My Journey with the 9 of Pentacles Reversed
Alright, so I’ve been spending some time with the tarot deck again, like I usually do when I need to sort things out or just reflect. The other day, the 9 of Pentacles reversed kept popping up. Not just once, but enough times for me to stop and really think, “Okay, what’s the deal here?” You know how the upright 9 of Pentacles feels pretty good – independence, enjoying the fruits of your labor, that kind of stuff. So, seeing it reversed got me curious.
My first step was just looking at the card image itself, flipped upside down. The usually composed lady, the lush garden, the bird on her hand – it all looked precarious, unstable. The sense of calm was gone. It felt… off. Like something wasn’t quite right with that picture of self-sufficiency.
So, I started digging into my own experiences and readings I’ve done. Where had I seen this energy before? I pulled out my journal where I jot down notes from readings (mostly for myself, sometimes for friends).
- I remembered a time I felt like I was working my tail off, putting in crazy hours, but my bank account just wasn’t reflecting it. That felt like this reversed card – all the effort, none of the comfortable security the upright promises. It felt like a hustle with no real payoff, just stress.
- Then I thought about dependency. The upright card is Miss Independent, right? So reversed… maybe it’s about leaning too much on others? Or maybe feeling trapped because you can’t stand on your own two feet financially, even if you want to. I saw this pattern in a friend’s situation once; they looked like they had it all together, but behind the scenes, things were shaky and reliant on someone else’s support.
- It also made me think about times when maybe I, or someone else, was focused too much on the look of success. Spending money we didn’t really have, trying to keep up appearances. That superficial vibe definitely felt connected to this reversed card. It’s like having the fancy garden but it’s all rented, or the bird is borrowed.
What I Took Away From This Practice
After sitting with it, doing a few spreads focusing specifically on this card, and jotting down these thoughts, my understanding got a bit clearer. It wasn’t just one single thing.
For me, practically speaking, the 9 of Pentacles reversed showed up as:
- Financial instability or setbacks: Things not being as secure as they seem, maybe losing money or feeling broke despite working hard.
- Lack of real independence: Relying too heavily on others, or feeling stuck because you’re not self-sufficient.
- Superficiality: Focusing on outward appearances of wealth or success without the substance to back it up.
- Work without reward: Putting in tons of effort but not seeing the results or feeling fulfilled by it. Maybe burnout.
- Poor planning or bad investments: Sometimes, the lack of security comes from choices made earlier.
It’s not the most cheerful card, that’s for sure. But working through it like this helped me see it less as just a “bad” card and more as a signpost. It points to areas where that solid, earned comfort of the upright 9 is blocked or unstable. It’s a prompt, really. A nudge to look honestly at finances, at independence, at what true success means beyond just appearances. It’s about getting real with where things stand. And recognizing that feeling is the first step to actually fixing it, you know? That’s how I process these reversed cards, anyway – finding the practical message in the discomfort.
