Six of Pentacles: tarot card meaning

In A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), the Six of Pentacles upright means: Presents, gifts, gratification; another account says attention, vigilance; now is the accepted time, present prosperity, etc. Reversed: Desire, cupidity, envy, jealousy, illusion.

The picture

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

Upright

Presents, gifts, gratification; another account says attention, vigilance; now is the accepted time, present prosperity, etc.

Waite's additional meanings: The present must not be relied on.

Reversed

Desire, cupidity, envy, jealousy, illusion.

Waite's additional meanings, reversed: A check on the Querent's ambition.

In one line

Gifts and present prosperity: now is the time. (Esbat's own summary of Waite's meaning and picture.)

Where it sits in the deck

The Six of Pentacles is the sixth card of the suit of Pentacles, one of the 56 Minor Arcana. The other Sixs: Six of Wands, Six of Cups, Six 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 Six 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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