The Ace of Coins is one of the most favourable cards in the whole Tarot deck. It brings a positive answer to whatever question you may be asking - always nice to have a little good news. This Ace represents a seed planted for the future. It could be your first chance encounter with someone who will be important in your life, whether as a relationship or as the bringer of some future opportunity. It is a kindness or a favour you did and expected nothing for, but which wasn't forgotten, or some money you put away or were granted, gifted or seeded for a rainy day or a future hope. This is a seed of a new life and the seed of potential for a new, or renewed, self.

The Chinese view the pear tree and the fruit as a symbol of a long life. The pear blossom is also used as a symbol to represent vulnerability, fragility and mourning. The Ace of Coins also has an aspect of this sensitivity. The Coins are often thought to represent our material successes in life. We have to remember that in times of serious illness, loss and sorrow, all the money in the world won't fill the empty place, buy back the past or guarantee what the future will bring.

Pears, and all fruit which have a central seed or seed core, represent femininity, abundance and fertility. Even the shape of the pear, with its graceful curves and big bottom, indicate the feminine form and the seed represents the womb and the sacred gift of carrying and bringing forth a new life. Women have the rare privilege of being able to carry a new life within their physical body. Anyone who has experienced pregnancy, labour and childbirth know that it is a deeply transforming experience in physical, emotional and spiritual ways. It is a powerful initiation into that deep underworld that is Motherhood with all of the disempowerment, engulfment, fiercely overwhelming love and the responsibility that having and raising a child brings into our lives.

We may all feel at times that all that we do and give for our children and our families is unappreciated, unacknowledged and unnoticed. Parenthood is a disempowerment and a submergence of self - your needs become secondary. Anyone parenting a teenager knows that no one in recorded history has every won an argument with one of them. From the age of three children have the vocabulary to tell us why things must be so. There is no "I" in Mother or Father. It all falls apart without you.

We have the responsibility to provide certainty into our childrens lives. We must let them know that they are unconditionally loved, wanted, respected and that their needs for food, clothing, shelter, health and education will be met. This is no small task especially with the way money and lack of money is destroying our world. The seeds we plant here are the most important seeds we will ever plant and the most important garden we will ever grow. There is a story I like that reminds me of the essence of the Ace of Coins. Surprise, surprise it is about a pear, children and a seed planted for the future.

Once there was and once there was not, a wise old man who lived in a little village. He loved children. He was a man of some means and a pear tree grew near to his home. When the pear tree was laden with its ripe and delicious fruit in the fall, the pears shone like gold in the autumn sunlight. The children from the village came to look at the tree laden with such wondrous fruit. When it came time to harvest the pears, the old man loaded a basket full of pears and called for the children to come and have one of his lovely, juicy pears. He was an old man and his health was failing but this sharing of the fruit with the children was a delight in his life. He knew his time was up soon so he called his son to him. His son was not the kind or considerate man his father was. The father promised his son all of his possessions and asked only one thing in return, when he died his son was to place one golden pear on his grave. His son promised and in the early winter, the old man passed away. His son did not weep for him but did keep his promise and placed a pear on the coffin.

Time went by, the son cut down the pear tree, sold the property and moved away. The old man's grave lay untended, forgotten for many years. Wild flowers and weeds grew up all around but no one noticed that in the middle of it all, a tree had grown. One year, when the tree was mature enough, it blossomed. It was laden down with beautiful, golden fruit that sparkled in the autumn sun. The children said that when you passed by the tree, you can hear the old man's voice whispering in the gentle breeze, inviting them to enjoy the sweet, delicious fruit. A real story of a seed planted for the future.

The seeds you are planting are in every small thing that you do and say, and in every tear we shed. Somewhere, down the hard travelling road of life, a seed you planted long ago will pop up just to remind you that sometimes the answer is "Yes!".