Overrun by Nettles

From the Ferret Tarot, the King of Swords; from the Nature's Wisdom Oracle, Pumpkin:

When people will not weed their own minds, they are apt to be overrun by nettles.

― Horace Walpole

With his searing stare and crossed arms, this King seems to be telling us to get our mind out of the clouds. "Cut the choke collar and leash of your emotions and blind beliefs. Use your mind rather than letting it wind you up." Abundance (Pumpkin) sounds like a nice cozy word, but Americans seem to see it as a holy grail. It's no wonder that lottery tickets, prosperity gospel preachers and books like The Secret have been such a hit here. We haven't figured out yet - the King's clarity - that material possessions aren't going to fill a deep well of emptiness or free us from a scarcity mindset. If anything, they only add to our problems, because once we have them, we have to guard them. We might be better off to consider the thoughts of Epicurus: "Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance." It's joy that we're desperately seeking, not things.