Resilience in its Feminine Form: A Nine of Pentacles (Reversed) Story

This morning I woke up feeling very blah. And I judged myself for it. When it came to pulling my card for the day, I felt so raw and vulnerable that instead of going to my tarot deck and asking my normal, "What's the energy of the day?" question, I pulled out my Whispers of the Ocean oracle deck and asked for a message of encouragement. I pulled card #1.

Resilience: There is no need to rush or push. This is a time to take things as they come. You have the determination and patience to handle what is happening.

It's funny, resilience has been one of my keywords recently—my prayer. This card, however, has me seeing resilience in a different light. 'Til now, I have seen resilience through a very masculine lens—one of meeting another wave of challenges head-on with uplifted sword and hair-curling battle cry, all the while bleeding (it's only a flesh wound, right?). And then taunting the obstacles with "Is that all you've got??" In this sense, I haven't felt resilient at all recently.

This card tells me that resilience in its feminine form doesn't even necessarily mean holding one's ground—it can be about silence and inaction and flowing, instead of anticipating, worrying, bracing. This card did several things for me today—it showed a faith in me and did not judge me for not feeling strong enough to take the soldier's stance, and it still calls me resilient.

Oak Moon Tarot often posts on IG about the tarot cards she pulls for different quotes or pieces of art, so I decided I would do the same for my oracle card. The tarot card I pulled to correspond with my Resilience was 9 of Pentacles-reversed. I loved this. If I had just pulled 9 of Pentacles reversed without the context of my Whispers of the Ocean card, I would have had the tendency to judge myself (as interpretations of this card can be rather harsh—pointing to lack of direction or self-control, laziness). This allowed me to put an alternative interpretation of the 9 of Pentacles reversed card into my Tarot Journal app (highly recommend, btw!) for future reference. Sometimes reversed doesn't have to mean the exact opposite of the upright meaning, but what that energy can do when under pressure or duress.

So yeah, maybe things aren't easy (like they would be in the upright card) but there is still that feminine energy that allows—nurtures—cultivates—instead of pushing and pulling. The 9 of Pentacles-reversed can now be my Resilience card—Resilience in its feminine gown—and no less strong.