Ace of Pentacles: Selfhood
In the Tarot, all four Aces: Ace of Wands; Ace of Cups; Ace of Swords; and Ace of Pentacles, represent oneness, and new beginnings. The meaning and interpretation of all Aces can be linked to one’s personal selfhood. It’s a symbol of you/me in the course of this earthly existence. Any Ace received in a Tarot reading signifies, first, the numeral one, but can also signify a metaphysical sense of“Oneness,”—the archetypal essence of being. The Ace of Pentacles (The Ace of Coins in some 
Ace of Pentacles TOCC
decks) symbolizes how you are manifesting your thoughts and dreams and how you do things in a material, real-world down to earth form. In a “reading,” this indicates a time to re-evaluate your hard work concerning practical matters in business, finance, in finding a job, caring for family, or doing manual day by day labor. And it also signals a time explore your vision and creative ability in the arts and architecture.
“The Ace of Pentacles meant the things most men desire: opportunities in the worldly sense, stable foundations for future building security, ownership and property,
rewards of practical effort in the world.” Barbara Walker, “The Secrets of The Tarot” (HarperCollins, 1984)
We usually start a reading with the age-old question of “Who am I”? What am I? Why am I in this body? What is my purpose? What am I supposed to do? We know that our personal selfhood begins when a pregnant mother releases “baby” into this life experience on Earth, who will soon have feet on the ground. In a broader sense, we begin our personal identification, with naming and getting our appearance underway while learning how to “hold on,” in the spin of Earth’s gravitation, so to speak. We start to take part in daily human activity and absorb all that Earth provides. Now what? What’s next? First, basic survival. We know our “aliveness” requires food, water, shelter, and protection. “Feed me” continues throughout a person’s whole lifetime. For most people, we learn that we the have the ability to make choices, but there are additional required needs: Love, spiritual sustenance, happiness, a vocation, and a longing for freedom, peace and “justice for all.”
“Know Thyself”(carved on the forecourt of the ancient Greek Delphic Temple)
Basically, as we progress, we undergo thousands of learning events: first, as a small child play time; we then endure the rumpled life of a hormonal teenager; and as we continue as an adult, we are loaded with various responsibilities. As we move on to middle age, mature, wiser behavior sets in, then we cope with old age and a final return to the cosmos. On another note, keep in mind that for some, in a darker context, either due to a lack of choices, or dire circumstances, some people’s lives may take the form of illness, anger, going to war, endless battles, and/or frightening incidents of abuse and injustice. This sums up life on Earth in a few short sentences, but what happens in between is endless, always changing, and extraordinarily different for every person. “Learning” and “becoming” never stops, and all of this activity requires patience, education, perseverance and community cooperation.
From that first birthday forward, living a complicated daily life can take on staggering proportions of self-awareness for better or worse—in exploring one’s self-worth, self-knowledge, self-objectification, and self-gratification. Websters Dictionary (found on our computers or phones) says: “The self is an individual considered as having a personality, a single nature, or character.”
“Self as a unique form of human existence, exists in space; destiny in time. Selfhood is being; destiny is becoming. What we call individuality is the seed-pattern of our being.”
Dane Rudhyar, “Astrological Insights Into the Spiritual Life” (Aurora Press, 1979)
Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” God declares himself in Genesis 3:14, “I AM THAT I AM.” What a more profound way to state your identity, especially as we become aware of ourselves in an environment of oneness with the Universe. Oneness—this is not about numerical counting, but more about the character of “you” in a metaphysical or spiritual sense. There is no division in Oneness—all is one. Our lives revolve around unity and singleness of purpose.
“We have become aware of our place in the cosmos as earth riders.”
Buckminster Fuller, “Operating Manual For spaceship Earth” (Southern Illinois University Press, 1969)
Our personal selfhood is the manifestation of our corporal presence. So, how do you present yourself? In a far-reaching overall perspective, how do you see yourself as a traveler on board the giant ball Earth in orbit around the Sun? What is your highest plan; your biggest goals for yourself? How are you caring for the Earth and every living being on it? The next question demands a sense of humility. You may have wondered: Is a person just an insignificant tiny dot on this big planet, which, in turn, is an even tinier dot in the starry Universe as seen through a telescope? That is an open door to the future! What does your future hold? What is your greatest dream or hope for yourself? But here, be watchful, this is where we might jump off into a fictional fantasy about who we are. We are not living in a “Star Trek” or “Star Wars” adventure movie. The Ace of Pentacles (Coins) reminds you to be realistic, pragmatic, “matter of fact,” and “down to earth” in your decisions and to not fall into the trap of an overblown ego and self-aggrandizement.
