Six of Pentacles
A prosperous merchant holds balanced scales while giving coins to kneeling beggars: generosity, fair exchange, and the power dynamics of giving and receiving.
Pentacles, VI
Upright keywords
- generosity
- charity
- giving and receiving
- fairness
- sharing wealth
- support
Meaning when upright
The Six of Pentacles shows a well-dressed merchant holding balanced scales while dropping coins into the hands of a kneeling beggar, with a second supplicant waiting beside him. It is the card of circulation, with resources flowing from those who have to those who need, whether as charity, a gift, a loan, a grant, or simple help. Depending on your position in the reading, you may be the giver, the receiver, or the one still waiting. The scales stress fairness and measure: giving what is appropriate, neither withholding nor depleting yourself. Waite read it as "presents, gifts, gratification" and "present prosperity."
On the card
- merchant in a rich red cloak
- Prosperity and worldly success, now in a position to give.
- balanced scales held in one hand
- Fairness, measured judgment, and the equilibrium between giving and receiving.
- coins dropping from his other hand
- Active generosity; wealth kept in circulation rather than hoarded.
- kneeling beggar receiving the coins
- Need being met, and the humility of receiving.
- second kneeling figure looking up, still waiting
- The question of who receives and who does not; the giver's power to choose.
- patched cloaks of the beggars
- Poverty and need, echoing the hardship of the Five.
- six pentacles above the scene
- Abundance available to be shared.
- town in the background
- The social order and community within which exchange takes place.
In Waite’s words
A person in the guise of a merchant weighs money in a pair of scales and distributes it to the needy and distressed. It is a testimony to his own success in life, as well as to his goodness of heart.
- Divinatory meaning
Presents, gifts, gratification; another account says attention, vigilance; now is the accepted time, present prosperity, etc.
- Reversed
Desire, cupidity, envy, jealousy, illusion.
- Additional meaning
The present must not be relied on. Reversed: A check on the Querent's ambition.
Correspondences
- Element
- Earth
- Astrology
- Moon in Taurus
- Sephira
- Tiphareth (6)
- Golden Dawn title
- Lord of Material Success
- Decan
- May 1 – May 10
- Number
- Six is harmony and reciprocity; it restores the balance broken in the Five through sharing and fair exchange.
To reflect on
- Am I currently more comfortable giving or receiving, and why?
- Are there strings attached to what I give, or to what I accept?
- Where could a fairer balance be restored in my relationships or work?
In your readings
Hasn’t appeared in your readings yet.
Ask about this card
Marguerite, the traditionalist, answers from Waite’s text, what is drawn on the card and its correspondences. You can choose another reader in settings.