The Pentacles Court: Strategy Over Tactics
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I was just reading a Quora essay that described George Washington as a lousy military tactician but a brilliant strategist. It seems he lost all six of the major battles in which he participated, but his goal wasn’t to win, just to preserve his army so it could remain a thorn in the side of the British, engaging them in a war of attrition that eventually drove them to the realization that it was too costly to continue.
In her book, Tarot and the Tree of Life, Isabel Kliegman depicts the Knight of Pentacles more as a rear-echelon strategist keen on preparation than as a front-line tactician trying to stay ahead of every rapid turn of events. This thoroughness is entirely within character for the Knight since the suit of Earth is steeped in conservatism and patience. Even the typically mobile and restless Knight takes the time to “get it right” before he attempts to launch an offensive. You won’t catch him or his army short on provisions or ammunition in the field. As with Washington, preservation looms large on his radar screen.
I’ve been thinking that all the members of the Pentacles court share in this cautious mindset to a greater or lesser extent. The King is a paragon of ponderous deliberation, the Queen is the soul of forbearance, and the Page — in the timeless vision of poet Thomas Gray — “keeps the noiseless tenor of his ways.” Each of these characters is a “rock” of stability and reliability within his or her own domain; what they lack in imagination they more than make up for in persistence and diligence. You wouldn’t necessarily tap one to join you for a night of carousing (unless you need a designated driver), but when “the chips are down” in any kind of fracas I’d want one of them at my back. The Wands court may be more aggressive, the Cups more passionate and the Swords more ruthless, but the Pentacles will never turn tail and run as long a the foe is still afield. They dig in and stand their ground.
At work, they execute instructions to a “T” (no outside-the-box thinking). On stage, they follow the script meticulously (no ad-libbing). In romance they are dependable but not exactly thrilling (unless physicality is all that is wanted from them). In any kind of a gamble, they know exactly “when to hold ’em and when to fold ‘em.” In card-playing terminology, we could say that their “long suits” are honesty and fidelity, while they are “short-suited” in originality and dexterity. They might speak in a monotone, and in the unlikely event they are roped into giving a presentation, they can be as dry as dead leaves. Except for the uncharacteristic violence, Clint Eastwood’s laconic “Man with No Name” could be an exemplar of the type. There is little that is unplanned about their behavior, and what there is doesn’t feel like it.
The astrological correspondences for the Pentacles court are instructive, although I don’t agree with most of them as noted in my recent essay on the subject. Rather than being associated primarily with the Cardinal sign of Saturn-ruled Capricorn, where I believe the King of Pentacles is a better fit, the Queen of Pentacles seems more suited to the Fixed, Venus-ruled sign of Taurus, and the traditional resident of that sign, the Knight of Pentacles, makes infinitely more sense in the Mutable, Mercury-ruled sign of Virgo, replacing the King. (As the “airy” part of their element, the mercurial Knights are adaptable, similar to Mutability, while Kings and Queens are constant). The Page of Pentacles represents “Earth of Earth” and, along with the Ace of Pentacles, presides over the first quadrant of the “natural” (Aries-rising) zodiac. As an experienced astrologer, I’m much more satisfied with this revisionist heresy that treats the Kings as Cardinal, the Queens as Fixed and the Knights as Mutable.
Below is a reformulated “Chaldean” wheel that lays this out. (Note that these are the Thoth/Golden Dawn courts, not the Waite-Smith version; the mounted Thoth Knight ousts the seated RWS King, while the Thoth Prince in his chariot overwrites the RWS Knight on horseback, and the Thoth Princess displaces the RWS Page.)
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on April 30, 2024.
