Queen of Pentacles
The queen of pentacles in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a queen enthroned, contemplating the pentacle in her lap. A. E. Waite read it as opulence, generosity, security and liberty.
Meaning
Waite describes the card: "The face suggests that of a dark woman, whose qualities might be summed up in the idea of greatness of soul; she has also the serious cast of intelligence; she contemplates her symbol and may see worlds therein."
What does the Queen of Pentacles mean?
Waite's meanings are "opulence, generosity, magnificence, security, liberty"; reversed, "evil, suspicion, suspense, fear, mistrust". His list of additional meanings adds "dark woman; presents from a rich relative; rich and happy marriage for a young man", and reversed, "an illness".
In older decks
In Italian packs the suit is danari, money, one of the four suit marks the British Museum's catalogue of 1876 gives for the earliest cards. Waite noted that "in many old Tarot packs this suit stood for current coin, money, deniers". Papus reads it as "A fair woman, indifferent, or inimical."
Read next
- Next in Tarot cardsKing of PentaclesThe king of pentacles in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a king on a throne carved with bulls’ heads, holding a pentacle. A. E. Waite read it as valour, business and practical intelligence.
- The same shape in Historical flagsBennington flagA flag of thirteen stripes, white at the top and bottom, with “76” under an arch of stars in the blue canton, long said to have flown at the Battle of Bennington in 1777. The Bennington Museum, which owns it, dates it to between 1812 and 1830, because it is made entirely of cotton.
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
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from circles, letters and numbers, squares and rectangles or stars.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 30, 2026. How we research
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