For You to See Life - 4u2c.life

The card of the Page of Pentacles portrays a boy of around twelve years of age, with dark brown hair and an olive complexion, dressed in a pale leaf-green tunic. He stands in a field where the new green growth of different varieties of vegetables, flowers and herbs is just showing above the ploughed furrows of rich dark soil. He holds a golden pentacle gently in both hands. Above him, the sky is a pale, delicate blue.

Minor Arcana ~ The Page of Pentacles

Here, in the card of the Page of Pentacles, we meet the element of earth in its most delicate and fragile beginnings - the nascent awareness of the senses, of nature, and of the capacity to manifest things in the world. This is embodied in the mythic figure of the boy Triptolemus, who was the son of King Celeus of Eleusis. One day the boy and his brothers were about their father’s business in the fields, Triptolemus herding the king’s cattle while his two brothers tended the sheep and the swine. These three saw a strange drama enacted. The earth suddenly gaped open, engulfing all of King Celeus’ swine. Then a chariot drawn by black horses appeared, and dashed down the chasm. The chariot-driver’s face was invisible, but his right arm was tightly clasped around a shrieking girl.

What the three brothers had witnessed was the rape of Persephone by the dark god Hades, lord of the underworld which story we have already encountered in the Major Arcana cards of the Empress and the High Priestess. Persephone’s mother Demeter had travelled all over the world wearily seeking some news of her daughter s disappearance. When she arrived, disguised, at Eleusis, the boy Triptolemus alone recognized her, and gave her the information she needed, which had eluded her for so long. For this act of kindness the Earth Mother rewarded Triptolemus first by teaching him her worship and mysteries — in essence, the mysteries of nature and the death and regeneration of life through the seasonal cycles. She then supplied the boy with seed-corn, a wooden plough, and a serpent-drawn chariot, and sent him all over the world to teach mankind the art of agriculture.

Triptolemus, the Page of Pentacles, is an image of those early and delicate efforts to relate to the sensual world which must emerge first before any larger ambitions of a material kind can be pursued. In common with all the Pages of the Minor Arcana, the Page of Pentacles is a bud, a bare beginning, and like all buds this gentle, delicate beginning of recognition of the value of the material world must be nurtured and protected lest it be crushed through undervaluing and neglect. Often the Page of Pentacles can suggest the early interest in some new hobby, which starts as a mere idea or enthusiasm, but which if cared for and developed slowly and patiently may eventually become a full-blown vocation which yields both material and emotional rewards and fulfilment. We have all experienced these little enthusiasms - but how many of us really follow them up, and try the necessary first small steps which might lead to something greater? Triptolemus, the Page of Pentacles, is a serious child, responsible and hard-working as few children are; at a young age he is given care of his father’s cattle, instead of playing like other boys. Thus the energy of the Page of Pentacles needs to be treated gently but seriously.

Likewise the image of Triptolemus may reflect the delicate beginnings of sensuality emerging, particularly if the individual has all his or her life undervalued this dimension of experience. The beginnings of sensual awareness in a more intellectual or imaginative temperament may be overlooked or despised, yet the myth of Triptolemus suggests that if the life of the body is recognized and valued as the boy recognizes and values the goddess Demeter, great rewards may emerge in the future. For many people this nascent awareness of the body may take the form of a desire to care for oneself better, through a better diet or exercise, or more time for relaxation, or an interest in gardening or caring for animals - playful things which lead to a deeper and stronger relationship with the earth itself.

When the Page of Pentacles appears in a spread, it marks the gathering together of energy which can eventually be used for building things in the world and for fulfilling the needs of the body. Sometimes money becomes available in small sums, which need to be saved and nurtured rather than thrown away as insignificant. Sometimes the individual takes up a new hobby which may later develop into a profession with time and careful work; or he or she may begin to care more for the body and take more interest in sensual pleasure and fulfilment. The message here, as with all the Pages, is that care, gentleness and time are needed to bring the potential to fruition.

I will explain in my readings what each card means, this is a general interpritation taken from the Mythic Tarot Deck

Information Source: Mythic Tarot Deck
[published in 1986 by Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Greene and Illustrated by Tricia Newell (not the New Mythic Tarot)]