Tarot and Art History: Seven of Pentacles
In my post of a couple days ago, I discussed the artistic symbolism of the lion’s tongue in the Strength card. This was pointed out to me by a student, but it’s not the first time that one of my students has revealed something that interesting regarding a Tarot card. In fact, it was something that a student said many years ago that led me to the painting that inspired my version of the Seven of Pentacles in my Tarot of the Masters. You see, many years ago, while discussing this card with a class I was teaching, one of my students noted that it reminded him of a poem called “The Man with a Hoe.” I had never heard of that poem, so I did a bit of research and made some fascinating discoveries.
“The Man with a Hoe,” written in 1899 by Edwin Markham, was published in thousands of newspapers and magazines, and enjoyed widespread popularity and impact. This occurred only a few years prior to Pamela Colman Smith’s creation of the RWS deck, so it is reasonable to assume that she was aware of the poem. Additionally, since it was inspired by a painting of the same name, it reinvigorated interest in that painting, which may all but assure the connection between Smith’s version of the Seven of Pentacles and this work of art.
Besides the curiosity of this probable background story about the creation of one of the RWS cards, these associations put a new spin on my understanding of the Seven of Pentacles. The poem “The Man with the Hoe” criticized a social system where the working class did all the labor but did not own the results of their work. This consideration brings the RWS version of the card a bit closer to the Thoth deck’s Seven of Disks, which was named “Failure” by Aleister Crowley. The painting of the same name was seen as a protest of the plight of the peasantry, but also as a tribute to courage in the face of unmitigated drudgery and exhausting hard work, which may cast a new light on our interpretation of this card as well.
I see the connection between this card and the major arcana card of Strength now more clearly. I relate these cards to each other because they are both sevens. Thank you James and your student.
Well I can’t retract my error so I will have to reply to my reply and say that of course the seventh major arcana card is the Chariot, not Strength. Apparently I still have that card on my mind. So now I have more to think about. In what way is the Seven of Pentacles related to The Chariot?
Carey, here are a couple of thoughts on this comparison:
1. Success (Chariot) and Failure (7/Pentacles) are opposite sides of the same coin.
2. “The price of getting what you want (Chariot) is getting what you used to want (7/Pentacles).” – Neil Gaiman
Hope that helps.
James
In a sense, the 7 of Pentacles IS a way to get what you want… it’s like a ladder, but one very difficult to climb. More or less like having a job just for the paycheck… the payment may be worth it, but you have to endure the rat race in order to get what you want.
I remember once a man in an interview here said “doing something you hate is the worst kind of unemployment that exists.” I suppose this is represented by the 7 of Pentacles too. Although there are fruits to your hard work, they are either not visible right now or… not good enough. Not inspiring enough.
It’s the strange and complicated balance maintained by the Chariot – how hard are you willing to work get you what want. But the most important question is – do you REALLY want it? Or have you simply “gotten used to what you want”, as Neil Gaiman brilliantly put it?
I did not know the history behind this card James, so thank you for sharing it! This was a very enlightening post to me!
Thank you James for the food for thought. I noticed the other day that the 2 pentacles that are on the ground in the second picture of the 7 of Pentacles that you posted are a different color than the ones on the vines. Assuming that this is not just some odd coloration of the printing process it connected for me to what Marina said about how hard are you willing to work to get what you want. It is obviously easier to pick up what is right there at your feet than work to get all the rest of the harvest.