Welcome to Tarot for Scholars, a resource that helps you weave the deep wisdom of tarot into your daily life and work. In each post, we offer reflections and prompts for exploring your own inner world and unlocking the unique creative power of your scholarship.
7 of Pentacles
About this card
Awareness as part of the creative process. Noticing the real effects you’re having in the tangible world. Pausing midway to appreciate how far you’ve already come. Alternatively, stepping into the middle of someone else’s body of work to admire the fruits of their labor. A work-in-progress as an end in itself.
Other interpretations
Margy’s cards, clockwise from top left: Radiant Tarot; New Chapter Tarot; Cosmic Slumber Tarot; Shining Tribe Tarot; Elemental Tarot; Navigators Tarot of the Mystic Sea; Spolia Tarot; Tarot of the Spirit.
Helen’s cards, clockwise from top left: Moon & Stars Tarot; Light Seer’s Tarot; Japaridze Tarot; Canes Arcanae; Star Spinner Tarot; Muse Tarot; Tarot of Mystical Moments; Forest of Enchantment Tarot.
Questions and prompts
Imagine your body of work as a garden. What fruits of your scholarly labor are ripe for the plucking today, and which are still in progress? How can you enjoy the ripe fruits today while continuing to cultivate the not-yet-ripe ones?
How does this moment or phase in your scholarly career fit into your larger process of transformation? What seeds planted long ago are flourishing today? What seeds are you planting today in hopes of future flourishing?
What do you admire in other scholars’ work? How do the fruits of their labor enrich your own scholarship? Can you think of a fellow scholar to whom you can express your admiration or appreciation today?
Thanks for joining us for Tarot for Scholars! Your hearts, restacks, and comments brighten our day. 💫
Yours in scholarship,
HELEN SWORD is a poet, scholar, award-winning teacher, and founder of the WriteSPACE, an international writing community with members in 30+ countries. Her research-based books, articles, and online tools empower scholarly writers to write more clearly, confidently, prolifically, and with greater pleasure.
Visit Helen’s website here.
MARGY THOMAS is the creator of ScholarShape, a body of work dedicated to elucidating the patterns of Story-Argument across genres, disciplines, and life itself. Through services and DIY resources, Margy helps scholars use Story-Argument patterns to design their work — and to find its deeper meaning and higher purpose.
Visit Margy’s website here.
If this free collaborative resource adds value to your life and work, please consider contributing to our “Helen & Margy IRL fund” so that the two of us (who live on opposite sides of the globe) can meet up In Real Life one day. An annual subscription costs just $1 per tarot card and earns you our eternal gratitude!
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