The New Year and the Knights: Getting Back on the Horse

The Knights in the Smith-Waite Tarot Deck: Centennial Edition; US Games Systems

Returning to something after a long break, hiatus, or sabbatical intimidates most of us. Whether it’s getting back to work after being out with an illness, taking up a hobby after many years or even the prospect of returning to “real life” after a vacation, getting back into action can fill us with dread. I’ve written on the blog before how much I love the New Year and the clean slate it brings. As we’ve stepped into this New Year and I’ve wanted to get back to activities I’d left on the back burner, like writing this blog, the Knights of the tarot popped into my mind. It must have been the “getting back in the saddle,” or “get back on the horse” sentiment that prompted me and I’m glad it did because the metaphor is perfect for picking back up wherever we may have left off.

The Knights of the tarot might be the true underdogs of tarot. Part of the court cards of the deck which many people already have a hard time interpreting and relating to, the knights occupy an energy that is under-represented in tarot. The Pages represent novices and new beginnings. The Queen and King represent the feminine and masculine principles of mastery and authority. However, when people pull a Knight card they often stare blankly and understanding comes to halt.

The Knights represent the continuation of something already set in motion: an idea or thought, feelings of love, creative endeavors, or building something. The Knights upon their steeds carry out orders given by the Queen or King or they complete with skill what the apprentice Pages cannot. In short, whether swiftly or slowly, Knights get things done.

As I contemplated the New Year and my goals, I realized that so many of our goals and resolutions for the New Year aren’t really new, but are our attempts to get back to things we’d abandoned or forgotten. We aspire to get back in shape, finish learning that second language or take our proficiency to the next level, or complete household projects left in states of flux. Oftentimes finally finishing something is even more rewarding than taking up a new project.

As you proceed into 2023, this is a wonderful time to reconnect with forgotten projects and goals. It is never too late and connecting with the energy of the Knights may help you focus with purpose and determination. Let these energies bring you clarity and understanding. The Knights of the tarot are not at all hard to relate to once you understand their meaning. They are warriors who get things done in their own unique ways.

The Knight of Swords and the Knight of Wands from the Smith-Waite Tarot Deck: Centennial Edition; US Games Systems

I like to the group the Knights in pairs. First, we’ll look at what I call the Speedy Knights: the Knight of Swords and the Knight of Wands. Sometimes these two remind me of the phrase, “Fools rush in.” They both are typically depicted in the RWS (Rider-Waite-Smith) tradition as riding full-gallop on their chargers towards wherever they’ve been directed or commanded to go, wand and sword raised in offensive positions. The Knight of Swords embodies thought, ideas, and beliefs in action. The Knight of Wands embodies creativity, passion, and even spirituality in action. Both knights waste no time getting to their destinations. Fools may rush in but sometimes they are right on time!

The Knight of Cups and the Knight of Pentacles in the Smith-Waite Tarot Deck: Centennial Edition; US Games Systems

Next let’s look at the Steady Knights: the Knight of Cups and the Knight of Pentacles or Coins. These are the “Slow and steady wins the race,” knights. They both sit atop their steeds in a calm if not completely still manner in the RWS. The Knights present forth their cup or pentacle, almost as offerings rather than as weapons to attack like the wand and sword. The Knight of Cups represents emotion, compassion and romance or love in action. Love really cannot be rushed. The Knight of Pentacles represents finances, work, and progress in the physical world. Traveling or attaining physical resources is never a quick thing in the eyes of Spirit: these things take time.

Invoking the energies of the Knights in tarot can really help us focus on our goals and actually work towards them successfully. The qualities that the Knights characterize cover all facets of life and we can relate them to any task. I’ve listed a breakdown below that should be helpful when determining which Knight would be most helpful for you to work with based on what you plan to achieve. Using the energy of the tarot Knights can help you have the most accomplished and successful year yet while learning about and becoming much more comfortable with these court cards. Give them a try!

The Knight of Swords in The Lightseer’s Tarot by Chris-Anne; Hay House

Knight of Swords: Connect with this knight in relation to all things thought-based. Ideas, brainstorming, written and verbal communication. Finally writing that book or taking up journaling again. Learning to be a better public speaker or learning a new language. Starting a book club or a weekly reading routine. Go finish school or go back to acquire an advanced degree.

