King of Pentacles tarot card meaning: upright, reversed and symbols

The King of Pentacles sits on a throne decorated with bull heads, his robe covered in grapevines so thickly that he seems to grow out of the garden. He holds a scepter and a pentacle, and a castle stands behind him. He is the master of the earth suit: wealth, stewardship and practical leadership. This page covers what the King of Pentacles means upright and reversed, the symbols in the 1909 card and how to read him as a person or an energy.

At a glance

• Upright keywords: wealth, abundance, leadership
• Reversed keywords: greed, materialism, control issues
• Rank: King, one of the four court cards of Pentacles
• Suit and element: Pentacles, Earth Later tradition
• Astrology: Saturn, Capricorn Modern
• Yes or no: Yes Modern

The pairing of suits and elements comes from French occult writers of the 1800s, and the Golden Dawn fixed the version used here in the 1880s and 1890s. The astrology line is the pairing printed on my first tarot deck. Other books pair the Aces and court cards differently, so if yours disagrees, follow your own deck. The yes or no lean is a modern reading habit. Use these layers if they help you remember the card, and skip them if they get in the way.

The card: what Pamela Colman Smith drew

Waite wrote that “the bull’s head should be noted as a recurrent symbol on the throne”, and explained that the pentacle is engraved with a five-pointed star, “typifying the correspondence of the four elements in human nature and that by which they may be governed. In old Tarot packs this suit represented money.”

The bulls

Bull heads decorate his throne. The bull is the sign of Taurus, an earth sign, and a symbol of strength and fertility.

The grapevines

His robe is covered in grapes. He is wealthy, and his wealth grows.

The castle

The castle behind him is what he has built and must protect.

Upright meaning

Upright, the King of Pentacles considers how resources can be managed responsibly over time. His authority comes through practical judgment, dependable decisions and attention to what people need to do their work. In a reading, he can represent someone with relevant experience or invite you to take greater responsibility for what is already in your care.

Use the card to examine stewardship: what do you control, who is affected and how do you remain accountable? You might have authority over a household budget, a team or a garden.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, the King of Pentacles can show greed, materialism or control. Money becomes the measure of everything.

Ask what wealth is for. Share decisions and stay accountable.

Reversals are optional. Many readers never use them and read every card upright, and that is a complete way to read. If you do use them, decide before you shuffle what a reversed card will mean for you, and keep to that choice for the whole reading.

In love, work and spirituality

Love

Upright, a stable, generous partner. Reversed, using money to control.

Work and money

Business success, good management. Reversed, greed.

Spirituality

Practical stewardship of the earth. Reversed, materialism.

As feelings

As someone’s feelings, the King of Pentacles shows steady commitment and a wish to provide.

The King of Pentacles as past, present, future and advice

• Past: A reliable leader or your own stewardship built this.
• Present: Manage your resources well.
• Future: Stability and success are ahead.
• Advice: Be a good steward.

A Minor Arcana card usually describes the everyday texture of a situation: a mood, a conversation, a task or a step. If the King of Pentacles appears next to a Major Arcana card, let the Major name the big theme and let this card show how it is playing out in the body and the other things Pentacles rule. If it keeps coming back over several days, write down what was happening each time.

Is the King of Pentacles a yes or a no?

In modern yes or no readings, the King of Pentacles leans yes. Stability points to yes. Tarot is better at showing the shape of a situation than at handing down verdicts, so if the question really matters, turn it into an open question such as “What do I need to know about this?” and draw again.

Affirmation and journal prompts

Affirmation: I manage what is in my care with fairness and accountability.

Reversed affirmation: I examine my use of power and correct what I can.

Journal prompts:

• What am I responsible for?
• How do I use my resources well?
• What is wealth for?

The king in the tarot court

The King holds the suit in public: responsibility, direction, skill used for others and stewardship. He has mastered the element and now has to use it well. Court cards are not limited by the gender of the figure on the card: a Queen can describe a man, and a Knight can describe a plan rather than a person. You can read the King of Pentacles as someone in your life, as a part of you, or as an approach to the situation.

Here is how the King looks across the four suits:

• King of Wands: leadership, vision, determination
• King of Cups: emotional balance, diplomacy, wisdom
• King of Swords: authority, truth, intellectual power
• King of Pentacles (this card): wealth, abundance, leadership

Learning a rank across the suits is one of the fastest ways to learn the Minor Arcana: the number or court rank gives you the shape, and the suit gives you the setting.

The history and art behind the card

In most decks before 1909, the number cards showed only a pattern of suit symbols, the way a playing card does. The Sola Busca deck from late 1400s Italy is the famous exception. Pamela Colman Smith gave every Minor Arcana card a scene with people in it, and that choice is a big reason the Rider-Waite-Smith deck is still the easiest deck for beginners. In Italian decks the suit is Denari (coins) and in the Tarot de Marseille it is Deniers, round coins. Occult writers of the 1800s, and then the Golden Dawn, turned the coins into pentacles, discs engraved with a five-pointed star, and Smith followed that. Waite noted that “in old Tarot packs this suit represented money”, but on this site I read it more widely as everything material you tend.

His robe is covered in grapes and vines, so that he almost seems to grow out of his own garden. Bull heads are carved on his throne. The bull is the sign of Taurus, an earth sign, and it ties the King to steady, stubborn strength. A castle stands behind him. Every detail on the card says the same thing: this is someone who has built a solid, abundant life over many years and now uses it to support others.

When A. E. Waite published The Pictorial Key to the Tarot in 1910, he listed these divinatory meanings for the King of Pentacles: “Valor, intelligence, business, mathematical gifts, and success in these paths.” Reversed, he gave: “Vice, weakness, perversity, peril.” Waite said he was offering “a harmony of their meanings” gathered “from all sources”, which means older fortune-telling lists, not his own reading of the picture. On this site I read the picture first and treat lists like this as history.

A spread for the King of Pentacles

Use this spread for money and responsibility.

1. What am I stewarding? My resources.
2. Who is affected? The people involved.
3. How do I lead well? One step.

Lay the three cards in a row, read each one on its own first, then read them together as a short story. Write one sentence for each position and one small action you will take.

Common questions

Is the King of Pentacles a yes or no card?

Yes. He brings stability.

Who is the King of Pentacles as a person?

Often a successful, reliable, generous provider. Court cards can describe any gender.

What does the King of Pentacles mean in love?

Stability and commitment. Reversed, control through money.

Related cards

• The Emperor: the Major Arcana card of structure
• Queen of Pentacles: his partner
• Ten of Pentacles: lasting legacy

Keep learning

The King of Pentacles is part of the lesson Meet the court in my free Tarot for Beginners course. To see the whole suit on one page, go to the suit of Pentacles. To keep walking the suit, read the card before it, Queen of Pentacles, or go back to all the card meanings. For more on the court, see Tarot court cards without confusion. For every card with keywords, affirmations and examples, see my book The Novice’s Guide to Tarot. If you would like a printable cheat sheet for all 78 cards, my 45-page Tarot Workbook is on Etsy.

Sources

• A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1910), Part III, sections 1 and 2.
• Pamela Colman Smith and A. E. Waite, the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot (London: Rider, 1909).
• Nicolas Conver, Tarot de Marseille (Marseille, 1760).
• Lauri Mukkala, The Novice’s Guide to Tarot, entry for the King of Pentacles.