VI Pentacles Interpretation

Barleywine

I am interested in looking into the other cards you mention as eluding a "straightforward" interpretation as I am very respectful of your apparent skill with the tarot...and I, still a novice, am curious to investigate. Thanks.

Don't take me too literally on all of them; some are more "off" from my customary usage then others, but they all have something in the imagery that rings false for me. And thanks for the compliment, my love of tarot stems from my love of all manner of esoterica, and my love of graphic design (I attended Parsons School of Design in NYC almost 50 years ago). Tarot perfectly encapsulates both.
 

Laurelle

Remembered this post about the 6 of Pentacles as I was reading Matthew this morning:

"Make certain you do not perform your religious duties in public so that people will see what you do. If you do these things publicly, you will not have any reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give something to a needy person, do not make a big show of it, as the hypocrites do in the houses of worship and on the streets. They do it so that people will praise them. I assure you, they have already been paid in full. But when you help a needy person, do it in such a way that even your closest friend will not know about it. Then it will be a private matter. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you."

--Matthew Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I am not going to get into a religious discussion. I treat the Bible, Quran, and any holy book as a book. I am cherry picking the book of Matthew, for there are some bizarre parts in it as well.....

But I like this quote. I can relate it back to a moment I experienced a few years ago:

There was a woman at a kids birthday party I went to and she gave her step daughter shoes. The shoes were from Thoms. No 8 year-old wants shoes for her birthday even though, I'm sure the shoes were needed. The step mother gave the shoes to the child as a show of herself. She announced to everyone, "The proceeds go to needy children in Africa."

I must have been the only one who thought the shoes were more about the mom than the child.

That's the 6 of Pentacles. It refers back to the Lovers on an earthly level, hence the pentacles. For then all we see is the earth and not the heaven all around us.
 

Laurelle

Sorry. The universe may be in the guise of a merchant, measuring and deciding to give to each what he needs. There is a hierarchy in the beggars and they are botj given alms differently. The universe gives you what u need which may be different from what you want.
she also said this is a card where u could either be the merchant or else be the person on the receiving end.

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Thanks for this. It made me think more about the relationship to the 6 and the lovers card. The man is in guise of merchant, but he's more like the angel in the Lovers card. The two men are the woman and the man in the Lovers card. Nice analogy.
 

Teheuti

There are two referents for the scales we see in the Tarot: justice and business. A set of scales is a mechanism to measure or compare things. The worth of gold and coins was determined by being weighed in scales. When balanced they are believed to indicate equalization between two items, values or perspectives.

You can look at the whole suit of Pentacles as a commentary on society's 'haves" and the "have nots," the givers and the receivers. Charity needs a recipient. Ask and you will receive. Here the two sides come face-to-face. But, while there may be an attempt to equalize the two forces it is rarely achieved. Perhaps the giver is trying to determine how to be fair (and balanced) to both beggars. What is necessary in order to achieve the required balance?

I see 2s as the primary symbol for choice, while 6s are more about reciprocity (meaning: mutual dependence, action, or influence; complementarity). You can't have a giver without a receiver and you can't have the rich without the poor. It's a dynamic that is rarely even. What the right relationship is to each other is a very complex thing.

Sixes refer to Tiphareth in the GD system; it balances the left and right, the above and the below. But in real life - especially in the material world of Pentacles/Coins/Earth, such balance is a tenuous and often misbegotten thing (think of 19th century philanthropy).

I love the fact that there is so much ambiguity in the RWS image and room for various interpretations of what is going on. I often ask the client where they are in the picture, and then, what is going on. The relevance to the client's situation is almost always immediately apparent based on their response.

As an aside, think of PCS getting paid very little for a big job. It was nearly impossible for women in the 19th and early 20th century to get paid anywhere near equal pay for equal work or even to have their talent commercially compensated.
 

Barleywine

I see 2s as the primary symbol for choice, while 6s are more about reciprocity (meaning: mutual dependence, action, or influence; complementarity). You can't have a giver without a receiver and you can't have the rich without the poor. It's a dynamic that is rarely even. What the right relationship is to each other is a very complex thing.

