The Pentacles of Capricorn
As the Cardinal Earth Sign, Capricorn speaks to the material foundation of our lives. Symbolized by a hybrid creature with the upper body of a mountain goat and the lower body of a fish, Capricorn invites us to consider our material condition from the unconscious depths of our relationship with “things” to the height and limit of what we can accomplish with our material resources, individually and together. What can we keep and what should we share and how to know the boundary between these things are all themes that emerge in the Tarot cards related to Capricorn.
In Tarot, Capricorn is represented by The Devil. This card speaks to our bondage within the material plain and the extent to which this bondage is self imposed. We see the inverted pentagram in the center of The Devil’s forehead. The inverted pentagram symbolizes the decent (or entrapment) of spirit within matter. The goat horns that grow from his head symbolize both the sexual potency of the goat and the stubborn, territorial nature of this creature. Finally, some say that the lines in his upheld hand form the glyph of Saturn. This would make sense because Saturn is the ancient planetary ruler of Capricorn. In addition, Saturn is the Ruler of all forms of containment, boundaries, rules and work. Saturn both disciplines and strengthens us through limitation. Our wisdom increases as we learn which limitations we must accept and which we might overcome.
Turning to the human figures, we see a nude man and woman. These figures and the composition of the card as a whole is reminiscent of The Lovers Card. This is no accident, for in this card we grapple with the way in which that which attracts us and which we value most can entrap us. Lust and attachment lay close together in this image, reminding us that, for better or worse, our freedom is always limited by what we choose to tie ourselves to. Notice that that the chains placed around the neck of the man and woman appear to be loose enough to be easily removed. This suggests that when we are bound to something or someone, a good deal of this bondage arises from our ignorance of, or unwillingness to know that we could simply take off these chains and walk away.
Note also that the man and woman both have the ears and tales of the goat. This is to emphasize the dominance of the animal qualities of our species, how we become entrapped by our drives to eat and mate, our desire to accumulate and possess. It is worthy of note that many spiritual traditions proscribe fasting and sexual abstinence as means to weaken the hold of the body and thereby strengthen the spirit. The things that we posses, posses us. Even when these things are good, they make demands that we are obliged to fulfill on pain of loosing them.
None of this should be taken to suggest that the material world is to be despised. Rather, we should learn to allow matter and energy to flow through our lives and like a stream, accepting mortality and the pain of loss as the price of admission. It is only when we try to hold what must by nature pass through our hands that the Devil has a true hold on us.
Moving on the Planetary Ruler of the sign, we have Saturn represented by The World Card. The world is everything there is. The dancing figure enclosed within the wreath teaches us that all of life, from the smallest particle to the totality of things, has its life by being held within boundaries. There is no “you” without “I”. To be a thing is to not be everything else. And if we believe that the boundaries that separate things are illusory, all we have done is to trade the oneness of each thing for the oneness of all things. Let us rather say that the oneness of all gives this oneness, as a gift, to each thing in its own image.
Like the Wheel of Fortune (which we will come too very soon), The World Card holds, on each of its corners, the figures that represent the four cardinal signs, which, in turn, represent the four classical elements. It is of note that these signs lay beyond the boundary of the wreath. This reminds us that spiritual forces lay truly beyond the material world and form the coordinates into which the latter falls. All things are attracted and repelled in turn by spiritual forces that set the direction of our lives. But there is something within each individual thing to which these forces make their appeal – karmic inheritance, conditioning by family and culture, biological factors – all of these contribute to the specific shape our life takes and it is this shape that makes us amenable to the spiritual forces that surround us. Remember that the inverted pentagram on The Devils Head represents the decent of spirit into matter. In the limitations of our material form we embody the transcendent spiritual forces that lay beyond the material world. We can learn to release ourselves from the limitations that make us what we are, but, we shall always have to sacrifice something to make this change. Bare this in mind as we move into the individual decans and their planetary rulers.
