New Moon from a week ago: Death, Six of Pentacles, and the Ten of Swords
Death (by Lisa Sterle) mirrors the classic Smith artwork. Kings in all their earthly power fail to stop Death, while those who are spiritually attuned or wiser, as indicated by an older person, tend to do… better. Death is a metaphor for change—that fickle, ambiguous word—and I see that as the death of what was and what could have been. None of this is “bad;” think of all the horrible futures you have escaped, but it is serious.
The Six of Pentacles (by Wyspell, a Ukrainian design firm) shows a man giving a few coins to those in need and is interpreted as a sign of generosity. For me, there is always a dark tint to that: The money speaks of control. Yes, the person giving the money is generous, but that doesn’t mean those funds don’t have strings attached. We often impart our own morality onto others, and when we have avenues of control, we can use them to push our own values on others.
The Ten of Swords (by Lisa Sterle) is the whole reason I bought the Modern Witch Tarot. The card encapsulates being stabbed by your own thoughts while reaching for escape through our phone. It’s brilliant. Possibly one of my favorite cards in the deck. You’ll note the victim in this version isn’t bleeding. Is the pain symbolic?
To me, the spread suggests that something about your sense of control is changing (or needs to change), and you may be ruminating or avoiding the situation altogether. It asks you to examine what is changing, where you actually need control, and whether you are avoiding that situation.
One of the unfortunate aspects of avoidance is that the problem remains and festers. Back when I was a bureaucracy caseworker at a Monolithic Government Agency (MGA), my mentors referred to cases that you wanted to avoid as “dogs”. A combination of literal delays and avoidance caused cases to fester in bureaucratic voids for years. It's a Ten of Cards situation for everyone involved. For a normal citizen, being under the eye of the MGA is rock bottom: it doesn’t get better until the case is complete.
Most cases—sadly—had reasonably quick and easy resolutions if everyone worked together. Regardless of the outcome of the case, once it was resolved, people could start to process decisions and begin to move on. It’s the same energy here. You must resolve the situation or the Ten of Swords will fester. Scrolling won’t help.
This echoes a profound lesson about life. How do you deal with change, especially changes in your zone of control? It’s a lesson we will continue to learn throughout our lives, of which Death is but a mere reminder.
