pentacles – Page 4 – Just the Tarot

Five of Pentacles

The meaning of the Five of Pentacles in a Tarot reading, including definitions for the upright and reversed positions.

Two beggars in rags, one of them on crutches, struggle through a snow storm. Behind them light streams through a stained glass window decorated with five pentacles.

Upright: A loss of money. There is a strong possibility of being, “on the outside looking in,” in terms of abundance. Literally, out in the cold. There is also an element of loneliness here, of feeling isolated and without resources. The questioner may find some solace in organized religion.

Reversed: The period of loneliness will be ending and the questioner will start to make helpful contacts.

EXAMPLES: Being seriously on the skids financially and trying to get connected with government services that could help.

An alcoholic who has hit bottom and is thinking of joining AA.

“Just the Tarot,” by Dan Adair – a kindle ebook available on Amazon

Four of Pentacles

The meaning of the Four of Pentacles in a Tarot reading, with definitions for both the upright and reversed positions.

A crowned man sits on a small throne. A pentacle rests on his head, he grasps another one in his arms and his feet rest on two more. A city with tall buildings sprawls behind him.

Upright: The crown and the throne show that money is on the way and that the questioner will soon have financial security. A warning for this card is that he seems to be a little overly involved with money. As in, he LOVES his money. He’s holding that pentacle like a teddy bear and you get the feeling he’d roll around in the stuff if he could. Try cultivating a little more spiritual outlook on life.

Reversed: Financial insecurity. Money is really tight and worrying about it is dominating the questioners mind and spirit.

EXAMPLES: Silicon Valley code writers who are 20 years old, pull in 300 K a year and are totally obsessed with their material toys.

A young executive or lawyer who’s got everything nailed down financially and is probably looking making even more money.

Three of Pentacles

The meaning of the Three of Pentacles in a Tarot reading, including definitions for both the upright and reversed positions.

A man wearing a craftsman’s apron stands upon a bench with mallet in his hand. One man in a monk’s robes and another in a fool’s clothing watch him work and hold what appears to be an architectural plan. A heavily carved column with three pentacles stands in the background.

Upright: This is a card about buying property, real estate or other, and urges the questioner to pay careful attention to details. The figures in the foreground hearken back to the Major Arcana cards The Fool and The Hierophant, and represent a choice of sorts. By all means approach the venture with the same great enthusiasm as The Fool, but listen to the advice of The Hierophant who tells you to follow the rules and check everything out carefully.

This can also indicate a person who is very much a master of his craft and will gain money and honors because of it.

Reversed: This indicates that the questioner is over-extended in some way. If purchasing a home it might show trouble obtaining a loan or getting through escrow. If involved in renovations, it may show hidden problems or expenses (think cracked foundations, major plumbing problems, difficulties obtaining permits.) Use housing inspectors to sniff out problems before buying a house. Get firm, written estimates from contractors when renovating.

EXAMPLES: The first time home buyer who spends hundreds of hours doing on line research before making a purchase.

Someone with a lot of skills who buys a fixer upper.

Two of Pentacles

The meaning of the Two of Pentacles in a Tarot reading, including definitions for the upright and reversed positions.

A young man in a fool’s cap seems to be dancing a jig while juggling two pentacles encircled by an eternity symbol. In the background two ships are tossed about on huge waves.

Upright: Literally, money and/or possessions are out of control and things aren’t getting any better. This is someone with too many responsibilities and too little resources. Like the ships behind him he is being tossed around by life and trying to keep his head above water and there seems to be no end to it.

There can be partnerships or romantic relationships that break up because the questioner doesn’t have the resources or abilities to deal with all of the things that are coming at him or her.

Reversed: A lot the same as when upright, but the problems may be diminishing. The questioner may be regaining some control over life and responsibilities.EXAMPLES: A person who is working two jobs to support his family but still can’t pay all of the bills AND his or her spouse is feeling neglected and thinking about leaving.

Being stuck in a job that won’t pay the bills and getting a little deeper in debt each month.

Ace of Pentacles

The meaning of the Ace of Pentacles in a Tarot reading, including the upright and reversed positions.