Decan 1
Two of Pentacles
0 – 10 Degrees Capricorn
Planetary Ruler Jupiter (Wheel of Fortune)
In the Two of Pentacles we see what appears to be a juggler. His Tai Chi like stance suggests that his whole body is in coordinated motion. The Pentacles he handles represent the multiplicity of things and the truth that, on the material plane at least, one thing is always exchanged with or replaced by another. What he holds in his right hand will soon be in his left and vice versa. Further, in order to take something new into either hand, he must release what he currently holds. The infinity sign that surrounds both Pentacles suggests that, again at least on the material plane, this process is never ending. The beautiful dance of material reality is predicated on the idea that things should keep moving lest they become stagnant and die.
The Planetary ruler of this Decan is Jupiter, represented by The Wheel of Fortune. This card teaches us that everything comes and goes, which resonates with the theme of the Two of Pentacles over which it rules. As we have seen elsewhere, Jupiter, the spiritual power of Generosity and Expansion, insures that each thing will have its day. But this generosity toward all things must come at the expense of each. Here, within the material world of space and time, The Lion and the Gazelle each have their joy at the expense of the others’ misfortune, but rest assured, they will each meet their end in time and will experience their full measure of joy within that time.
We might think here of the relationship between Jupiter and Saturn. The Wheel of Fortune (Jupiter) is in constant motion while The World (Saturn) implies the end of all motion in the absolute completion that it represents. We might think of The World as the space in which The Wheel turns. Turning always suggests some static background against which the turning takes place. Thus movement and stasis complete one another. The relation between The World and The Wheel, between Jupiter and Saturn, between Movement and Stillness, Each thing and All things is perhaps the most profound mystery in Tarot, and indeed, in all esoteric study. Understanding this delicate and dynamic balance is the secret to the juggling of Pentacles that is life within the material plane.
Decan 2
Three of Pentacles
10 – 20 Degrees Capricorn
Planetary Ruler Mars (The Tower)
In the second decan of Capricorn we move from simply dancing with the material world to the attempt to shape it according to our will. This tension is dramatically illustrated by the tension between the three of Pentacles and The Tower card which represents Mars and is the decanic ruler. Mars rules both ambition and violent collapse. In his role as a God of War, it is easy to see both sides of the Martian Character: in war, both sides seek victory, yet victory implies defeat. The intervention of the Martian Spirit brings Glory and riches to one land and humiliation and poverty to the other. But this duality is evident in any field ruled by ambition, Sport, Business, even in the pursuit of of romantic partnership. Anyone who seeks to shape the world by their will must come to terms with the Martial nature of their ambition.
Moving into the Three of Pentacles we see how opposing tendencies must be harmonized in order to bring something great into the material plane. In the Traditional Pamela Smith image we see three people. A Priest, an aristocrat (by their fine clothing) and a crafts person. Imagine the scene. The Priest thinks only of God and the glory of God. In his mind, no expense should be spared in creating a monument to the overwhelming order and perfection of the almighty. But, as the priest is completely supported by the church, the worldly affairs of earning and spending do not intrude much on his holy contemplation. Further, his status and place within the community is insured by his holy office.
The aristocrat, on the other hand, is only too aware of the role of cold, hard cash in bringing order and even luxury into being. She stands with the priest in or near to a church under construction. They study the plans for this church and we can imagine their conversation. The priest excitedly speaks of soaring spires, intricate ornamentation and dazzling stained glass and how these things will move the people to an apprehension of the surpassing glory of almighty God. The aristocrat listens respectfully without breaching the aloofness of the one who must pay for these fine things. We imagine her attempting to balance, in her well trained mind, the status (and salvation) she and her house will gain by being the benefactors of this sanctuary with the stewardship of the treasure that allows her, her house, and what ever other investments they hold to persist and to thrive.
The Craftsman literally builds the bridge between the priest and the aristocrat. His knowledge of materials and technique allows him to get the most out our of the materials and labor at his disposal. He must know the subtle balance between grace and strength, beauty and durability and be able to explain these things well enough to satisfy the piety of the priest and the frugality of the aristocrat.