Sixes refer to Tiphareth in the GD system; it balances the left and right, the above and the below. But in real life - especially in the material world of Pentacles/Coins/Earth, such balance is a tenuous and often misbegotten thing (think of 19th century philanthropy).

I can see how it could be approached this way. For me, after thinking it over for a long time, the duality of the Twos embodies reciprocity because they represent Newton's Third Law of Motion: "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction." You push against something and it pushes back, allowing you to recognize your limits in a situation. They are really a "closed system" that feeds on its own energy, a pendulum swing that takes two steps forward and one step back as the energy dwindles. I'm reminded (I think I might have said this before somewhere?) of one of those "perpetual motion" desk toys that some executives keep on their desks. I also see an "I'll scratch your back if you scatch mine" quality to them in relationship scenarios.

The Sixes, on the other hand, suggest a meeting-place for multiple influences, given their central position on the Tree of Life, and the solar correspondence makes me think of the "dissemination of light" to all below. (This would certainly support the "charity" association of the 6 of Pentacles, but the Sun shines indiscriminately on all, playing no favorites.) In contrast, the Twos could be related to the oscillating lunar influence, from full to new and back again. The Sixes are "steady," the Twos more "variable" in expression. The Twos don't really go anywhere until they break out of the linear "rut" and expand their horizons in the Threes.

Anyway, I much prefer the "energy model" of interpetation (must be because I was weaned on Crowley and the Thoth deck) to the "narrative vingnette" one. I don't entirely buy into Maxwell's idea that the Sixes show "choices," but the pagan concept of "paths" I like a bit better. Crowley often expressed the idea that the Sixes are a transient state of equibrium, a momentary rest along the path to further ramification of the elemental energy.
 

Zephyros

For me this is kind of the "socialism" card. Since the Sixes are all abut balance and are the apex of the suit, the man will always have enough the more he keeps spreading the wealth. "Enough is as good as a feast."

ETA: Oops, just saw I said much the same thing at the beginning of the thread!
 

Laurelle

..... the duality of the Twos embodies reciprocity because they represent Newton's Third Law of Motion: "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction." You push against something and it pushes back, allowing you to recognize your limits in a situation. They are really a "closed system" that feeds on its own energy, a pendulum swing that takes two steps forward and one step back as the energy dwindles. I'm reminded (I think I might have said this before somewhere?) of one of those "perpetual motion" desk toys that some executives keep on their desks. I also see an "I'll scratch your back if you scatch mine" quality to them in relationship scenarios.

the Twos could be related to the oscillating lunar influence, from full to new and back again. The Sixes are "steady," the Twos more "variable" in expression. The Twos don't really go anywhere until they break out of the linear "rut" and expand their horizons in the Threes.

Anyway, I much prefer the "energy model" of interpetation (must be because I was weaned on Crowley and the Thoth deck) to the "narrative vingnette" one. I don't entirely buy into Maxwell's idea that the Sixes show "choices," but the pagan concept of "paths" I like a bit better. Crowley often expressed the idea that the Sixes are a transient state of equibrium, a momentary rest along the path to further ramification of the elemental energy.

I've been thinking a lot lately about numerology and tarot and how they affect things. I use to think 2s were choices, but I don't know if I see that now. With 2 you have to have one AND the other. They exist together. So you have a polarity: a North and South, dark and light....etc.

While in the 6 you can have a choice because it can be multiplied and divided. It's divisible by 2 and by 3. 6 is more about harmony and when we try to find harmony and balance sometimes we need to make a choice in order to balance things out. So with 6 relating back to the lovers we have Zain, which is a sword and means discrimination. You have a choice right there when you have to discriminate between something. So the man in the 6 of pentacles needs to discriminate. He's got that choice of who to give what to. Scales are a tool of discrimination.