A ghostly hand holding a glowing, golden pentacle emerges from a cloud. Beneath it is a lush garden with a path leading through an oval shaped gate toward distant mountains.

Upright: Money is about to drop into your lap. Financial opportunities, windfalls, new employment, promotions, inheritances. Basically this card is all about money and abundance. Money is on the way and it may seem to appear out of nowhere.

There is also a certain element of rebirth here. The gate is shaped very much like the birth canal, so it’s possible that the money will allow the questioner to be, “reborn,” or start over in some sense.

Reversed: A lot like the upright card, but the amount of money will be less. There is also an indication of having trouble making a new financial project get started and a warning to not overspend.Examples: Your Great Aunt Lucretia – the one you thought really hated you? – suddenly passes on and leaves you fifty thousand dollars.

EXAMPLES:

You’re going through your desk and you find an uncashed tax refund check that you had forgotten all about.

You suddenly get promoted to a higher position with much better pay and benefits and you didn’t even know you were being considered.

What Are the Minor Arcana of the Tarot?

A brief discussion of the minor arcana of the Tarot, including the symbolism of wands, cups, swords, and pentacles. This looks at their function and meaning in a Tarot spread and is oriented toward beginners.

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So if you followed up on the suggestions in my previous post – Can You Learn to Read Tarot Cards? – then you’ve looked at the various Tarot decks, picked a deck that resonates with you, and you’re looking through the cards thinking profound thoughts like, “What in the hell does THAT card mean?”

We’ll get to that.

In the meantime, when you look at the Tarot deck you’ll find that it’s divided into 5 different parts: the 4 suits of cards, known as the Minor Arcana, and the 22 very, very, very symbolic cards known as the Major Arcana.

For today let’s just talk about the Minor Arcana. You’ll see that the 4 suits are designated Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. That’s the way that the Tarot divides up and analyzes the things in our world.

Wands represent ideas, intellect, the thought process, what we like to conceive as the thinking mind.

Cups represent emotions, feelings, and relationships with emotional content like friendships, lovers, family. And that means ALL of the emotions from love to hate and everything in between.

Swords represent aggression, physical force, and mental force like dominance issues and power struggles in the family or the workplace.

Pentacles represent physical possessions, money, our various toys, and both the material world and materialism.

They have other aspects, as I discuss in my ebook,“Just the Tarot.”

Wands are often associated with travel. Swords, by way of their cutting edges, may be associated with needing surgery. But for now let’s concentrate on the four basic characteristics of the Minor Arcana: ideas, emotions,force,and possessions.

Of course, we know by now that the human world is far more holistic than a simple 4 point division. Every idea has some sort of emotion tied to it and physical or mental force often hides fear or phobias. And the spiritual flows into the physical world and the physical world often blossoms with great spirituality. Still, it’s a useful way of looking at the world and the human predicament.

And that’s what the Minor Arcana are all about: the human predicament. The Major Arcana are all about MAJOR forces in your life: birth, death, transitions, good, evil. The Minor Arcana are about all of the crappy little things (and good little things) that we deal with in day to day life.

Each card represents a particular human situation that we experience as we journey through life. And each reading represents a snapshot of all of the things that the questioner is going through at that moment in time.

Think of it this way: if you could step outside of yourself (your SELF) and sort of hover around the ceiling for a while and REALLY look at your life objectively, what would you see? You might see your work-self who is dealing with a crappy, overbearing boss. Then there might be your home-self who loves to paint or write or knit or listen to music and pet the cat. Then there might be your relationship-self who is deeply in love or maybe has been hurt in the past and is afraid of love or maybe is a hopeless romantic who is in love with love. And how about your physical-self who might be a weight lifter or might be chronically ill or might be a long distance runner or might be in a wheel chair?

All of those separate, “selves,” make up the greater self which is you. When you look at the Minor Arcana in a reading you’re looking at what’s going on with all of those different selves at that moment. Home, work, romance, physical state of being, ideas,emotions,power,and possessions. And the magic happens when you see the reading come together as a story of the questioners life. Yep, even day to day life is HIGHLY magical!

On to next lesson!