Seven of Pentacles
The Seven of Skulls represents a time of critical self-assessment and inventory of achievements, calling for pause and reflection on progress made. It signifies harvesting the fruits of labor while contemplating past choices and considering alternative paths for future growth. This card embodies the courage needed to take a leap of faith, overcoming self-doubt and fear of the unknown. It marks a crossroads where one must decide whether to continue on the current path or venture into new territory, transforming losses into abundance through optimistic perseverance.
Keywords
Alchemy
Saturn in Taurus; Victory (Netzach) of Earth; Absorption of Material Form
Kindred Spirits
Herachel; Mizrael
Essence
Absorption of Matter. Pause for reflection. Harvesting crops and rewards. Enjoying the fruits of labor. Contemplating the past. Confirmation of efforts. Return to initial plans or directions. Revision of positions. Analysis of choices. Crossroads. Finding faith in achieving success. Forbidden fruit.
Primary Meaning
The Seven of Skulls marks a time when we critically analyze our progress and engage in 'inventory' of achieved successes. We must ask ourselves questions about the correctness of our choices and consider the possibility of alternative actions that could increase our future harvest. Often this is a period when we reap the fruits of our labor and reflect on the past. Perhaps the development of events has temporarily halted or a time of waiting is approaching. This means we must pause and enjoy our achievements, assess the progress made, and set new tasks before ourselves. During this break, we get the opportunity to calmly catch our breath and taste the fruits of our success.
Period of Transition
This card corresponds to a period when intense activity has come to an end, and we face the task of planning our further actions. This is a time for reviewing events, redirecting emotions, or calming the mind. The meaning of this card is that our rewards will not keep us waiting, but we should, at the same time, objectively assess what we have achieved. In many respects, this is a process of selecting from our harvests the one that proved most abundant and further sprouting its seeds. We must improve our efforts and clarify the direction of our actions, discarding everything that proved unfruitful. Perhaps promises or hopes were not fulfilled as we expected, and we must now reconsider the situation in which we find ourselves.
Overcoming Disappointment
When our aspirations do not materialize into reality, and strenuous labors do not bring the reward we counted on, we may experience disappointment and resentment. The Seven of Skulls is designed to protect us and give us strength, determination, and courage so as not to doubt the feasibility of our dream. Such periods of evaluating successes and failures are necessary so that we can soberly and objectively weigh our achievements and continue to develop. This card can teach us to be patient when we await the results of our endeavors; their harvest will ripen and be ready for collection when the time comes, as many invisible forces influence it.
Crossroads and Decision Making
In a broad sense, this card speaks of the need to stop and carefully think everything through before making a decision, to make sure we are not deviating from the originally chosen path, or to use a maximally utilitarian approach to evaluating the situation. The Seven of Skulls can signify the completion of one period in life and the beginning of the next; in this case, it can be perceived as a crossroads where we must make an important decision. Perhaps some phase of our life has come to an end, and then we must ask ourselves: 'In which direction should I go further?' Sometimes the Seven of Skulls appears in a spread when we are ready to give up something due to dissatisfaction with progress or reward, or from fear of failure.
Overcoming Self-Doubt
The card calls us to take a pause, calm our heart, and believe again in our strength and capabilities. This is also true in cases when we hesitate because we fear making a mistake, or limit the range of our actions to familiar and habitual activities. Now the moment has come to rid ourselves of these phantoms of self-doubt, experiment with new approaches and perspectives, and tackle the matter with new determination.
Analysis and Symbolism
The legs of the Vampire girl depicted on this card are borrowed from a wolf, which symbolically connects her with the earth. This idea carries a double meaning: first, it demonstrates close and strong connections with her animal and sensual origin, and second, it reflects her return to past generations. She has nestled against the sundial, frozen in time and waiting for the moment when everything will change for the better. This simultaneously illustrates her indecision in exploring new horizons from fear of failure. Perhaps she is waiting for some magical forces to come to her aid. Maybe she cannot part with her former way of acting when she needs to forget about it and begin mastering new paths. Are the commanding terrors of expectation restraining her? Or is she meekly waiting for whatever fate befalls her?
The Apple Tree Symbolism
Behind her grows an apple tree whose harvest has scattered across the ground. This tree symbolizes the progress she has achieved at this moment, its first fruits, rotted, are absorbed into the Earth and enrich the soil with substances necessary for new growth and development. From these apples, the girl has chosen the ripest, most juicy one, into which she now pleasurably sinks her teeth and drinks its hot and thick juice, rejuvenating her and endowing her with magical powers. This reminds us that an optimistic attitude toward life generates the energy necessary for transforming losses into abundance. Considerable courage is required to taste this fruit—to overcome oneself and make a leap of faith—for some fruits contain life-giving energy, while others contain deadly poison. She made the right choice and is now rewarded with an apple full of intoxicating nutrients.
Leap of Faith and Growth
Having decided on a leap of faith, we receive as a reward the opportunity to break out of a deadlock situation and enter a new spiral of development. This card tells us not so much about the final completion of some stage, but about a pause in development during which we conduct a revaluation of values. The Seven of Skulls can symbolize the insufficiency of our confidence in ourselves and the deepest emotional fears of failure or the unknown. In our development, we have reached the distant boundaries of our own conscious awareness, and the next step we must take is into the unknown.
The Garden Wall and Shadows
This thought is illustrated by the stone wall of the garden, which shields the girl from the external world on all sides. In this refuge, frozen in time, she feels safe. Beyond the wall spreads the unconscious—all that is still beyond our understanding. There live the shadows that pursue and torment us, but they are precisely the keys that can unlock the garden gate. By boldly looking these fears in the face, we thereby begin to dispel them, illuminating them with the light of our conscious comprehension. We understand that these shadows were obstacles to a greater degree than what they concealed. When the shadows dissolved completely, what was previously hidden and forbidden transformed into succulent fruit. This is the forbidden fruit that the vampire girl enjoys.
Shadow
Fear of failure. Dissatisfaction. Meager harvest, deceived expectations of rewards. Despondency. Despair. Misunderstanding or mistakes. Hesitations. Destruction. Lack of effort or organization. Wrong choices, repeated blunders. Spiritual emptiness, hopelessness. Need for new inspiration. Lack of concentration and clarity. Internal blocks. Scorched earth. Thirst.
Visual Description
A pale, semi-nude female figure with furred legs kneels beside a carved pillar topped with ornamentation, holding a small bleeding heart in one hand. Skulls dot the ground around her and one is incorporated into the pillar's design; a gnarled leafless tree rises behind her against a murky brown sky. Her lips are stained with blood and her hair flows loosely, giving a haunting, mournful presence. At the card's bottom a decorative banner shows Cyrillic lettering and ornamental borders.
Tarot of Vampyres
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