miser is no different than for many of us, or all of us from time to time, caught up in keeping up with the status quo, and living in a consumer kind of world,  particularly in the Western world. I like to describe this person as having a bottomless kind of pit that can be an insatiable appetite, a hole in the soul that cannot be filled through people, places and things.

I recall what Mother Teresa once relayed about the difference between the Western, and the Eastern world. She said, there is great spiritual poverty in the West and material poverty in the East . This message always has resounded with me, and like the miser, we can easily loose sight of our spiritual  and creative expression, because this energy has been blocked having a tight grip on  acquiring things, people and even places.
We define our self-value by these preoccupations that cause us to stagnate. Yes, it is true we need to have our basic needs met in order to self-actualize, as Maslow's hierarchy of needs pyramid indicates.
I think of the Rolling Stones line, " You can't always get what you want, but you get what you need. "