Four of Pentacles
The four of pentacles in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a crowned figure clasping a pentacle, one over his crown and two under his feet. A. E. Waite read it as holding on to possessions, and inheritance.
Meaning
Waite describes the card: "A crowned figure, having a pentacle over his crown, clasps another with hands and arms; two pentacles are under his feet. He holds to that which he has."
What does the Four of Pentacles mean?
Waite's meanings are "the surety of possessions, cleaving to that which one has, gift, legacy, inheritance"; reversed, "suspense, delay, opposition". His list of additional meanings adds "for a bachelor, pleasant news from a lady", and reversed, "observation, hindrances".
In older decks
In Italian packs the suit is danari, money: the earliest suit marks, the British Museum's catalogue of 1876 records, were coppe, danari, bastoni and spade, "cups, money, clubs, and swords". Waite noted that "in many old Tarot packs this suit stood for current coin, money, deniers". Papus reads it as "opposition of fortune; loss of money".
See also
The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant.
Sources
- The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, by A. E. Waite, William Rider & Son, London, 1910 (the sacred-texts.com transcription, on the Internet Archive), The Lesser Arcana; Some Additional Meanings of the Lesser Arcana
- The Tarot of the Bohemians, by Papus, Chapman & Hall, London, 1896, translated by A. P. Morton (scan on the Internet Archive), The Divining Tarot, second lesson: the minor arcana
- A Descriptive Catalogue of Playing and Other Cards in the British Museum, by W. H. Willshire, Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1876 (scan on the Internet Archive), General history: the marks of the suits
Last reviewed September 28, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research