“Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful!’ and sitting in the shade.”
― Rudyard Kipling
Dedication, Mastery, Crafting, Focus, Experience, Skill refinement
Overview
Polishing your skills ; Perfecting your craft
Reality doesn’t exist to you, Major Tom; you’re absorbed into the cosmic vacuum of duty and refuse to get out. The amount of focus you have on finishing this endeavor makes the rest of the world completely melt away.
If a bomb dropped behind you, you wouldn’t hear it. There is nothing more engrossing to your right now than your work. The finish line is so close you can taste it. The thing you’ve been so diligently crafting is finally reaching the point where there is nothing you can do but polish it. Congratulations on your efforts well sustained, you’ve done well!
Symbolism
A craftsman in a leather apron sits on a workbench in a quiet town square or alcove, diligently hammering or carving pentacles into golden coins. Eight completed pentacles are neatly displayed on the wall behind him. The town buildings fade into the distance under a clear sky. The card radiates focused craftsmanship, dedication, skill-building, and “nose to the grindstone” work ethic.
Meaning
Mastery
Did you clock the hours you’ve dedicated to your new endeavor, if you did— you’d likely be awarded a PHd in whatever it is your target locked on. This card is symbolic of mastery, you became so obsessed with something that you’ve found your ways in and out of out seamlessly.
Crafting
Creation is hard work, it takes more than just patience and diligence to achieve your goals. The artistic vision is there and you are painstakingly bringing it full circle. Though to some the amount of attention is in fact an act of torture, to you it is entirely an act of love.
Focus
Laboring away at your craft, the hours go by in what seems like minuets. The product is finished but there still needs to be some tweaking. You are ironing out the details and getting ready for your last production. Little else matters to your right now other than your work.
It’s like you are wearing blinders, nothing but what’s in front of you exists. It’s just you and your objection in the entire world. Even if someone tried to talk to you, you’d never hear it. This is your final investment in everything that you are working on, and your entire soul is being poured into it. You’re not even on this planet right now, or even this universe. Ground control to Major Tom, are you in this dimension?
Dedication
Don’t give up but take a moment to walk away to regain your vision. If you focus too hard on one focal point can deafen your ability to pick up on other great ideas for your work. Look at your masterpiece with fresh eyes will bring clarity. Take a moment and enjoy life, for it’s all going to change some day.
Skill refinement
The work you’re doing requires deep concentration, and it’s something that you are happy and willing to focus on. You’re either working on your self, reputation or a new job. It is not going unnoticed, Your peers see your evolution.
If you just started a new enterprise, the excitement has enchanted your utmost attention to detail. It is something you truly love to do; it’s your art form. You are not burdened or bothered by the task and you sleep well at night.
Achieving dreams and goals
This is because everyday you’re becoming better, your crushing goals, and seeing the rewards and recognition for your hard work. It seems like you’re really creating a name for yourself in the world.
This card is your sign that your heart is in it; you are fully willing and capable of the task at hand. To the point no one can separate it from you.
Eight of Pentacles reversed
The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces.”
— Will Rogers
Burn out, perfectionism, lack of focus, work without purpose
Overview
At this point you’re spinning your tires and fruitlessly tweaking something that is already perfect. The minor imperfections you are so diligently trying to revoke from your piece is destroying the very thing that separates it from the carbon copy shit everyone else is peddling: It’s man made.
Appreciate the fact that there’s magic in imperfections. There’s magic in leaving your finger prints behind. There’s wonder and appreciating in your craft just as it is now, stop trying to polish out your fingerprints. That’s exactly what makes your product so desirable— it’s yours. It’s painstakingly yours.
Meaning
Burn out
Hyper focus yields to no one— besides itself. Burnout happens when you refuse to blink or look away from a subject for eons. It also happens from the only thing in you life being work. While you heart maybe in it, your creative fire is dwindling. Will you stop to feed it, or will you let your flames turn to embers?
Perfectionism
Nothing human is ever perfect. We stumble when we dance, smudge paint on canvas, and say things we don’t mean. To be human is to be flawed. Human error is inevitable, start to implement your imperfections into your craft. If it’s made by machines, there’s a million carbon copies. But made by hands, there’s only one and every output is a unique as the original.
Lack of focus
If you don’t blink your eyes will dry out and you’ll go blind. Isn’t that obvious? The membranes in our eyes require constant blinking in order to remain in focus. The same goes for your mind. If you don’t look away from the task at hand, eventually you’ll lose the ability to do it at all.
Stop staring at the work to be done and go refresh your mind with something else. This is the minds way of blinking your focus.
Work without purpose
Not everything is sunshine and rainbow, sometimes it’s hell, chaos, and all is for naught. You worked so hard, but it will ultimately be for nothing. Don’t sweat the small stuff, and don’t hang on because of all you’ve invested. There are greater things to be known for, and better things to create.