The Knight of Wands in The Lightseer’s Tarot by Chris-Anne; Hay House

Knight of Wands: Connect with this knight in relation to all creative and spiritual endeavors. Start or finally finish craft projects or art pieces. Work on inventions and innovations you’ve never gotten on paper. Learn to play a musical instrument, start dancing again, get back to doing improv. Finish sewing projects or do cosplay. Start meditating again or studying a religion that’s always interested you. Devote more time to metaphysical studies such as tarot, astrology, and witchcraft.

The Knight of Cups in the Lightseer’s Tarot by Chris-Anne; Hay House

Knight of Cups: Connect with this knight regarding matters of the heart, emotions, and psyche. Go back to therapy. Do shadow work, self-reflection or any kind of self-help that interests you. Be more demonstrative and openly affectionate with loved ones, express your feelings to your loved ones or establish better boundaries in your relationships. Pursue romantic love and start dating or plan to be more romantic within your current relationship. Cultivate more compassion for those you judge.

The Knight of Pentacles in the Lightseer’s Tarot by Chris-Anne; Hay House

Knight of Pentacles: Connect with this knight regarding your work or professional life, finances, and all physical matters. Acquire professional certifications that increase your value as an employee. Prepare yourself for promotion or start your own business. Start budgeting and becoming more financially savvy. Learn about investing or real estate. Make plans to finally travel to your dream destination. Strengthen your physical fitness by exercising, play sports. Conduct home improvements or work in your garden.

When Worldly Actions Match Spiritual Intentions, Success Ensues

James 2:14-26 Holy Bible, KJV

So many moments of life become opportunities to learn. I especially love learning from my clients and drawing parallels between all our lives. We are all so unique and yet so connected as a human collective. One thing I’m shown over and over is how our every day, practical actions can hardly be separated from any spiritual work we do. Lines between mundane life and the metaphysical blur continuously and seamlessly.

Prosperity and money are huge hot-button issues for a lot of people. Many people deal with the pitfalls of a scarcity mindset and work diligently to overcome that limitation. This can be one of the hardest blocks to overcome. Case in point, many people perform spells, say positive affirmations, use hypnosis, etc. and over time this spiritual and unconscious mental work will impact the person’s actions in a way that creates harmony. Over time, the prosperity block dissolves and the person progresses with joy and abundance.

However, some people perform the same rituals and practices and then continue to spend more money than they earn. No, I’m not referring to emergencies and series of unfortunate events that can befall anyone. I mean consistent mismanagement of basic financial principles. Sometimes, the spiritual and mental work doesn’t fully connect to the actions the person takes. This could be caused by blocks that are deeper in the subconscious than the person realizes. But I see so many of my clients and other people I know suffer with this issue. They try everything they know to do and everything I suggest, but as long as their practical actions clash with their intention, they stagnate or dig a deeper hole.

I have a painful example of this disconnect from my own life. Years ago, in my prior corporate life, I experienced an extremely rough patch in my career. My work environment was negative and toxic and I was expected to perform optimally in a complex, stressful job with virtually no training. There were days when being at work felt like Hell. Being the spiritualista that I am, I decided to take metaphysical action!

I burned many candles and much incense and prayed extensively. I cleansed myself and tried to focus on positivity and affirmations. And every day, I failed to make progress. I was doing the spiritual heavy lifting, but one day while sitting at my desk, it occurred to me why nothing was working. My actions at work contrasted with my spiritual intentions.

Cards from Keepers of the Light Oracle Cards by Kyle Gray, Artist: Lily Moses; Hay House

The uncomfortable truth was, my performance at work sucked. I wasn’t meeting expectations – those of my employer or even my own. I knew I was capable of so much more than I was producing and I recognized that my lagging performance was an immature reaction, a form of protest against my oppressors, if you will. But the joke was on me because I was the one suffering! I decided to match my prayers and affirmations for a positive work environment by creating it for myself. I stopped complaining, and feeling victimized and took charge. Once my actions matched my prayers and affirmations, the positive intentions I worked to create in spirit catapulted me into success that shocked me!

