To harvest or not to harvest? Margarete Petersen’s Seven of Coins

Seven of Coins (trimmed):
© Margarete Petersen Tarot

Margarete Petersen’s Seven of Coins has an autumnal feel, to me – probably the colours, but also the skeleton/bones and the plant on its last legs… A time of change, liminal space-time. Things dying back to make way for new growth.  I wasn’t sure what to make of the rock drawings in the image, but in the LWB Margarete Petersen talks of them (and the bones of the skeleton) in reference to things happening in different times, different ages – and on to how growth is possible because things decay over time.

I usually associate this card with choosing whether to harvest what’s grown so far or to let it continue growing to fruition (i.e. the Ten). The LWB supports this: Margarete Petersen writes “Don’t interfere; commit to the process of growth” (another reference to non-interference, as in the Seven of Cups).  This is not unlike what Juliet Sharman-Burke has written, in her accompanying book to the Sharman-Caselli tarot: there’s no judgement here, merely an indication that this is a good time to weigh things up – that we have choices. We can stick with what we know, or branch out.

Does astrology help? The Seven of Coins, in the astrological correspondence system I follow, is linked to Saturn in Taurus (and to the final ten days of this sign).   Saturn is about establishing and preserving, as well as about having integrity.  In Taurus, that integrity could grow out of a sense of loyalty or reliability, or perhaps through building (Taurus) or establishing (Saturn) a safe and secure base – one that provides a sense of stability.  Saturn can also be about traditional values, as can Taurus (through its association with the Second House), as well as preserving the status quo, perhaps in order to maintain some sort of approval or recognition within a social context.   There can be a tendency towards conservatism in this combination, as well as that Taurean stubbornness (I like to call it tenacity!), linked to a Saturnian fear of not being in control.  Saturn wants to achieve but Taurus can slow things down, and at its worst could impede progress by not only stubbornness but also laziness.  At its best, progress is slow but sure; it’s steady, and often self-reliant.  Certainly a good time to commit to the process of growth.

Growth, decay, life and death.

Everything is connected

through time; let it be.

Margarete Petersen Tarot, AGM-URANIA/Deep Books, 2004.