“Self-consciousness may be the beginning of folly…”
[making up incorrect “stuff” about oneself].
Leon Kass, “The Beginning of Wisdom” (Simon & Schuster, 2003)
Seeing ourselves through art and story-telling
In ancient societies, we know from archaeological findings, that imaginative myth- making and story-telling was expressed communally in sacred religious ritual and visionary art forms—including mask-making, dancing, and the drama of “theater”—as early societies and tribal groups expressed their most sacred beliefs and secret intentions.
“Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.”
Michele Obama, “Becoming” (Penguin, Random House, 2018)
In early European cultures, Mother-Earth was venerated in art form by little clay goddess figurines, human-like with protruding bellies, exaggerated buttocks and ample thighs, female symbols of fertility and abundance. Certain harvest-time celebrations and “corn dollies” (seen at local European fairs) linger on today:Halloween (Samhain) and Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead, Mexico) celebrations, with
outrageous costumes, scary masks, painted skulls, and carved pumpkins—lots of creepy things. Local children in their costumes are rewarded with sweets and candies meant to appease the “ghostly spirits.”
“The primordial deity for our Paleolithic and Neolithic ancestors was female, reflecting the sovereignty of motherhood. Paleolithic and Neolithic symbols and images cluster around a self-generating Goddess and her basic functions are Giver of Life, Wielder of Death, and as a Regeneratrix.” Marija Gimbutas, “Civilizations of the Goddess”(HarperCollins, 1991)
In early Greek mythology, art forms, story-telling and play-acting, expressed in the drama of theater, was teeming with adventure stories of the gods. Skillful artisans created magnificent statues of the immortal gods and heroes (still seen in museums today), whose memories are still carried on in the names of the planets: Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Saturn, Mercury,and so on. They presented plays in outdoor theaters some of which still exist. And we are still reading the literature of Homer—"The Odyssey”and “The Iliad,” creative adventure stories of men thought of as heroes or, for some, rather disreputable characters—villains. (Currently, we are seeing the movie “The Odyssey,” where the adventures of Odysseus are played out by famous actors and, as someone quipped, “rowing around” in a rented 8thcentury replica of a beautiful ocean-going Viking ship “Draken Harald Hartagre.”) Modern-day artists of all cultures are still conveying symbols for their innovative visions in art form—making movies, story-telling, producing TV shows, and expressing themselves in music, art forms, and dance.
In ancient Egypt, mysterious visages of the Egyptian gods: Ra, Osiris, Isis, and so on, are still seen today in painted sculptures and bas-reliefs carved in their temple ruins. In certain tombs, tourists view
painted pastoral scenes of common people at work in the fields. 19th Century tomb workers, recognizable as artisans and craftspeople are seen painted on the walls of their own tombs and, most importantly, their names are included. (See “A Tomb of One’s Own” Archaeology Magazine Nov/Dec 2026). Centuries ago, after escaping the rule of the Egyptian Pharaoh, came biblical stories of Hebrew worship of the one God, Jehovah—the basis of Judaism and Christianity, Islam, followed in history by stories of the Crusades, stories of Catholic and Protestant wars, and Islamic feuds. We still view paintings by famous artists painted during the Renaissance, depicting their interpretations of historical ancient struggles and wars displayed in museums all over the world. (See Lo Scarabeo Tarot deck re-creations of Egyptian and Renaissance art: “The Tarots of the Sphinx;” and the “Leonardo Da Vinci Tarot.)
“Stories create a sense of self and world. Stories with a sacred dimension point to a source of meaning that gives purpose to people’s lives.”
Carol Christ, “Diving Deep and Surfacing” (Beacon Press, 1980)
Over the centuries, certain men and a few women have been declared as role-models of heroes, patriots, saviors—or vilified as evil villains. We still respect the stories of the most inspirational leaders: Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, Celtic Boudicca, Joan of Arc, (Modern times: movies of “Superman,” “Wonder Woman”). But we also know of some really bad tyrants, dictators, evil people—Napoleon, Rasputin, Hitler, Bloody Mary Tudor, to name a few. (“Chucky”/ “Freddy” horror movies).
On a different note, in early cultures of indigenous people all over the world, each person identified as part of a tribe, a clan, or a certain group of people working together to live in safety and speaking the same language. In America and Canada, in their earnestness to stay alive during unfortunate colonization and disrespect, tribal consensus continued within some indigenous groups. Even today, as In the past, story-telling and imaginative myth-making origin tales are an important part of a sacred process of memory keeping and personifying the natural phenomena surrounding them.
