Six of Pentacles
Six of Coins (Deniers, Tarot de Marseille) · Lord of Material Success (Golden Dawn) · Success (Thoth)
The Six of Pentacles shows a merchant weighing coins in a balance and giving to the needy: a card of generosity, fair exchange and the flow of resources between people.
Upright generosity · charity · giving and receiving · fairness · sharing · support
Reversed strings attached · debt · inequality · selfishness · one-sided giving · power imbalance
- Astrology
- Moon in Taurus (second decan)
- Element
- Earth
- Number
- 6
- Golden Dawn title
- Lord of Material Success
- Yes or no
- Yes
Upright
Upright, the Six of Pentacles is about giving and receiving. Resources move from where there is plenty to where there is need, and the scales in the merchant's hand suggest that the exchange is measured and fair. In the Waite–Smith tradition the card speaks of gifts, gratification and present prosperity. Depending on the question, the querent may be the giver or the receiver.
In love, the card suggests a relationship in which care is shared, and asks whether that sharing is equal. It may describe one person supporting the other through a difficult time.
For work and money it favours fair pay, loans repaid, investment, charitable work, sponsorship or a mentor's help. It can also mark the return of stability after hardship.
The advice it offers is to share what you can, accept help without shame, and keep the balance honest so that generosity does not become control.
Reversed
Reversed, the Six of Pentacles often points to imbalance in giving and receiving. Gifts come with strings attached, debts weigh heavily or one person gives far more than the other. Some readers see selfishness or an unwillingness to share; others see someone who gives so much that they deplete themselves.
Many readers do not use reversals at all. For those who do, this reversal usually prompts a look at power within an exchange: who gives, who receives and on what terms.
The image
Smith's Six of Pentacles shows a well-dressed merchant in a cloak standing between two kneeling beggars. In his left hand he holds a pair of scales level; with his right he drops coins into the open hand of one of the kneeling figures. The second beggar waits with hands raised. Six pentacles hang in the air around the upper part of the card, and a town or castle can be seen in the distance.
History
Before 1909 tarot decks such as the Tarot de Marseille showed the Six of Coins as a symmetrical arrangement of disks with flowers, and most other decks used similar unillustrated pips. Smith's scene of charity was new. Waite's 1910 Pictorial Key describes a person in the guise of a merchant who weighs money and distributes it to the needy, and gives presents, gifts and gratification, and also attention, vigilance and present prosperity; reversed, desire, cupidity, envy, jealousy and illusion. The scales link the card visually with the trump Justice, a connection many modern readers draw.
Symbolism
The scales are the central emblem: giving is measured, not random. The kneeling figures show need, and the standing merchant shows power, so the card can be read both as compassion and as a reminder of inequality. Six coins arranged above the figures suggest a balanced distribution.
The Golden Dawn attributed the card to the second decan of Taurus, ruled by the Moon, which is exalted in Taurus. Its title is "Lord of Material Success", and Crowley's Thoth card is "Success". The sixes belong to Tiphareth, the sefirah of harmony and beauty at the centre of the Tree of Life, which suggests that the card concerns balance restored. The Moon in Taurus has been read as nurturing comfort and natural abundance.
In a reading
Readers often use the card to discuss the balance of giving in a relationship or a financial arrangement. Next to the Five of Pentacles it suggests help arriving; next to Justice, fair settlement; beside the Seven of Swords, a warning that someone may take advantage. In an advice position it encourages generosity or accepting help. As an outcome it is usually read as positive, provided the exchange remains fair. Some readers also notice that only one of the two beggars receives coins in the picture, and ask who in the querent's situation is being overlooked.
Sources and further reading
- The Pictorial Key to the Tarot — A. E. Waite, 1910
- The Book of Thoth — Aleister Crowley, 1944
- The Golden Dawn — Israel Regardie, 1937
- The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination — Robert M. Place, 2005