The Tens: A “Holding Pattern”
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I won’t regale you with where I got the raw material for this essay; suffice it to say that it’s “of a piece” with my last dozen “sourced” ideas.
The Tens of the Minor Arcana have been described as representing a “cessation of effort” while awaiting new information or a fresh impulse to begin anew (typically in the Ace of the next suit). They have pushed the original energy of their suit as far as it can go and have entered a state of relative idleness. In esoteric numerology, the Ten is essentially a postscript to the fulfillment reflected in the Nine; the elemental force has overshot the mark and has almost completely dissipated. Pythagoras may have considered it a “perfect” number but it doesn’t satisfy that description in Qabalistic terms based on the Tree of Life. It is instead a “fall from grace” into material excess and error.
We can make a fanciful narrative vignette out of the Waite-Smith Tens: the 10 of Wands suggests “going home to take a load off;” the 10 of Cups implies arriving there with great pleasure; the 10 of Swords shows dismay at the accommodations and the pressing need to to restore habitability (the ten swords could represent a “make-over punch-list”); the 10 of Pentacles gives the impression of wallowing in mindless complacency once finally settled in (it also hints at mundane shackles or even a “ball-and-chain”).
Apart from numerological considerations, the Tens in divination are a mixed bag. In the RWS deck, two of them display domestic scenes, alternately conveying bliss and comfort, another is stressful and the worst of the lot is dire. In the Thoth deck, one (“Wealth”) is favorable, one (“Satiety” or overindulgence) is of dubious benevolence and two (“Oppression” and “Ruin”) are unfortunate. When I encounter a Ten in a spread, I normally see it as the “last gasp” of the generative principle that originated in the Ace, and look beyond its listless profile to whatever awaits the querent in the next chapter of the story. I present it as a “pause to reflect” on that which brought the seeker to that particular juncture in the situation, with an eye toward moving on successfully from there. “Something coming to an end” is only implied and may not be imminent; lack of energy can mean lack of movement and direction, leaving circumstances at a standstill that leads nowhere and suggests a “plateaued” state of inactivity.
My usual reaction is to interpret the Ten as cautionary. The “holding pattern” it represents is no place for the querent to linger for fear of becoming stuck in neutral or succumbing to other unprofitable attitudes and behaviors, often due to a sidetracked agenda that can result in “wheel-spinning.” The incentive to do anything may be wanting when the landscape has been flattened and the horizon is indeterminate, so “sitting on one’s hands” is not uncommon. With the 10 of Wands there is no foreseeable end to stressful oppression; the 10 of Cups implies a moribund state of emotional apathy that is a heartbeat away from abject boredom; the 10 of Swords suggests a bottomless pit of despair; and the 10 of Pentacles portrays a sedentary inertia that risks sliding into decay. What is needed is an incentive to shake things up; expecting that sense of urgency to be self-willed may be unrealistic under the circumstances, demanding some kind of external “call to action.” In summary, we could say that if they persist unchallenged, the Tens can lose their focus, their way and their “mojo” in the bargain.
As the final iteration of their series, the Tens are ripe for change, in which case they share a common theme with the Kings and the World: they are a jumping-off place for the next phase of development, although this restart will not automatically be fruitful and may require some shuffling of priorities as the transformation unfolds in rudimentary form. The Wands-to-Cups transition reveals stale, wavering ambitions and desires giving way to a more robust emotional intensity (the Motley Crew song “Kickstart My Heart” comes to mind); Cups-to-Swords imparts a shift from fading vestiges of sentiment to decisive resolve; Swords-to-Pentacles offers productive inspiration to languishing mental expedients; and Pentacles-to-Wands jump-starts stalled material initiatives with fresh enthusiasm. Think of the biological imperative for a snake to shed its skin, making way for further growth. While it may seem uneventful, the Ten invites sloughing off that which is no longer useful, on balance becoming positive in all its modes (assuming that we aren’t struggling to hold onto something we should cut loose, in which case it can be stifling).
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on December 27, 2022.
