Two of Pentacles
The two of pentacles in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a young man dancing with a pentacle in each hand, joined by an endless cord. A. E. Waite read it as gaiety and recreation, or news and agitation.
Meaning
In Waite's words: "A young man, in the act of dancing, has a pentacle in either hand, and they are joined by that endless cord which is like the number 8 reversed."
What does the Two of Pentacles mean?
Waite's meanings are "on the one hand it is represented as a card of gaiety, recreation and its connexions, which is the subject of the design; but it is read also as news and messages in writing, as obstacles, agitation, trouble, embroilment"; reversed, "enforced gaiety, simulated enjoyment, literal sense, handwriting, composition, letters of exchange". His list of additional meanings adds "troubles are more imaginary than real", and reversed, "bad omen, ignorance, injustice".
In older decks
The Italian suit is danari, money, among the marks of the earliest cards in the British Museum's catalogue of 1876. Waite noted that "in many old Tarot packs this suit stood for current coin, money, deniers". Papus reads it as difficulty in well establishing the first landmarks of good fortune.
Read next
- Next in Tarot cardsThree of PentaclesThe three of pentacles in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a sculptor at work in a monastery. A. E. Waite read it as skilled labour, trade, and renown.
- 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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