What the suit of Pentacles means
A pentacle is a golden coin with a five-pointed star: value made solid. Pentacles belong to the element of Earth and to the earth signs Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. They speak of finances and career, skills and craftsmanship, the body and health, home, property and the security that comes from patient effort.
In playing cards the Pentacles are diamonds. Some decks call them Coins or Disks.
Earth in light and shadow
In their light the Pentacles are prosperity and steady growth: the Ace’s new opportunity, the Three’s teamwork, the Eight’s diligent craft, the Nine’s comfort earned by her own work, the Ten’s family wealth. In their shadow, matter weighs too much: the Four’s clinging to money, the Five’s hardship, the Seven’s impatience with slow results.
The court cards of the suit are reliable people: the studious Page, the patient Knight, the caring and practical Queen and the King, who has built something lasting.
Many Pentacles in a reading
When several Pentacles appear together, the situation is about money, work, health or home: a practical matter that needs a practical plan. Results will come, but slowly and through effort. Many reversed Pentacles can show financial worries or a life where work has crowded out rest.
Questions and answers
What element are Pentacles in tarot?
Earth: money, work, the body and the material world.
Are Pentacles only about money?
No. They cover everything material and practical — work and skills, health, home, nature and the body — as well as the patience it takes to build them.