Change and the Two of Pentacles

I've just returned form a ten day stint in community with the Albion Faeries (an LGBTQ collective) and to say it was a life changing experience  is an understatement. I've experienced community living before, having lived in a young people's community when I was twenty. A couple of years later I worked for a hotel chain and as a live in member of staff I became a community member  by default. 

Community living strips away masks whilst helping to facilitate the addition of new ones. It can foster warmth, closeness and a sense of belonging but can also lead to feelings of division and isolation when conflicts fail to be resolved. Yet for better or for worse, deeper principles underpin all of these dynamics - the realities of change through interconnectedness.

Nothing is static

In the Two of Pentacles nothing is static. Ships travel across a surging ocean. The Sun rises to banish darkness from the sky whilst the juggler must keep his two pentacles in the air. This is my own rendition of the Two, taken from a new deck in progress. Whilst many decks show the Pentacles connected within an infinity symbol, I chose to show their overlapping spheres of influence creating a healing mandorla. In both cases, it's the link that's important. The Pentacles cannot move without influencing and affecting each other and here lies the true nature of change.

In the course of my community experience, I was taken from the singular realm of the Ace towards the dynamic dance of the Two. For ten days, my solitary, hermit like existence as a self employed artist was swept into a pulsating, vibrant, sometimes frightening, but ultimately wonderful connectedness. I stopped being self determining and for the duration of my stay, my life became a collaborative dance with the people I shared a run down Northumbrian Castle with. We cooked for each other, gave of our skills, shared stories around the fire and drummed tribal rhythms in drum circles as we honoured departed friends, now our tribal ancestors. We also bickered, disagreed, let each other down in big and small ways and as we progressed through the week, we learned the art of strength through reconciliation.

Overlapping spheres of influence

I spent ten days laughing and crying with people and in this process I was both supportive and supported. I come away with treasured friendships and profound connections I didn't expect to forge. I was changed because my sphere of influence overlapped and connected to another and like the two Pentacles kept aloft by the Juggler, I learned that connectedness leads to movement, movement leads to change and change leads to healing.

My ten day community experience has also led me to question my life back home. Nothing can be the same again and I've learned more than anything else that it's the personal connections we forge that steer our life for better or for worse. Even if we make mistakes, the most important thing is that we remain connected, for our mistakes and inadequacies are also part of the juggle of the Pentacles. We may rise and fall but what matters is our continued movement.

My Faerie experience now makes me look forward to the forthcoming Sacred Tarot Workshop with a renewed understanding. The two overlapping pentacles symbolise myself and Petronella, relearning the art of change through collaboration. In pooling our resources we've enriched and changed each others understanding of the Tarot in wonderful ways. The Pentacles also symbolise ourselves overlapping with the community of participants who will gather with us on June 6th. If the same dynamics I experienced whilst in Northumbria are at work, this brief but magical gathering of a community with shared intent will lead to change in the most empowering of ways. 

Chris.


Two of Pentacles card image © Chris Butler 2015