We all know the struggle when it comes to putting our spiritual intentions into action in daily life. However, there can be times when we fail to see to correlation to earthly tasks and our spiritual work. We pray for true love but then continue to direct our affections and precious time towards someone whose love is not true. We perform a weight loss spell on the waning moon in hopes of diminishing our body fat but aren’t fully conscious that the way we eat cancels out the magic. And we say the spell didn’t work when really the nourishment we choose doesn’t support weight loss.

This involves great frustration. Why do some metaphysical practices or techniques work for some and not others? We’re all only human, after all. How different can we be? I believe a lot of this comes down to how we view the activities in our lives. We can compartmentalize our activities: we have our “work self” our “mom or dad” self, our “running boring errands self.” Then, separately, we have our magical, spiritual selves. And all tasks associated with each self are put in their own category. As we do this, we often create a false dichotomy between our daily tasks and actions and our mystical works. We wonder why doing such dedicated and intense spiritual work doesn’t positively impact areas of our life where we suffer.

Understand that all the things you do and all the decisions you make have magic in them. Some will say doing a prosperity spell won’t work, but saving your money will. I say, why can’t both those actions work together to create holistic success? Are these actions really that different? Prudently saving alone, will give you progress but adding magic or the intent of prayer adds kindling to the fire. Likewise, doing affirmations and reciting mantras is incredibly effective but if you continue a habit of overspending on unnecessary items, the potency of the affirmations and mantras decreases. Magic and mundane tasks work together and influence each other profoundly. Remember to “help out” or enhance any spiritual working with worldly tasks that assist the energies you want to create. Your magic and your life will never be the same.

Resistance

Photo Credit: Anthony Tran @anthonytran

Steven Pressfield, in his book, The War of Art, proposes that procrastination is not a manifestation of laziness; it is a form of resistance. Oh, the accuracy of this statement! Procrastination is a highly effective form of resistance. It fits solidly into the freeze section of the “fight, flight, or freeze” construct. Why is it so hard to do the things we know we must? The things we know would make us happy and bring us progress?

A perfect embodiment of resistance is the 8 of Swords in the tarot. A figure is blindfolded and bound to a stake, immobilized with her sight cut off. The trick is – spoiler alert! – The ties binding her are loose. She’s perfectly capable of removing them and her blindfold and walking away. Another excellent tarot depiction of resistance is the 4 of Coins. In this card, a man clings to four large coins. He has one coin under each of his feet, one rests above his head and the other he holds firmly in his grasp.

8 of Swords from The Everyday Witch Tarot, Llewellyn; and The Original Rider Waite Tarot, U.S. Games Systems

This demonstrates that there are actually different kinds of “resistance as inactivity.” While the 8 of Swords is the type of resistance that involves willful blindness and denial, the 4 of Coins is a conscious, stubborn resistance. The 8 of Swords not only refuses to move, she refuses to see what is going on around her. The 4 of Coins looks straight ahead. He knows what’s going on and refuses to budge or let go.

Perhaps behind resistance lies fear of failure and fear of exposure and criticism. We can’t worry about public humiliation if we never put ourselves or our work out into the world. We certainly hear “Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” and other iconic quotes on the subject. And inspiring though they may be, sometimes they still don’t move the needle.

4 of Coins from The Everyday Witch Tarot, Llewellyn; and The Original Rider Waite Tarot, U.S. Games Systems

One thing that may help is understanding what motivates us and then using that to push ourselves out of our resistance ruts. Some psychologists believe people fall into two primary camps: those who are motivated by seeking pleasure and those who are motivated by avoiding pain. If a person is motivated by pleasure, they can coax themselves out of resistance by gifting themselves small rewards along their journey. Those wishing to avoid pain can motivate themselves with images of catastrophic failure and defeat and this will encourage them to do the necessary duties to avoid this.

It’s quite comical that resistance is often an avoidance of pain while ultimately causing the most pain in the long run. That fear of failure or of not being good enough, or of expressing our creativity or authentic selves builds into a behemoth in our minds. And the smallest steps forward reveal the fears to be nothing more than a little man behind a curtain, a la The Wizard of Oz.

