What does the Six of Pentacles mean?

It means giving and receiving. Waite describes a merchant weighing money in scales and handing it to people in need. His meanings were gifts and present prosperity. Modern readers also notice the power in it: one person stands and gives, and the others kneel.

Is the Six of Pentacles about charity?

Partly. Waite read the merchant warmly, as a sign of his success and good heart. Modern readers add that the giver stands, the receivers kneel, and he weighs while he gives. The card keeps the kindness and the inequality in the same picture.

What does the Six of Pentacles reversed mean?

Waite's reversed meanings were desire, greed, envy, jealousy, and illusion. Modern readers often see help with strings: given, then held over the person who received it. It also covers a long imbalance, and refusing help to avoid owing anyone.

Six of Pentacles meaning (upright & reversed)

Q: What does Six of Pentacles mean as intentions?

Upright: The card shows an intention to help, and to be the one helping. The offer may be real. The position it creates may be part of its appeal, so consider that before you accept. Reversed: The card shows help meant to count for something. The offer may carry an expectation nobody has said out loud. A ledger may be kept, whether or not anyone admits it.

Q: What does Six of Pentacles mean as action?

Upright: Give what you can spare, or accept what is offered. The card points to whichever of those you find harder. For most people, the hard one is accepting. Reversed: Ask for the terms out loud before anything changes hands. The move is the awkward question about what this costs, asked now instead of found out in six months.

Q: What does Six of Pentacles mean as how someone sees you?

Upright: The card shows being seen as worth helping, or as the one who helps. Either way it puts you inside an exchange. That is warmer than it is equal. Reversed: The card shows being seen as owing, or as taking more than you give. There is a running total in this picture, and you might not recognize the number.

Q: What does Six of Pentacles mean as an obstacle?

Upright: The obstacle is the difference in height. Something here only works while one person is the one who provides. That arrangement is holding the whole situation in place. Reversed: An unpaid debt is doing the blocking, and it may not be about money. A favor is being held over this. Until it is settled or named, it may keep deciding things.

Q: What does Six of Pentacles mean as an outcome?

Upright: It leans toward help arriving: support, money, or a hand from someone better placed. The terms look like ones you can accept without owing more than you meant to. Reversed: It may resolve into obligation. The help comes and the price shows up later. Or the imbalance continues, because neither side will say what it has cost them.

Q: What does Six of Pentacles mean as advice?

Upright: Be clear about what you can afford, then give it without conditions. When you receive, take it plainly. Refusing help to stay standing is pride with a price. Reversed: Look at who has given and who has received over the past year. The advice reversed is to name the imbalance instead of quietly paying it down.

He holds a pair of scales in one hand, and drops coins into someone’s palm with the other.

That detail keeps the card honest. The generosity is real, and it is being measured. A second person kneels beside the first, and receives nothing yet. Someone decided. The picture does not hide that. Waite read the merchant kindly, as a man of success and good heart, and both readings fit the same drawing.

Six of Pentacles upright meaning

Giving and receiving, with power in between.

The Six of Pentacles looks like a simple kind card, and it has more in it than that. Waite describes a merchant weighing money in a pair of scales and giving it to the needy. He called it proof of the man's success and of his good heart. His meanings were presents, gifts, and gratification. He also gave attention, vigilance, and present prosperity, with the phrase now is the accepted time. Among his extras was a caution: the present must not be relied on. In readings the card points to help arriving or offered: money, support, mentoring, a favor. Modern readers add one thing. Look at who stands where. If you are the giver, the card favors giving without conditions, and being clear about what you can afford. If you are the receiver, it favors accepting without shame. For most people that is the harder half. Refusing help to stay in the standing position is a kind of pride. It usually costs more than it protects.

Six of Pentacles reversed meaning

Envy, giving with strings, or a debt that became leverage.

Reversed, the Six of Pentacles turns the scales into a ledger. Waite's reversed meanings were desire, greed, envy, jealousy, and illusion, with a check on ambition among his extras. The most common modern reading is help with conditions. It is given, then quietly held over the person who received it. Or a favor turns out to have been a purchase. This is often not malicious. It happens when someone gives more than they could afford, and then needs it to have meant something. The second reading is a lasting imbalance. One person keeps giving and another keeps taking, in a friendship, a family, or a relationship. The pattern has run long enough to feel like each person's role. There is also a version about refusing help. Turning down what is offered has become a way to avoid owing anyone, and that independence now costs more than it gives.

A reversal is rarely the upright card's opposite. Reversed tarot cards covers the four conditions a reversal usually describes, and how to tell which one a spread is asking for. Every card's reversed meaning sits beside its upright one on reversed tarot card meanings.

Six of Pentacles in Waite's 1910 key

The meanings above are Reflecta's reading. These are the ones A. E. Waite gave in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), the guide he wrote for the deck Pamela Colman Smith drew. He wrote them for fortune-telling, a use tarot took on centuries after it began as a card game in fifteenth-century Italy. Some of his words are blunt, and none of them can tell you what will happen.

Upright: Presents, gifts, gratification; another account says attention, vigilance; now is the accepted time, present prosperity, etc.
Reversed: Desire, cupidity, envy, jealousy, illusion.

