charity, community, sharing resources, giving and receiving, gratitude, generosity, debt, hoarding, self-serving, shame, regret.

As with everything in our physical universe, there are always two sides to every story and two aspects to be aware of.

This week’s central focus is one of those things. The 6 of Pentacles is often seen as the card of charity from a bountiful place. In other words, becoming aware of your own bounty and allowing it to flow naturally to others.

There are a few things to look at here. Firstly, becoming aware of your own bounty. How do you perceive bounty? Is it financial, spiritual, emotional or all of the above?

One of the “universal laws” that is evident all around us, all the time, is that everything has a cycle and moves within cycles. It is one of the pillars of our reality that holds up our experience. For us to have the human experience, there needs to be a sense of progression to add value to the experience. This progression manifests in the cycles around us.

There are the obvious cycles, of course, ones we have no control over, that are fixed in the reality of our experience in order for the reality to exist. Without these cycles, our reality would crumble into dust and the whole reason for the creation, i.e. the discovery, expression and experience of our divinity, disintegrates.

These cycles often run through, around and on top of each other, sometimes apparently even in conflict, but that is all part of the experience. It is up to us to use these experiences and cycles to experience the best we are able to at any given moment.

Charity, or benefaction is another one of these cycles. This is a big one because there are many misunderstandings and corruptions of the word and experience of charity.

In the popular view, supported by the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Islam and Christianity), it is seen as a sign of “holiness” and “piety”. Of course, the “within reason” aspect is often forgotten, and the negative aspects of irresponsible charity are often hidden away.

Giving and receiving will keep energy flowing and, with regard to manifestation, send a statement of abundance and plenty, all good things. It can also improve your environment and community.

It is important to remember that asking and accepting gracefully and gratefully is just as important as sharing with others – it is a cycle that needs reciprocation to move and expand. Only giving or only receiving blocks the flow of the cycle.

Organisations, particularly religious ones, make the act of giving, whether you are able to or not, a virtue. My favourite misrepresentation here, particularly in the religious context, is that you will receive your reward in “heaven”, or the karmic cycle will reciprocate by giving you a better life next time round, once you die of course – a very convenient concept, removing all responsibility or acceptance of reciprocation, thus keeping us stuck in a one-way, destructive flow.

Everything in our reality, is an exchange of energy. It is your responsibility as the giver, to give what you can, trusting that the flow will flow. As the receiver it is your responsibility to take what you have been given and to grow, nurture, use it to improve, not only your experience, but the experience of others too.

Charity begins at home, so they say, so your first focus is yourself, then your immediate family, then your community, expanding outwards.

When you give, you give with an open heart, knowing the flow will come in as well as it goes out.

Hoarding is based in fear of lack, so allow it to flow.

The corruption of benefaction is important to mention here. Do you feel like a failure when you need help?

When someone offers you something, do you feel indebted to them? Are you giving out of “duty”, knowing that the giving is making the other dependent? Does the giving give you a sense of power and control, or the receiving make you indebted to the giver?

This is an unbalanced and destructive view of benefaction and is used by narcissistic people and organisations to manipulate and control.

As we grow from childhood to adulthood, the balance shifts. It is important to remember here, that our mental and emotional growth is not dependent on the passing of years, and we can have the mental or emotional level of a two year old (throwing tantrums when we don’t get what we want, demanding our needs be met regardless of the impact on others etc.) at a physically mature age too – just look around you!

When we are born, we are dependent on our environment (Youth or Maiden archetype), as we grow, this dependence lessens. A mature adult then becomes the provider for a period (The Father or Mother archetype), then the teacher and sharer of knowledge and wisdom (The Sage or Crone archetype).

This cycle has become corrupted in the last while, resulting in an entitled, arrogant, demanding younger generation, depleting an older generation, who are discarded once their “usefulness” as a source has been drained.