8 of Coins and The Knight of Wands from The Everyday Witch Tarot, Llewellyn; and The Original Rider Waite Tarot, U.S. Games Systems

Going back to the tarot, when you want to pull yourself out of resistance, try invoking the Knight of Wands, fired up on his steed, ready for anything. The 8 of Coins is another good card: just work away on your goals, step by step. Don’t’ overwhelm yourself with the end result; take diligent action. Whether by great leaps or small steps, action and forward movement is the way out of the black cave of resistance.

The fact is, resistance doesn’t keep us safe. The feeling of safety it creates is illusory. Resistance leads us directly into that which we fear the most: failure. That’s the irony, it’s not trying and failing that hurts the most. It’s failing as a result of never having tried at all. But we have to remember that resistance and fear are little men behind big curtains, smoke, mirrors, and theatrics. The biggest baddest fear in our minds is no match for the tiniest step forward. Making just one phone call, writing just one page, walking just once around the block, that’s all it takes to diminish resistance and fear. And if you can repeat those same actions over and over again, resistance doesn’t stand a chance.

The Clearing

The commute to my prior job always frustrated me. A significant portion of the journey took place on two-lane roads where there was only one lane for each direction of traffic. Other drivers and I would sit in our cars, seemingly parked or crawling inch by inch up the road, none of us convinced we’d arrive at our destinations on time, if ever. I would always think to myself, “When are they going to widen this road? It’s ridiculous that with all this traffic, the road wasn’t widened to accommodate the increasing number of commuters years ago!”

Since leaving my prior job almost a year ago, I haven’t needed to travel on this particular stretch of road very frequently. As a matter of fact, I have only driven in that direction once every couple of months. I was on my way to an event a few weeks ago when I realized I’d be making most of my old commute to get to the venue. I thought it would be interesting to drive on this road again. I appreciated how this type of commute had a bit of nostalgia to it – it had thankfully become so infrequent.

Upon reaching a once familiar and lushly dense intersection I realized I had much more visibility than before. The wide clearing was disorienting. The horizon was so open I wondered for a moment where I was. Then, while at the red light, I looked more closely and saw it. Hundreds and hundreds of trees, on all four corners of the intersection, felled and on their sides. As I made a left turn at the green light and drove down the two lane road, on either side there were hundreds more trees, chopped down and open air all around. So many of the trees were just gone. The trees were removed in preparation for widening the road.

My heart sank. One part of my dreaded prior commute that I loved was seeing all the beautiful green trees. It hurt to see them slashed, diminished, and on their sides when they were once upright and mighty. All the same, I couldn’t help but also be glad that road is finally being widened. What a juxtaposition!

These were not the last trees to exist in this part of town. They weren’t even the majority of the trees. There will be many other trees allowed to age further and many more new trees planted. But that didn’t really take away the sting of the sight. Naturally, I thought about how this scenario applies to all our lives.

Growth and progress are exciting concepts in our minds and on paper. In action and in practice, they hurt like hell. Whenever we want to embark on a new journey or make an improvement in our lives, what must be cleared away first? What must be chopped down to “make way” for our expansion? Because make no mistake, a clearing must be made.

I think of all the times in my life I’ve been afraid to grow and improve. Not because increased skills and knowledge frighten me, but because I knew something in my life had to be torn down first. Once again, I am in that position, perhaps even more profoundly than in the past. I strive to build, create, and thrive in my life. But I can’t hide my fear of what else in my life I may need to clear away in order to move forward with success.

We usually can’t know what direction to go in and what actions to take without paths being cleared. Roads can’t be paved over trees. It hurts but many truths do. Equally troubling would be the constant clearing away of all natural surroundings. We do need balance, but the process is confronting and painful. Ultimately, progress must be made, in my opinion. Humankind needs to move forward. Staying small and letting our surroundings close in on us feels safe until we can no longer see or breathe.

Clear the path, blaze the trail before you. Or at least make peace with the path that was cleared ahead before you embarked on your journey of life. There is a sense of loss in every clearing away but gain can be found on the other side.