For Native American Hopis, Kachina dolls embody earth’s natural processes: wind, rain, sunshine, moonlight, including some forms of animals and plants. Invisible forces of nature are visualized as Kachinas; not worshipped, but impersonated by costumed dancers acting as intermediaries. Tribal
.jpg) |
| Sasquatch |
decisions were/are made by consensus of the group rather than some hierarchical authority of the Chiefs. They see themselves as caretakers of the earth. North Coast indigenous people (Haida, Tlingit) were giving the invisible—visibility, and still are, by creating ancestral totems, ceremonial masks, and decorating their longhouses with emblems of the clan or tribes they were part of: Bear, Fox, Beaver, Eagle, Wolf, and so on.
Contemporary times and people in the news
In 2016, on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, thousands of “water protectors” were camped trying to keep the Dakota access Pipeline from crossing under their land and water reservoir, Lake Oahe, the source of their drinking water. Militarized police tried to crush the protestors. One of the elder leaders, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard said: “We are here to protect the water. This is why we are still alive; to help humanity in its most pressing question: How do we live with the earth again, not against it”? Over 750 people were arrested, and the pipeline went ahead anyway). Tribal leaders said—we are not protestors but “water protectors” while chanting “mini wiconi” “water is life.”
(From Naomi Klein’s book, “No is Not Enough” (Haymarket Books, 2017).
“When humans are ranked instead of linked, everyone loses.”
Gloria Steinem
Freedom to be your complete self
In the past, specific groups of black and brown people have not been allowed the freedom to be their complete selves. What about today? We need to look at the hierarchical order of earlier European societies (including so-called “white supremacy”) to get a better perspective of modern society today. There were the former power-over groups (European Aristocracy, Kings, Queens), money exchange and business groups (Hanseatic League, guilds), paid labor and unpaid labor, then slavery and, as in India, the former “untouchables.” (See National Geographic article: “The Last Journey Into Slavery,” 02/2020) There is no way around the fact that indigenous people, people of color, and most women of all races have suffered various kinds of injustice and suppression and have been treated unfairly during colonialism and post-colonialism in America—right up to today. The lack of respect and victimization of women still continues in some form (abortion control, salary inequality, etc.) The range of injustice is astounding. What would freedom for women look like if we have the full participation of all shades of women in all phases of our culture?
Roe Vs Wade ended on June 24th, 2023 as the US Supreme Court ruled against a woman’s right to abortion. Some states are trying to make abortion illegal right down to the death penalty for women and medics who participate. Death penalty for having a miscarriage? Two years in Jail? What? A judge in Georgia said: “Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property…“ "It is generally men who promote and defend laws like the Life Act, the effect of which is decided by majority vote to require women to … engage in compulsory labor by carrying to term at the governments behest.”
“Theorizing about self-worth is ineffective. So is pretending. Women can die in agony who have lived with blank and beautiful faces. I can look at myself directly, risk the pain of experiencing who I am not, and learn to savor the sweetness of who I am.”
Audre Lorde, “Sister Outsider”(The Crossing Press, 1984
As we now turn to have a reading based on the Ace of Pentacles, it is important to understand where you stand on some of the afore mentioned issues.
In a reading, ask yourself these questions:
An Ace of Pentacles upright
1. What positive influences have inspired you?
2. How do you see yourself in group settings? Your self-image?
3. What do you feel is your place in the world? Sense of self-worth?
4. What are your “best” qualities?
5. How do you express kindness and hope to your friends and family?
6. What are you doing to keep yourself maintained, healthy in “good shape”?
7. How are your applying your talents to the world’s needs?
8. What positive influence do you bring in being a role model for others?
“Every one of us can turn Hope into optimism.”
Barack Obama
Ace of Pentacles reversed
1. Are putting forth a “phony “ persona? Do you see others doing that? Who?
2. Have you made up false things about yourself. Do you see others lying, saying false things about themselves?
3. How do you deal with so-called “con-men”? Have you “conned” someone?
4. Are you projecting your faults on someone? Someone projecting their faults on you?
5. Have you avoided being self-righteous, a “know it all”? Do you know someone who is? How do you deal with them?
6. Are you being fair to others? Selfish or secretive? Is someone being unfair to you?
7. Have you been deluded yourself about your capabilities? Do you know someone deluding themselves in self-aggrandizement? Big Ego me, me?
8. Are you “haunted” by memories of past mistakes and regrets for things said, done?