Symbolism in the card

The scales in the merchant's hand: Waite says the merchant weighs money in a pair of scales as he gives it out. The giving is generous, and it is also measured. The card keeps both in view.
Two kneeling figures, with coins going to one: Both are asking, and the coins fall into one hand. Someone is deciding who gets helped. The card puts that decision in the picture.
The standing giver above the kneeling figures: Waite reads him kindly, as proof of his success and his good heart. The heights are still unequal. Modern readers take that as the card's honest note about charity.

Six of Pentacles in love and relationships

Upright. A relationship where support flows both ways, or one person helping the other through something. It favors accepting care as readily as you offer it.

Reversed. A relationship where one person gives and the other takes, or affection used as currency. Waite's reversal included jealousy and envy. Help may come with expectations never said aloud.

Six of Pentacles in career and work

Upright. Mentoring, a raise, or support from someone more established. It favors asking for help, and, if you are senior, giving it freely. Waite's meanings included present prosperity.

Reversed. Favoritism, help that comes with obligation, or a workplace where support is handed out as leverage. Read the room before you accept.

Six of Pentacles in money

Upright. Money given or received: a loan, a gift, charity, or a bonus. It favors generosity within your means. Waite added a caution that the present must not be relied on.

Reversed. A loan with unspoken conditions, money dependence, or a debt used as influence. Hear the terms out loud before anything is taken.

Six of Pentacles as feelings

Upright. Generous, and glad to be. The card shows someone wanting to give, and to be useful to you. That is a real form of affection.

Reversed. The card may show feelings offered with conditions, or a score kept of what has been done for you. It can also describe generosity used to hold attention.

Six of Pentacles in a reading position

The same card answers differently depending on what the position asked it. These are the readings for the positions people ask about most.

Six of Pentacles as someone's intentions

Upright. The card shows an intention to help, and to be the one helping. The offer may be real. The position it creates may be part of its appeal, so consider that before you accept.

Reversed. The card shows help meant to count for something. The offer may carry an expectation nobody has said out loud. A ledger may be kept, whether or not anyone admits it.

Six of Pentacles as action

Upright. Give what you can spare, or accept what is offered. The card points to whichever of those you find harder. For most people, the hard one is accepting.

Reversed. Ask for the terms out loud before anything changes hands. The move is the awkward question about what this costs, asked now instead of found out in six months.

Six of Pentacles as how someone sees you

Upright. The card shows being seen as worth helping, or as the one who helps. Either way it puts you inside an exchange. That is warmer than it is equal.

Reversed. The card shows being seen as owing, or as taking more than you give. There is a running total in this picture, and you might not recognize the number.

Six of Pentacles as an obstacle

Upright. The obstacle is the difference in height. Something here only works while one person is the one who provides. That arrangement is holding the whole situation in place.

Reversed. An unpaid debt is doing the blocking, and it may not be about money. A favor is being held over this. Until it is settled or named, it may keep deciding things.

Six of Pentacles as an outcome

Upright. It leans toward help arriving: support, money, or a hand from someone better placed. The terms look like ones you can accept without owing more than you meant to.

Reversed. It may resolve into obligation. The help comes and the price shows up later. Or the imbalance continues, because neither side will say what it has cost them.

Six of Pentacles as advice

Upright. Be clear about what you can afford, then give it without conditions. When you receive, take it plainly. Refusing help to stay standing is pride with a price.

Reversed. Look at who has given and who has received over the past year. The advice reversed is to name the imbalance instead of quietly paying it down.

Is Six of Pentacles a yes or a no?

Upright, it leans yes. Reversed, it leans no.

Upright it leans yes, especially for help being offered or received. The card shows support that is real and available. Reversed it leans no. Usually the help has unstated conditions, or accepting would create an obligation you do not want.

Every card's leaning in one table, upright and reversed, is on yes or no tarot, along with what a maybe is asking you to do.

Six of Pentacles card combinations

+ Six of Pentacles and Five of Pentacles: Need and its answer. Together they point to help that is close to being offered or asked for. That is the resolution the Five lacks on its own.
+ Six of Pentacles and Four of Pentacles: Giving next to holding. Usually the reading turns on what would happen if some of what is being clutched went back into circulation.
+ Six of Pentacles and Justice: Fairness looked at twice. Often it concerns whether an arrangement is balanced, and the pairing often suggests it is not.
+ Six of Pentacles and Ten of Pentacles: Generosity and inheritance together. Often family money, support across generations, or wealth that brings obligations with it.

Every pairing on this site, Six of Pentacles's included, is collected on tarot card combinations.

I can give without buying, and receive without owing.

Six of Pentacles: common questions

What does the Six of Pentacles mean?: It means giving and receiving. Waite describes a merchant weighing money in scales and handing it to people in need. His meanings were gifts and present prosperity. Modern readers also notice the power in it: one person stands and gives, and the others kneel.
Is the Six of Pentacles about charity?: Partly. Waite read the merchant warmly, as a sign of his success and good heart. Modern readers add that the giver stands, the receivers kneel, and he weighs while he gives. The card keeps the kindness and the inequality in the same picture.
What does the Six of Pentacles reversed mean?: Waite's reversed meanings were desire, greed, envy, jealousy, and illusion. Modern readers often see help with strings: given, then held over the person who received it. It also covers a long imbalance, and refusing help to avoid owing anyone.
Which figure am I in the Six of Pentacles?: Worth deciding, since the advice differs. As the giver, the card favors giving without conditions, and being clear about what you can afford. As the receiver, it favors accepting without shame. Most people find that the harder half.