Four of Pentacles: tarot card meaning

In A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), the Four of Pentacles upright means: The surety of possessions, cleaving to that which one has, gift, legacy, inheritance. Reversed: Suspense, delay, opposition.

The picture

“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.” A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1910

Upright

The surety of possessions, cleaving to that which one has, gift, legacy, inheritance.

Waite's additional meanings: For a bachelor, pleasant news from a lady.

Reversed

Suspense, delay, opposition.

Waite's additional meanings, reversed: Observation, hindrances.

In one line

Holding fast to what one has. (Esbat's own summary of Waite's meaning and picture.)

Where it sits in the deck

The Four of Pentacles is the fourth card of the suit of Pentacles, one of the 56 Minor Arcana. The other Fours: Four of Wands, Four of Cups, Four of Swords.

In Esbat

Esbat deals a card of the day, face down until you turn it, and holds all 78 cards in the 1910 pictures with Waite's meanings, upright and reversed. The Four of Pentacles can be shared as a picture. All 78 tarot card meanings.

Sources

Meanings and picture descriptions: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1910), public domain, checked against the Wikisource transcription. Picture: Pamela Colman Smith, 1910, public domain. Like the app, this page records what the book says; it does not promise outcomes.

Last updated October 25, 2026.

Esbat: Tarot & Book of Shadows, on Google Play

A card of the day, face down until you turn it, and all 78 cards in the 1910 pictures with Waite's meanings, upright and reversed. For Android.

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