A big storm is coming this weekend. So far, we are getting rain but if it gets cold enough to snow, we may get buried. My two cards today are not that happy; I will definitely be keeping watch on the weather.
The True Black V of Pentacles shows a torn and shredded burlap sack with five dull and broken coins spilling out of it. The keywords for this card are poverty, sickness, hardship, and rejection.
The image on the IX of Wands shows a pure white wolf crouching defensively and aggressively with teeth bared and ears laid back in a threatening manner. Behind him almost like a protective wall are nine white beech trees. Around the wolf in the shadows are several arrows with points in the ground, as if someone had shot them at the wolf. The keywords for this card are wary, guarded, mistreated, and persevering.
Let's think about Dignities for a moment as we look at these two cards. First, we look at the elements. We are dealing with an Earth card (Pentacles), a passive element which represents cold that binds and dry that shapes, and a Fire card (Wands), an active element which represents hot that separates and dry that shapes. These two cards are not considered unfriendly because they both share the trait of dry that shapes, however Earth is passive and Fire is active, so they are considered neutral because the passive element and the active element cancel each other out. These cards don't support each other, but they don't take away from each other, either. Of course, this does not mean that their respective elements have no power here, they just don't have much of an effect on each other.
In nature, Fire and Earth can affect each other. Fire uses Earth as fuel, and chemically transforms what it burns. Earth may sustain Fire, but too much Earth will suffocate Fire.
Numerically, the number 5 brings motion into stability in order to prevent stagnation. Here we see the reason for the discomfort of the Fives of the Minor Arcana, but that discomfort does not offer failure that is written in stone. Rather, we see the V of Pentacles as a wakeup call that reminds us that we need to be careful with resources because there may be tough times ahead. The number 9 tells of completeness of manifestation of the effects of the suit; we can see this in the traditional image of the card, which shows a man bandaged and weary, leaning on a Wand for support, with a wall of eight other Wands behind him. The message of this card could be that we need to stay strong because the challenges have reached their peak. If we can hang on for just a bit longer, difficulties may begin to ease.
Let's bring that all together. These two cards both seem to be cautioning me. Vigilance and perseverance are suggested by the IX of Wands. I should also be careful not to distrust too much, but still be alert and on guard. The V of Pentacles suggests that the effects I may be fearing and guarding against could very well be connected to my physical world, or my body and its health. Now is not the time to be cavalier or to take a gamble; rather I should check things twice and assume that I forgot something anyway. There is an optimistic part of the IX of Wands: even though the wolf may have taken some blows, he is still on his feet and able to protect himself. That means that while I need to be aware of my health and my physical world resources, I should not allow worry to degrade into panic. That would be a distraction, an untimely one because the sources of my physical-world worries should be peaking and then beginning to fade away. I'm still standing strong, and that is a good thing.
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