Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
~ Thomas A. Edison
This week, we receive a reminder from the Eight of Pentacles that the more we focus and work hard at something, the luckier we get.
Pentacles are, of course, the Earth suit, dealing with living in the physical, material world. The Eights of the Tarot are often about getting organized, setting priorities, and moving forward (or not). So in the Pentacles suit, this is about focusing on work, success, and resources.
Here we see an artisan who is focused on his creations. Although he is completely lost in his task, we see the city in the far distance. Perhaps this is reminder that there is a larger world to which his products must have relevance, lest his work be an act of vanity or waste of time.
There is no indication whether he is self-employed, or working under the authority of a larger business. But in this moment, unsupervised, he works with good cheer, concentration, and a high level of productivity.
This is another of Tarot artist Pixie Smith’s “stage cards.” It’s tiny, but notice the double line behind the figure, hinting that the background may be theater scenery. What story is being played out for us?
Here we have the pure act of the creation itself. We see both the physical energy of the hammering, yet also the meticulous care reflected in the results.
True Confession
This is really going off the rails of my usual Card of the Week writing, but I have a true confession that comes up when I see this card:
I am hooked on business makeover TV shows.
I used to adore Tabatha Coffey and her hair salon takeovers. And when she started branching out into other kinds of businesses, I positively swooned. (Alas, her shows were too short-lived.)
Nowadays, I can’t get my fill of all those wild restaurant and bar before-and-after shows. Something about how they all resonate with magical Cinderella fairy tales of transformation, but are applied to real life, nitty gritty situations just makes my entrepreneurial heart go pitter-pat!
Having clocked an embarrassing number of hours (weeks? years?) watching this stuff, several very clear themes repeatedly emerge.
One is accountability. It’s amazing how many excuses people can come up with, to explain their failures. Some favorites are family dysfunction, backstabbing friends, or being under the influence of some old personal drama.
We don’t know if the young man in the Eight of Pentacles has a chronic illness, or child custody troubles, or a feud with his in-laws. We see a man who is simply doing focused, consistent good work. And he does it without anyone standing over him. He is accountable first and foremost to himself.
“No excuses! No crybabies!” as the refrain from one of my favorites goes.