Image from the After Tarot – Pietro Alligo, art by Giulia F. Massaglia https://www.loscarabeo.com/en/products/after-tarot

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts… perhaps the fear of a loss of power. – John Steinbeck

The IV of Pentacles symbolizes hanging on to our past achievements, or wealth, in such a way that we isolate ourselves from life. There’s a lot of ways we can do this but not much variety in the outcome. The card isn’t about reading the future. The future of this situation, if it stays the same, is predictable. We all die. We can’t take it with us. We know this. The avatar of death, or change, stalks the rich man. He holds tightly to his abundance, unwilling to share it. Yet, he ignores the pentacle on his crown, which symbolizes how his abundance is not what’s in his arms but what’s on his crown; his connection with spirit. If he continues to sit on his hoard, or rest on his laurels, change will come, possibly taking his head. This card reminds us that we are more than what we accumulate, and that we need to share what we have. It illustrates how our attachment to material abundance can cause us to become our worst enemy; isolating ourselves and fearing change.

One of my life’s greatest challenges has been overcoming fear. It must be a core lesson, because it keeps coming back around to give me a jab now and then. It’s a lot like a narcissist in that way. Once you think it’s finally gone from your life, it will show up at your party just to see if it can still get under your skin.

Fear though doesn’t have a mind of its own. Fear is in our minds. It’s what keeps us from abundance. It’s what keeps us from joy. It also keeps us from being generous and loving with our fellow humans. Granted, some humans are exceedingly difficult to love, because they’ve let their own fear be their master. Fear is a master that requires total obedience. It demands that every choice, every action, and every new idea, be filtered through its lens. When we let fear control us, we give people who would like to influence us a key. Once they know what the key to our fear unlocks, they become co-rulers of our hearts and heads.

We can free ourselves from fear. We can take back our minds and our abundance. Not by arguing, and not by facts. Fear is rather emotional and doesn’t listen to facts. Fear feels helpless. Fear feels sad and angry. But fear is easily distracted and that’s its Achilles heel. If what we’re doing is feeding the fear then we need to change the channel. Feeding our fear won’t fix whatever we’re afraid of, it just makes more fear.

There seems to be a large amount of fear being projected at us. It’s been going on for as long as I remember, but it’s harder to get away from than it used to be. Most of the fear messaging that I’m seeing is around subjects and actions that I have no power over beyond yelling “I object!”. Quite a bit of the messaging is distorted perspectives, along with gossip rather than facts, predictions of possible doom based on gossip, or just outright lies. These need filtering and quite often, dismissal from our view. Filtering through a lens of fear, causes us to lose sight of the truth and how rich and abundant our lives are when we work together for common good.

Instead we end up lost and scared, angry and distrusting. Believing that someone can steal our abundance away from us and that they’re at the door right now. That, in turn, traps us inside our chamber echoing with the messages of fear. It’s a good time to return to thinking for ourselves as much as we can. Maybe doing some things we haven’t done since before December 2019. I’m going to go bake some bread, soak some Sweet Pea seeds, and spend time with my companion, Biscuit (the white pigeon you see in the photos) She decided that she wanted to live here and that’s a pretty good recommendation for enjoying the place.

Don’t let anyone tell you who to fear. From Rammstein – Angst