Seven of Pentacles

What the card means

Upright

Standing back to see whether it is growing. A man leans on his hoe and studies a bush with six coins on it, a seventh at his feet. Neither rest nor work - the pause in which it is worked out whether to go on. And it nearly always is worth going on.

Reversed

Pulling it up by the roots to check. Or dropping it halfway, because it grows more slowly than was promised to yourself.

Love and relationships

Upright

A relationship it is time to look at and see what has grown. Not a crisis - an appraisal. Answer honestly and unhurriedly.

Reversed

Demanding a result from something still growing. Or leaving before it arrives.

Work and business

Upright

An interim reckoning. Assess what came of it and decide: carry on the same way or change. Both answers are legitimate.

Reversed

Dropped it a step from the result. Or redoing what had simply not ripened.

Money

Upright

The investment works slowly. Leave it: here the time is the return.

Reversed

Took it out early and lost on it.

The card's advice

Stand back and look. The decision here is whether to continue, and it wants an honest appraisal rather than an effort. But do not pull it up to check the roots: that is the one reliable way to grow nothing.

As the card of the day

A slow day. Good for taking an interim reckoning. Poor for impatience.

What is depicted

A man stands leaning on a hoe, looking at a bush hung with six coins; a seventh lies on the ground at his feet. He is neither working nor leaving - he is looking.

Zodiac sign and correspondences

Saturn in Taurus - patience that is itself the work.

With other cards

• Seven of Pentacles + Eight of Pentacles — looked, took stock, and went back to work.
• Seven of Pentacles + Knight of Pentacles — patience and more patience; the crop comes.
• Seven of Pentacles + Three of Wands — sent it off and waiting; right in both cases.