Who Let That Snail In Here? Details, Details!

In the Rider Waite deck we see a tiny little snail meandering through the image on the 9 of Pentacles. I didn't see it for the longest time till someone mentioned it on a forum I belonged to. The woman in the 9 of Pentacles is alone in a walled garden with her raptor on her arm, seeming to be content and happy by herself. The little snail reinforces this idea that she's self-contained. She has what she needs and is perfectly fine alone.

This is the suit of Pentacles, though, and Pentacles deal with very basic things like material needs, needs our appetites dictate to us, and general physical well-being. This doesn't mean she's emotionally fulfilled or that she's not yearning for more intellectual challenges or that she's fulfilled in a sexually passionate sense. In a reading, other cards in the spread might reflect unmet wants and needs in those areas in spite of this woman being well taken care of materially.

Sometimes this card can be seen as the "kept woman" card. She's provided for in the material sense but she's not necessarily fulfilled in other ways. She may long for a romance filled with sexual passion and not sexual duty in return for having her material needs met. She may want to pursue a higher education but is forbidden it by whoever is keeping her. She might long for the fulfillment of motherhood but it's out of her reach because of the situation she's in.

In a reading for someone who is in a relationship with a partner who is quite controlling, this card could indicate just that--- she's in a committed relationship but without the freedom to pursue her own interests. The little snail might be pointing out what a small part her own hopes and dreams as a separate person play in her situation.

If the seeker is needing advice on what to do in a certain situation and the 9 of Pentacles is drawn, that little snail could be telling them that they need to recognize that they're in need of paying more attention to their own importance rather than being so focused on other people's needs and wants. They need to become a bit more selfish in the way they spend their emotional energy so that more of it is centered on themselves.