If you are feeling stuck in life despite apparently having all you need, you are not alone. When we feel comfortable with our satisfied material needs, and stop striving for a deeper understanding of reality, we let our ego grow tendrils that penetrate the physical and temporary aspects of reality, causing our hearts to be anchored in a world that may be comfortable for now, but that ultimately suffocates the human spirit.
The 9 of Pentacles shows that place of unsatisfactory material and worldly comfort. You have all you need, yet happiness eludes you. On the RWS deck, the woman on the card stands proudly in the garden of her life with a falcon perched on her shoulder. That falcon is hooded, symbolizing the blinding effect of the woman’s retreat into her lush yet private enclosures. She lives lavishly yet is bothered by her inability to see further.
The Hanged Man represents that state of stasis, suspension, and dissatisfaction. He is the ego that has enfolded itself in a cocoon of comfort and refuses to fly. He has wings for his spirit to soar with, yet he refuses to look from a higher perspective. We are not here to be completely comfortable. We are here to evolve. And “the higher we climb, the more the ladder sways”. He’s not ready for that.
Temperance is the solution. There is a middle way. You don’t have to abandon everything you have in order to evolve and grow as a human being. But you shouldn’t put all your identity in things or comfort zones either. There is a way to live while joining heaven and earth: with appreciation for what we have, with generosity of heart; but with a continuous resolve to aim higher, to deepen our spiritual sight, to shed identification with the egoic self, to become less and less tribal and more and more Kosmic. With balance, we make alchemy happen in our lives. And the tools for that are in our hearts.
Don’t settle for that which is impermanent and that ultimately lacks substance. You are made to fly. So spread your wings, and take off towards a lifelong flight in multidimensional evolution.