7 of Pentacles. Planting the seeds of success.

  The seven of Pentacles is a card that is relatively easy to read. The Pentacles growing on the branches of the plant are worldly fruits that are ripening ready for a time of harvest. The figure in the card has just finished a difficult bout of work and is waiting for that time to arrive.
   He wears a red tunic over blue garments, the red symbolising the active forces he has just used to plant and tend his crops and the blue is related to communication. This communication is that he is aware of what the plant needs in order to thrive, the plant itself representing a project, business or other worldly venture.
     This card can appear as a confirmation that money is on its way or some other reward for one's hard work. It shows that the seeds have been correctly planted, tended and watered and all that remains is for the fruits of your labour to be gathered at the right time.
    Since he is not in the active pursuit of harvesting it shows that this time is not quite upon him. He stands resting on a hoe or other gardening implement with a look of appreciation and satisfaction. The tool is a connector between the farmer and the earth below.
    Seven is a magical number and in this represents growth and ripening, which are processes the farmer himself can only affect indirectly. The time of his tending for good or ill is over and all that remains is the process.
   The card speaks somewhat of the laws of karma, of reaping what one has sown. The farmer will receive his due depending on how well he has tended his interests. Since the card is only a minor arcana it doesn't necessarily have the depth and strength of the Justice card where it relates to Karmic return. In this instance it more readily points to cause and effect as being the instruments of return.
   This card came to me more as a confirmation of the course I was on than as a great learning. I am about to begin work at a healing centre in town this month. This has been something I have been working towards for a great deal of time. In the past my healing work has been something I have fit in around other people and places during my travels rather than something that I have set my life around. It represents a new level in terms of my own growth as it is me stepping forward in a business of my own, one that I have to tend and water all myself. Yesterday I spent the day walking around the town posting flyers and spreading the word about what I am doing. I have sent off for business cards and spoken with people about my ideas for things that will happen.
    I have planted the seeds of my business and tend to and watered the ground. This has been something I have worked towards on some level for a great deal of time. It is not the time yet for me to reap my rewards, as I am not yet at that stage, but I can see that for the first time there is something growing here. Previously when I have started my own healing businesses they had withered on the vine and I now understand why. The conditions had never been right for a business for me, either the land was not fertile or I tended them poorly.
    My own lack of conviction had been partly to blame for this, conviction in what I am doing and its validity and relevance. These emotions are the water that a growing venture needs to see it through. I am sure I will find challenges along the road, but I am more ready to face those than I have been before. My lack of convictions are not the only factor to have affected my previous failures, I can see that looking back there were also many other situations at play. Metaphorically the ground was hard and the environment was too cold to grow the type of business I would like to run.
   I feel that I will turn out a better crop this time, certainly the conditions are more conducive to growth, but only time will tell.