Minor Arcana - The suit of Pentacles

Pentaclesare the element of earth. This is our physical world, sensuality, work, craft, our bodies, food and resources, home, environment, structures and foundations.

The suit of pentacles deals with the everyday, mundane stuff in our lives. The grounded. The tangible. The earthy.

Key words and concepts

• A new start… for your work, home, body/health/sex life, finances, craft and creativity, relationship to environment…any of those earthy realms

• An opportunity to develop in any of those areas

• Saying yes to such an opportunity

• Commitment to hard work

• Beginning something long, slow and rewarding - good things take time

• Waking up to the magic in your everyday life

Symbols

As pentacles are the suit of earth, we might see anything from the natural world on this card. Plants, trees, flowers, hills, rocks, bones, crystals… Pay attention to how your tarot deck depicts the element of ‘earth’. You’ll likely see those same symbols coming up again and again throughout this suit.

• doing more than 1 thing - you’ve got this

• you’re capable of doing tricky things

• seek balance, seek for the sweet spot where you know you can juggle your responsibilities (maybe getting some practical support)

• or: put something down - figure out your capacity and stay with it

• or, in a dilemma: choise: make your mind up (or possible to have both?)

• community or team-related (groups, families, project teams, friends - look at surounding cards)

• more than the sum of its parts

• each team member giving and receiving support from each other

• being part of something bigger

• delegation: you don’t have to be brilliant at everything or do it alone - everyone brings different strenghts - play to your own strenghts and/or encourage others to play to theirs

• or: the whole world is your ‘team’ - what do you bring to this world? unique skills, how can you share them?

• selfishness (greed/self-care)

• mean/grabby person: focus on own material gain (perhaps to expense of others). Losing track of whats important in life

• acting wisely / boundaries: save money for a rainy day (maybe overspent on others and need to take care of themselves)

• survival mode, excist on basics, making it through (ill-health, financial poverty, burned out, depressed, pressure, being left out, …) - opposite of privilege

• consider what you might do to change this situation (more positive attitude, ask for help) - solution is on the card

• honest look at relationship with pain, vicitm mentality? (pain as identity? not accepting help? attached to struggle? do we want to solve the problem?)

• give and take - redistributing wealth / sharing what we have / giving when we have more than we need / asking for help if we don’t have enough

• look at power dynamics/imbalances - who holds power/privilege, what is expected in return?

• are you the taking person or the giver? or bystander?

• in relationships (codependency)

• pause and reflect - mid-point moment: you’ve put in work, things are growing well - well done, be proud

• there is more work to be done before the fruit is ripe

• take a step back and notice what is needed: turning point / time to change direction? - or small tweaks, or continue as is

• refocus on goal: where are you trying to go? Do you still want to go there? any shifts?

• dont give up - how can you fix what isn’t working? take wider view get things in perspective

• practice makes perfect - nobody is born with the ability to create perfect works

• honing your skills is a process

• most goals require diligent work; we are encouraged to take our time and practice

• you might need discipline / to create routines / structures / to study more

• don’t be afraid of failure - try again

• congratulate people who have achieved that ‘craftsman’ status. You’ve worked hard and you’re getting or have got really good at this!

• take care of yourself - bring balance to your life / take breaks

• you deserve good things (you have achived a lot - time to celebrate)

• confidence and secruity from having created something solid, that you can now relax and enjoy

• having earned good things and appreciating them

• you have what it takes to reach your goal, you can build the live you want

• trust your OWN voice, dont be afraid to break away from the herd

• we have it all, live is abundant, comfortable - relax into that kind of security

• magic in our everyday lives, simply living our lives and the magic we receive from our environment

• we are ready to go further/deeper. The ten is the completion of one chapter. Setting the stage for the next

• look back on lessons learned. You have a story to tell

• ten of pentacles: journey so far has been earthy, grounded, tangible. What’s to come feels different. Know you’ve got solid foundations to stand on as you prepare for the next ride.