4 of pentacles

PaulaB

I just dont get the 6 of pentacle.
Does he have his feet on them for security or grounding? is he trying to hold on to something? he seems so miserable as well.
 

Rachey

on the rider waite deck? do you mean the 6 of pentacles or the 4?
 

PaulaB

DOH! yeh i do mean the fout!! lol
 

Disa

He seems to have found stability in his pentacles. Perhaps it's been a long time coming and he's holding on to them for dear life, for they may disappear as quickly as they appeared?
 

Little Baron

Personally, I see a 'four' as a grounded number.

In cups, emotionally secure and stable, for example.

In swords, a calm mind without disruption, as another.

But in pentacles, he is doubly-stable, since earth is so grounded. This will mean that he is secure financially, in home and physically. And I think he wants to keep it that way, which is why he holds on to the pentacles. In an exagerated form, this might be miserly or greedy; an inability to share. It might be someone who places the material over the emotional, irrationally - the pentacles are on his mind (head), in his heart (chest) and what he stands on (his home or kingdom). I also remember that the '5' comes after this card - therefore breaking this stability. Neither the element of earth or the number 4 wants this, since they are happy where they sit, so the man grabs on tightly to avoid change.

LB
 

rhinoa

He seems very stable, but perhaps a little too money/materialism orientated. Perhaps too grounded in the physical.
 

Abrac

The crown on his head represents rulership of some kind, either as a prince/king, or governmental official. The city in background may be the city/state over which he rules. He has turned his back on it, and is alone. All he is concerned with is the getting and keeping of material goods. To me, he has a very serious and suspicious expression on his face.
 

Tarotwytch

He could be holding on to what is important to him in his life - material possessions, pride, self-esteem, privacy, self-worth.
He may need to set up personal boundaries in order to protect himself from the demands of others.
Holding on TOO tight to something may cause stagnation and a lack of growth and/or change.
 

caridwen

He holds onto the material at the expense of the spiritual, hence the deprivation of the Five.
 

cdabs

The Four Of Pentacles...

(Sorry for the long post, but...I'm usually long-winded...)

...yep, I see this guy as "all about the 'mins" (all about the Benjamins!). I thought I'd post my thoughts based on another posting I had done earlier here:

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=1236701#post1236701

In a nutshell, I watched this movie, "Constantine," last night and there was mention of the Devil's son as "Mammon." I looked "Mammon" up and found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammon

and this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/Mammon.jpg

The above picture reminded me of the Four Of Pentacles
(http://learntarot.com/bigjpgs/pents04.jpg) ...."Mammon" has a similar posture to the man in the Four Of Pentacles....both are holding onto money...both are sitting...both are somewhat hunched over (clinging to that which they love, hiding it, covering it...). It made me wonder if Pamela Colman-Smith may have based this card on "Mammon" (from "Dictionnaire Infernal").

Here's the Wikipedia definition (citing several references) of "Mammon:"
========================================================
Webster (1977) defines 'mammon' as: 1) the false god of riches and avarice. 2) riches regarded as an object of worship and greedy pursuit; wealth as an evil, more or less personified. Winston (1954) defines: 1) wealth, worldly gain; 2) greed for riches; cupidity. Oxford (1992) defines: god of wealth, regarded as evil or immoral; 'those who worship mammon' = greedy people who value money too highly.
========================================================

Other things I noticed in this card (Original RWS)...Lemniscate on the man's left boot-lace. Possibly an "M" (Mammon?) on the man's left forearm (where black shawl meets the red sleeve). An "N" (?) on the grassy-mound on/in the left background

I also noticed that the black shawl (appears to be some kind of crocheted shawl) totally encircles the man's red-sleeved arms...i.e., that which is black, negative or darkened overtaking/suffocating that which is otherwise passionate or lively(?).

Having said that, I just noticed a few minutes ago that the black shawl seems to form a silhouette of sorts (forehead at the man's left elbow). Not sure if I'm looking at it too hard???

I've read where some in the forum believe this guy is "grounded." I have looked at his feet up-close and if I'm not mistaken, I believe he's got the balls of his feet on those two pents...IOW, the whole sole of his foot (for both feet) is not in contact with each pent. That said....he may not be that grounded after all. The Pents are somewhat tilted up at the back (so we can see the faces of the pents), but it looks like he's doing a "ballerina" thing by standing on them with just the balls of his feet.

Anybody got a clue as to what that "thing" is on top of the shortest building of the 3 orange buildings on the right side of the card (background; looks like an overdrawn cursive "t")? Universal and Radiant RWS decks show it to be some sort of bush or tree, but in the Original RWS...it'd be a heck of a bush to grow like that...totally taking over the top of that building.