Minor Arcana, the Pentacles
Four of Pentacles
In the suit of pentacles, the Four shows a crowned man on a stone seat; Pamela Colman Smith drew it in 1909 for A. E. Waite's deck. He hugs one coin to his chest, balances a second on his crown and rests his feet on two more, with a town on either side behind him.
What Waite wrote it means (1910)
- Divinatory meanings
The surety of possessions, cleaving to that which one has, gift, legacy, inheritance.
- Reversed
Suspense, delay, opposition.
Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London, 1911), p. 274. Read it in the chapter
A crowned figure, having a pentacle over his crown, clasps another with hands and arms; two pentacles are under his feet. He holds to that which he has.
What's in the picture
- The coin on the crown. One coin stands on its edge on top of his crown, balanced there with nothing to hold it.
- The crown. The crown itself is a low gold band with two small square points.
- The coin held close. He clasps the third coin against his chest. One arm goes over its top edge and the other hand holds its side, and his chin is pressed down close to it.
- The coins under his feet. Two more coins lie flat on the ground. He sets one red shoe on each, so these coins are held too. Waite sums him up in one line: “He holds to that which he has.”
- The black cloak. Over a dark red robe he wears a heavy black cloak that wraps his shoulders. A strip of pale blue shows at the hem.
- The seat. He sits on a plain grey block, square and bare, with no back to lean on and no cushion.
- The town on the left. Behind him on the left is a town of red roofs and grey towers, with green trees in front.
- The tall tower. On the right the buildings are taller. One tower with a red cap rises above the others.
- The empty sky. Above the crown, about a third of the card is empty grey sky, with only the numeral IV at the top. The town sits low behind him, below his knees, and he fills the middle of the card alone.
The card in brief
- In the deck
- Card 68 of 78
- Arcana
- Minor Arcana, Pentacles
- Number
- Four
- Element (Golden Dawn)
- Earth
- Astrology (Golden Dawn)
- Sun in Capricorn
- Title in Book T
- Lord of Earthly Power
- Drawn by
- Pamela Colman Smith
- Planned by
- Arthur Edward Waite
- Published
- London, William Rider & Son, 1909
- Scan
- Pam-A printing, c. 1910, Wikimedia Commons
In the old books
Book T (1912)
A Hand holding a branch of a rose tree, but without flowers or buds, save that in the centre is one fully blown white rose. Pentacles are disposed as on the points of a square; a rose in its centre. Symbols ☉ and ♑︎ above and below to represent the Decan.
Assured material gain: success, rank, dominion, earthly power, completed but leading to nothing beyond. Prejudicial, covetous, suspicious, careful and orderly, but discontented. Little enterprise or originality. According to dignity as usual.
Book T, “A Description of the Cards of the Tarot”, The Equinox I.8 (London, 1912), pp. 189–190. See the source Papus (1892)
Opposition of fortune. Loss of money.
Papus, The Tarot of the Bohemians, tr. A. P. Morton (London, 1892), p. 314. See the source
Before 1909
The older cards and pictures behind this one will be shown here once their licences are checked.
The film
No film for this card yet.
Sources
- Waite: he holds to that which he has.Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), Part III, Four of Pentacles
Around this card
Before and after it in the deck
The same number in the other suits
All the cards of the Pentacles, or the whole deck.