Knitting and 9 of Pentacles

Invaluable Work

My partner Abi has taken up knitting recently, and it’s made me think a lot about the value of labor. I lust after hand-crafted things: chunky knit sweaters, crocheted blankets and hats, woven table runners, quilts! But holy shit, to *buy* something like that?! They’re a million dollars! And so I never purchase them, and it’s this weird tension within me: part of me says “that’s too expensive, it’s not worth it”, and yet a deeper part knows that the price isn’t high enough, because so many hours of loving work go into these items. I know they’ve been priced ‘down’ to lessen the shell-shock for a market that’s accustomed to incredibly cheap, disposable textiles. But really, they should be a ‘million’ dollars!

The point is: things infused with the kind of contemplative attention that handcrafting like knitting and weaving requires are invaluable. You can do some simple math: the cost of materials plus x hours of labor at y hourly rate, but if you’re really pricing labor fairly (not by bullshit capitalist standards) you’ll end up with a number that feels absurd! It will be ‘astronomical’ within our economic context. These aren’t items that make ‘sense’ on our marketplace.

This paradox, if that’s the right word, really feels like 9 of Pentacles to me. This is a card that I see come up all the time when women are very early in a separation/divorce, and they are so stressed about how they’re going to make it financially on their own. And I don’t think that 9 of Pentacles is saying: ‘don’t stress girl, you’re gonna be rollin’ in it!”, even though it does very clearly depict abundance. I mean, there’s always that possibility. But what 9 of Pentacles does say for sure is:

You are handcrafting a life, with purpose and intention. You are unknitting and reknitting. You have claimed this work as your own, and the process is invaluable. You can’t talk about it in terms of simple math, because it doesn’t make sense within that context.

We do not live in a system that values us—not our labor, not our beings. 9 of Pentacles doesn’t mean that you have earned the approval of the marketplace and are financially rewarded. You can have $20 in your bank account and still embody 9 of Pentacles. You can be living on a yacht and not embody 9 of Pentacles. The question is: are you living this life on your own terms? Are you stitching it together with love and devotion?

The astrology of this card is Venus in Virgo. Think the Empress and the Hermit: love and devotion, stitched together, creating an invaluable piece that you could never put a price tag on. 9 of Pentacles means you are not for sale.

Tomorrow, I’ll post another little essay I wrote on 9 of Pentacles, not as knitting this time, but as kintsugi. I think this is such an important card to contemplate in this time, as fewer and fewer of us can expect to experience the financial wealth that it can represent. We need to look deeper, and claim this card for ourselves.

a little spread:

With love

And devotion

I am crafting a life

I drew Page of Cups, Hierophant, and 4 of Wands. I love these kinds of spreads because they aren’t necessarily for deep soul-excavating. They often serve as simple opportunities for Tarot to work its razzle-dazzle. Page of Cups is love, Hierophant is devotion, 4 of Wands is a life that is worth celebrating. What a magical little moment. If you pull for this I would love to hear about it!