Treasure Hunting

The Ace of Pentacles is one of my favorite cards. But this was not always the case. Pentacles in general have always been my suit of choice, but I never favored the Ace until I noticed that Arthur Waite tells us that this card is “the most favorable of all cards.” Usually I don’t pay much attention to Waite (I find him dull and incomprehensible, although some of my colleagues assure me is incredibly funny with this amazingly dry wit. But then, there is no accounting for tastes, is there?), but in this case, I’m clinging to his words simply because they please me.

In addition to pleasing me, Waite’s phrase inspired a modification of a technique I like to use. I think of this technique as treasure hunting through the deck. In this technique the Ace of Pentacles represents a fortuitous opportunity and what you learn from the technique will help you be prepared for when that opportunity comes knocking!

Shuffle your deck and then flip the cards face up one by one until you get to the Ace of Pentacles. Examine the card that came just before the Ace. That card indicates what must happen before the opportunity will present itself. This card serves a twofold purpose. First, it gives you something to accomplish in order to draw the opportunity into your life. Second, it provides a landmark that you can watch for. The opportunities granted by the Aces, in general, usually have a small window, so having a landmark lets you be poised and ready to take action and make the most of that beneficial energy.

PS this is variation on another technique I wrote about here: http://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/2114

PPS The top Ace is from the Legacy of the Divine Tarot and the bottom one is from the Gilded Tarot, both by Ciro Marchetti.