Pentacles

What this suit is about

Pentacles govern the material - income, housing, health, craft - and how a person builds it. They rarely speak of quick events: this suit measures in months rather than days. Reversed Pentacles are usually not about poverty but about imbalance: the material has outweighed everything else, or nothing has been put into it at all.

When the suit dominates

A reading full of Pentacles comes down to resources and to timing, and the answer is nearly always «longer than you think». Many Pentacles with no Wands means the thing is stalled for want of will rather than for want of money. Pentacles beside Cups is family, home, what has been put into the people close to you.

How the numbers run

Ace - an offer, money, a seed still to be planted. Two - juggling, two things at once. Three - craft, and the first paid work. Four - holding, and not letting go. Five - want, and an open door nobody walks through. Six - giving and taking, with the scales in somebody else's hand. Seven - planted, growing, wait. Eight - the work of one day after another. Nine - your own garden and your own means. Ten - family, inheritance, what outlasts you.

The court cards

Page of Pentacles - study, a first job, an offer that asks for patience. Knight - the slowest knight in the deck: does it properly and finishes. Queen - the one whose house is warm, fed and accounted for. King - the one who built it and knows how to keep it.

Every card

• Ace of Pentacles A real offer, in the world, with weight to it · reversed: The opportunity is real and nothing is done with it
• Two of Pentacles Juggling well, for now · reversed: One more thing and it all comes down
• Three of Pentacles Craft recognised; the work is done with others · reversed: Good work in a place that does not care about it
• Four of Pentacles Holding tightly to what finally arrived · reversed: The grip loosens, or the fist closes for good
• Five of Pentacles Out in the cold, walking past a lit window · reversed: Help is there; asking is the hard part
• Six of Pentacles Giving and taking, with the scales honestly held · reversed: Generosity with strings, or a debt that never closes
• Seven of Pentacles Standing back to see whether it is growing · reversed: Pulling it up by the roots to check
• Eight of Pentacles The patient repetition that makes skill · reversed: Going through the motions of something once loved
• Nine of Pentacles Enough, and your own, and quiet · reversed: Comfort that turned out to be a well-kept solitude
• Ten of Pentacles What outlasts you: house, name, people · reversed: An inheritance that binds instead of providing
• Page of Pentacles Beginning to learn something that takes years · reversed: Studying the thing forever to avoid starting it
• Knight of Pentacles Slow, unglamorous, and the only one who finishes · reversed: Thoroughness hardened into never moving
• Queen of Pentacles Practical care; the person who notices what is needed · reversed: Tending everyone, with nothing left for yourself
• King of Pentacles Built something solid and holds it lightly · reversed: Wealth that ended up owning the one who has it