This small tableaux teaches us the three factors necessary if we wish to make a lasting impression upon the material world. We need a vision (priest), resources (aristocrat) and skill (craftsman). We must know how to harmonize these forces within ourselves, and, if we have strength in one of these areas, to place that strength at the disposal of the project as a whole. This is never easy, the line between compromise and surrender is thin and we must know how to stay on the favorable side of it. We must posses enough Martial Virtue to defend our interests but enough Saturnian restraint (remember Saturn rules the whole sign of Capricorn) to harmonize our interests with others so that strength leads to order and not chaos.
Finally, we must remember that “the best laid plans of mice and men often (I will say always) go awry”. In the ambition of the second decan of Capricorn, we must never forget the wisdom of the first, namely, that every thing comes and goes. This is an absolute and iron clad rule of material reality. The violent collapse symbolized in The tower Card is less the result of having built at all, than the folly of believing that what goes up might not come down. Wisdom demands that we should account for the eventually demise of all we create and make this accounting part of the plan from the start. Alas, Mars is never as interested in duration as in upheaval. For this we must move on to the next decan.
Decan 3
Four of Pentacles
20 – 30 Degrees Capricorn
Planetary ruler The Sun (The Sun)
As in other suits, we reach initial stability in the four. In the Four of Pentacles we have gained a measure of security (feet resting on Pentacles), enough to trade (the pentacle in his hands) and even enough to gain some status (the Pentacle atop the figure’s crown). The Four of Pentacles invites us to consider the line between frugality and miserliness. It is wise to have a little money in the bank to act as ballast against the rise and fall of material fortune which is just a part of life. Cash in hand only finds its value in what we are willing to exchange it for. If we are too tight in the purse we can neither enjoy the blessings of our material existence nor expand these blessings by using them to create the means by which we and others can realize even greater blessings. Money is like seed; we can store it, eat it or plant it. It is wise to store some seed, but if we do not plant, the seed looses its viability. And if we do not intend to eat the fruits of our labor, what are we saving the seed for.
Wealth piles up and elevates the one who possesses it. Even if we are not ostentatious about our wealth, it bestows status upon us. As we learned in the first decan, the thriving of the material world depends on exchange. Concentration of resources creates a gradient between the zone of concentration and the surrounding area. If a truck full of grain overturns in a field, mice, birds and even fungus will degrade this pile until the concentration of nutrients is distributed throughout the area around the spill. In turn, the organisms that eat the grain will multiply until the excess is exhausted, at which time, this mass of living (and now starving) material will itself be degraded by other creatures and forces. The material world as a whole is constantly seeking equilibrium through discharge and degradation. The more water a dam holds back, the stronger the dam needed to hold it, the more money, the stronger the safe and more heavily armed the guards. Pentacles relate to the material basis of life as a whole, not just to personal wealth. However, by understanding the laws that govern material nature as a whole, we can understand the nature and function of personal wealth.
The Sun, who rules this decan provides the model for how we should think of wealth. The Sun Card represents the new day, the future and hope. The Sun in the sky dispenses its immense wealth freely and lavishly. All life on earth and any that may exist anywhere else in the solar system is heir to this great fortune of cosmic energy. The Sun is the Day and The Year and all that arises within these cycles. All of nature gorges upon its wealth of light and passes that light on to its progeny (and to those of us who pray upon and eat it). The Sun must dispense the blessings of its wealth and, like a beloved King, is heralded and praised by all of life.
Unlike The Sun, we might choose to cling to our treasure. If this is our choice however, let us remember who rules Capricorn. The Devil has no power to keep us chained than our power to choose to remove these chains and liberate ourselves. If we do not choose this power, the dark aspect of Saturn will make our world small and dead. Paradoxically, if we accept the limitations set upon our material lives we can, like the dancing figure in the Two of Pentacles, toss away one pentacle only to catch the next. Our mortal form teaches us through paradox. To accept the limitations of our lives, and to dance joyfully within these limitations, like the figure in The World Card dances in her evergreen wreath, actually makes us free.