Conquering the Pentacles in Tarot Readings

How to Learn the Pentacles in the Minor Arcana for Accurate Tarot Readings

Being overwhelmed when memorizing and reading the Tarot is a pretty common occurrence.

There are 78 cards to try and keep in your head at one time!
Once you gain a comfortable understanding of the Pentacles in Tarot Readings, your confidence in diving deep into the Tarot will grow!

The Pentacles in Tarot are directly related to Earth. The Earth element is everything to do with the material plane, finances, careers, and anything that keeps you grounded. Learning the Pentacles in the Tarot will allow you to better connect with your intuition, psychic abilities, and subconscious mind.

My method of reading ties together not only the meaning of each card but it combines items together like Numerology and common symbols from dream interpretations.

The Suit of Pentacles is all about the material plane and bringing your manifestation into the physical, tangible world!

The Element of Earth – The Pentacles in Tarot Readings

The Earth Element is the foundation of the elements and gives all the other elements room to play, flourish, and grow. The Earth holds space and facilitates the other Elements.

When this suit comes up it asks us where is our foundation and it tells us to look into the physical work we are doing or enduring in this situation. Earth is a foundation of money, home, and family.

The Element of Earth is about building a foundation for success and for the physical actions you take to ensure your magick comes forth.

Earth is a masculine element and is incredibly slow-moving when compared with the other elements. This element has us examine our circumstances and build a plan to overcome or even make the most of what we have. Once all the visualization and emotional alignments are completed, Earth will then cause you to examine what are you doing to keep the momentum going.

Whatever you plan to build, the foundational Earth element is where I like to start with my magic.

Water collects into the Earth’s spaces and flows and shapes Earth accordingly. Fire has a safe space on the Earth to dance and breathe. The Air tickles across the Earth and provides an atmosphere for the Earth to grow forth.

Related Post: The Wands in Minor Arcana

Journaling through the Pentacles in the Minor Arcana

Below are some journaling prompts I’ve created to help you get to know the Pentacles in the Minor Arcana.

The meanings below are only a guiding start point. How symbols show up for you will be most important when you start developing your own way of reading.

The best way to use this list is to take all the Pentacles of the Minor Arcana out and put them in order.

As you go through this list, look through your deck, and see if these are meanings you agree with or disagree with. Write down or even draw your own meanings and symbols in a journal. This will help you retain the meaning for future readings.

These questions are great at helping you connect the intuitive mind to the analytical mind when it comes to Tarot card study.

How to learn the Pentacles in Tarot Readings – Ace to King

Ace – New Start to an Opportunity or Venture
- What are the opportunities I need to pay attention to?
Two – Juggling two things or opportunities. Indecision.
- What do you need to keep balanced right now? Is there a choice to be made?
Three – Charity and Fortune.
- What can we be more giving of?
Four – Protection. Balanced relationship to money
- What are you guarding closely? How is money supportive of you right now?
Five – Misfortune. Down on your luck. Poverty.
- Where are there missed opportunities? What has changed to cause misfortune?
Six – Balanced giving. Position of Power in Money, Home, or Work.
- What or who is in the position of power? How can you be giving without losing too much?
Seven – Growth. Labors. Fruit of one’s work.
- What is growing in this situation? What opportunities for money and work are blossoming and being cultivated?
Eight – Skills. Learning. Education
- What skills are in play here? What can you learn to bring additional opportunities in?
Nine – Abundance. Gratitude for what is.
- What abundance can you appreciate in your world right now? What can you celebrate?
Ten – Family. Generational wealth. Home.
- What abundance can you build that lasts a long time? How does family play into wealth?
Page – Money plans. New Experience, Adventurous
- How can you refresh the plan with your money?
Knight – Money moving. Control of opportunities.
- How does money flow in and out of your life? Where can you make it easy? Where is it difficult?
Queen – Confident, Equality, Abundance. Fertility.
- The Queen breathes life into things around them. How can you increase the “fertility” of this situation?
King – Commanding. Authority. Control. Stubborn.
- What are you in control of? What might be beyond your reach? Is there a promotion for you soon?

The Pentacles Reversed – Earth and Opportunities

The Pentacles in Tarot readings are typically about abundance, flow, money, and opportunities. When the Pentacles come up Reversed, it can be a sign of restriction or a pessimistic view of the situation.

Reversed cards are always a hot topic when reading the Tarot.

Did you know that there is a technique of only reading upright cards?

—This doesn’t mean that all negative cards just magically disappeared. The negative or shadow reversed cards in an all Upright Reading rely more on intuition and on the relation of other cards to pick up on.

Learning to Read Reversed Pentacle Cards

First, when reading reversed cards is get in touch with your intuition, is this truly a negative card or a positive one?

Next, see if there are other cards affecting this one. This could be an opposing or opposite card in the layout. This could also be a card that is sharing similar imagery or motifs. Look for similar colors, look for similar positioning in the symbols.

Then, if it is a shadow card, find where the restriction of energy is happening. We also always want to look for any solution it might be pointing you to.

For instance, if I draw up the reversed Six of Pentacles, I will ask myself:

Where have I given too much of myself, time or energy? Does someone else hold the power or key to my financial success? Where I can I hold good boundaries for my own feelings of abundance?

Becoming familiar with the deck you are working with takes a good chunk of dedication.

When you flip through your deck regularly you start to piece together patterns in the cards.

Building your understanding of that particular suit is how you learn the swords in tarot readings.

Just have patience with your practice!

By using your Tarot deck and other forms of divination to connect with your intuition, you start to develop psychic skills and abilities that will serve you well on your journey. Using the Pentacles of the Tarot is one of the best ways to really plan out your practice.