And yes, I get that about 7 going into the equilibrium and just looking at the tree of life we get the idea that 7 and 8 are the result 6 or the harmony that exists and melds into the 7 and 8.

Anyway, just starting out my contemplations and meditations on the numbers and the actually paths on the tree of life.

There is a good book called the Pictrix which was written during the golden age of Spain when Arabs, Jews and Christians all lived in harmony, exchanging ideas. It was originally written in arabic, but translated into Latin and now, of course, English. This was actually where Waite got his pictorial symbolism in the minor arcana. Because I was wondering for sometimes where those minor arcana pictures were coming from. Though, of course, Waite, hid things so that people who weren't in the know wouldn't be able to figure things out. And at the time society wasn't ready.

I still stand by my idea that a new minor arcana needs to be drawn and produced so that the occult symbolisMs are more clear. Right now we're all just guessing (to some extent). I think that's why so many people gravitate towards Crowely and Case because they really created decks where the occult symbolism was more out in the open. I think the time is now to move forward and release the veil.
 

Barleywine

For me this is kind of the "socialism" card. Since the Sixes are all abut balance and are the apex of the suit, the man will always have enough the more he keeps spreading the wealth. "Enough is as good as a feast."

ETA: Oops, just saw I said much the same thing at the beginning of the thread!

I think I would have less quarrel with the RWS image if the obviously wealthy man were just broadcasting his coins over the ground for everyone to scramble for equally (like the "sunlight" analogy) rather than portioning them out. But the idea of a surplus or surfeit of wealth seems more like a 10 of Pentacles idea than 6 of Pentacles, which implies "needs satisfied" rather than "what do I do with all this money?"
 

Teheuti

There is a good book called the Pictrix which was written during the golden age of Spain when Arabs, Jews and Christians all lived in harmony, exchanging ideas. It was originally written in arabic, but translated into Latin and now, of course, English. This was actually where Waite got his pictorial symbolism in the minor arcana. Because I was wondering for sometimes where those minor arcana pictures were coming from. Though, of course, Waite, hid things so that people who weren't in the know wouldn't be able to figure things out. And at the time society wasn't ready.
Can you give us some examples of this? I've gone through the Picatrix looking for influences, especially in regard to the astrological decan images (GD used decan correspondences to the Minors) and couldn't find direct associations in the Picatrix. Here's a comparison of several sets of decan images, including those from the Picatrix: http://www.bendykes.com/articles/decans.php
 

Laurelle

Can you give us some examples of this? I've gone through the Picatrix looking for influences, especially in regard to the astrological decan images (GD used decan correspondences to the Minors) and couldn't find direct associations in the Picatrix. Here's a comparison of several sets of decan images, including those from the Picatrix: http://www.bendykes.com/articles/decans.php

I actually think there are several versions of the picateix, which doesn't help. It was originally written in arabic, translated into spanish, Latin and then translated again into English and other languages. And often reformed over the years. The link you provided is the reformed english version.

There are many versions, so it gets really confusing. The one with the references to the decans aren't exact, but give us an idea. I have an kindle version which is hard to read as its translation must go way, way back and I slumbered on.....

Then I found glastonburybooks.com, which looks like the website you referenced was where the authored pulled the text from.

the version that references them is called Picatrix:the goal of the wise (غايت ا حكيم ) by Steve Ashe. The isbn is 978-1-4461-7475-3.

6 of pentacles is the second decan of Taurus which is the moon in Taurus. Ashe writes,"a man like figure of a camel and having on his fingers are hooves like those of cows, and he is covered completely with a torn linen sheet. He desires to work the land, to sow, and to make things. And this is a face of nobility, power and of rewarding the people." (84)

The only connection between this and RWS is the fact that the face of the noble man is rewarding the people. It makes you think that he is giving more money to the one who he believes will use the money to "work the land, to sow, and to make things happen." Perhaps camel (and this might be a stretch) is indicating two humps and so two impoverished people?

Okay, so it's not exact and Waite didn't make these images exactly like the Picatrix was written, but you can see the references. Some of them are more obvious than others.