The knight of pentacles, like all the knights in the tarot, is a man on a mission. Riding on a sturdy black horse with red tack, he holds the disc in his hand, his steady gaze surveying the land ahead. On his head, his helmet sports a green feather.
Our hero seems to be studying his options. His horse is motionless, and it seems as if our knight is pondering his next move. The black horse he is riding signifys the limitlessness of his choices. Black is the color, in Tai Chi, of the void from which all things come.
What the knight must do to achieve his ends is to guide his horse (his life) towards his desire, and all that he longs for will be his.
The red (the color of strong emotion) tack (saddle, bridle, reins, etc.) indicate that his passions are his most effective guides. The card is telling us, as Rumi says, to "Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love".
In Native American lore, the feather is the symbol of spiritual evolution to a higher plane. Its placement on the crown chakra indicates connection with a higher truth. The green color of the feather indicates that great healing is involved in this endevor.
Do we not feel healed and whole when we are doing what we love to do? All things seem possible when we are feeling satisfactied and joyful. The problem comes when what we love seems to be in conflict with what we think we SHOULD do and be. When we're acting in opposition to the guidence of our emotions, we get confused as to who we are and why we're here, and afraid that we will make the wrong choices in our lives.
The question so often is "What do I really want to do and what is my purpose?" Sometimes it's hard for us to see the answer to this question clearly because we've been taught that what we want is somehow inappropriate, wrong, silly, strange, not practical, unrealistic, etc.
The pondering that our good knight is doing hints that we can find ourselves through patience and meditation. These gentle teachers point the way to our true path, and once we know who we truly are and what we truly want, we answer the main "quest-ions" in our lives and are therefore ready to go on our personal quest towards self-fulfillment. Guided by "the stronger pull of what we really love", we are off to live our desire and to be the person we're meant to be.
Gods speed.
Love,
Kristine
Finding Method in the Madness:
