Copyrighted by Lorna Tedder. Originally published in Third Degree of Truth.
I’m not sure what happened to author Jill Jones. I lost track of her. I used to read her “literary suspense” novels from St. Martin’s Press in the 90’s and we’d meet up at various writers’ conferences and talk about various New Age topics. We both liked a bit of paranormal in our stories and thought the world of Jennifer Enderlin, her editor at SMP.
I don’t know. Maybe other people go to conventions and conferences to drink and get frisky, but my group of writer-pals always ended up back in someone’s room, having pizza delivered while we got out the Tarot cards and laid them out for our favorite editors and talked about our wishes and dreams both as women and as writers and editors. I don’t remember any specifics of any of those readings but I remember Jill once telling me she wanted to attend to a party that had a Tarot theme and that she wanted a costume so she could come dressed as her favorite Tarot card—the 9 of pentacles of the Rider- Waite deck, aka The Lady in the Garden.
Over time, that card became one of my favorites as well, but only for the prettiness of it. It wasn’t an archetype for me.
She is the content and prosperous woman who is close to nature and serenely secluded in her garden. She’s there by choice, alone for the moment, but perfectly at peace. She has it all—a wealth of just being and being at ease with herself. Pentacles are usually related to physical prosperity but I’ve always thought of this card as the woman who is the mistress of all she surveys, including her own life.
In the past year, this card has been increasingly drawing my attention. I’ve been told several times that I will merge more with this archetype, especially this autumn, finally sharing in her nature. My intuitive friends have regarded this card and subsequently described a certain orange-y flower at my feet, representative of a man’s lusty orange energy, and my own energy—a deep raspberry- pink—hinted at by similarly hued roses and flowers in my garden.
I’m seeing orange zinnias—or something similar— planted all over my neighborhood. The ones in my own yard have flourished as have the raspberry-pink flowers.
Today, Autumn was in the air here. A beautiful, clear day with no humidity and a hint of coming abundance. My favorite time of the year. Even if it was in the 80’s!
But walking barefoot across my newly built patio, built with the summer sweat of my own labors, and then into the grass and among the flowers, I felt very much like the Lady in the Garden. Alone amid the beauty of nature and enjoying the serenity.
I think I can safely add the Lady in the Garden to my usual card, the Queen of Wands, and to the new archetype I seem to be morphing into, the Queen of Swords, who has gone from victimhood to strength.
Three cards? Of course. Just different facets of who I am. And I like that.
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