March 5, 2021: 8 of Swords and the Knight of Pentacles

My Inner Focus card for today is the 8 of Swords.  The image on this card shows a head shot of a man wearing rough clothes and a straw hat that has seen better days.  His jaw is grizzled and sweat is dripping from his temples and splattering his face.  He is just stepping through a doorway into the shade, escaping the blazing sun as he wipes his brow with his wrist.  He looks spent and exhausted.  The key phrase for this card is: even though you are tired, react to adversity with self-confidence.  

My Outer Focus card is the Knight of Pentacles.  The image on this card shows a knight in full armor riding his war horse (also in full armor) riding toward us.  Before him sits a young woman.  She has her dress hiked up to her waist and her breasts are bare.  Her legs are hooked around the Knight's hips, so her feet are behind him.  She is turning her head back toward him, and she has a smile on her face.  The Knight is also smiling; he grips her breast with one hand and he tosses coins up into the air with the other hand.  The key phrases for this card are: abandon war and focus on pleasure, and could be a waste of earthly goods happening because of this focus.  

Let's look at some traditional keywords for these cards.  The 8 of Swords usually represents restriction or powerlessness that appears to be overwhelming but might not be.  The image shows a blindfolded and bound woman surrounded by eight Swords with a threatening sky behind her.  The Knight of Pentacles is the most grounded of the four Knights.  To me the image on the Thoth Tarot Knight of Disks sums up the more traditional meaning of this card: he is standing beside his horse, with the golden sky of late afternoon behind him.  His horse has its head lowered as if exhausted, and the Knight looks unwavering yet a bit cautious, as compared to the other Knights of the deck.  

The Decameron 8 of Swords offers a different perspective of powerlessness.  The man in the image works hard, toiling in the heat of the day.  He is gasping for breath, yet he is still standing.  We don't know if he is working on his own property or within his own business, or whether he is an employee of another's but his responsibilities are great.  He does not appear afraid of hard work, however, and he is not allowing the prospect of working hard to restrict him.  Simple message here.

The Knight of Pentacles is certainly obeying his key phrases.  He is enjoying his time with the woman, tossing away the burdens of the physical world as he tosses the coins into the air.  And yet, his visor is down and his sword is by his side, and his destrier looks healthy and alert.  Knights are good at focusing, and our Knight of Pentacles is focusing on the moment, but not completely forgetting his responsibilities.

I am being told today not to fear hard work, but also not to forget to take a moment of pleasure as long as I keep at least one small part of my awareness on the job.