Querent
King of Pentacles

pentacles · 14

King of Pentacles

Knight of Disks (Thoth) · Lord of the Wide and Fertile Land

The King of Pentacles tarot card meaning runs through both orientations: upright, wealth, established success, generous patriarch; reversed, materialism, greed, stubborn. Below, its imagery across the Rider–Waite–Smith, Thoth, and Marseille decks, and what the tradition’s writers said about it.

Element
Earth
Zodiac
Leo 21° to Virgo 20° (Crowley's system)
Numerology
14
Timing
Late summer into autumn; Leo-Virgo cusp.

Upright

  • wealth
  • established success
  • generous patriarch
  • businessman
  • the master builder
  • stability

Reversed

  • materialism
  • greed
  • stubborn
  • obsessed with status
  • controlling through wealth

King of Pentacles Tarot Card Meaning

Upright

The king of earth. The King of Pentacles is the established master of material — the successful entrepreneur, the wealthy patriarch, the businessman who has built and now stewards. As a person, the one whose word is bond and whose generosity is real. As energy, the call to embody mastered material success.

Love
Stable, providing partner. Or your own embodiment of material competence in love.
Career
CEO, established business owner, master craftsman, head of family enterprise.
Finances
Wealth. Long-built financial empire. The patriarch of money.
Health
Strong, established health. Body as well-maintained estate.
Spiritual
Spirituality embodied in generosity. The wealthy practitioner whose money serves the work.

Reversed

Materialism. Greed. Status obsession. Wealth as identity. Or, the stubborn elder who can't change.

Love
Provider partner who has only the financial dimension.
Career
Materialistic leadership. Wealth without ethics.
Finances
Greed. Wealth used to control.
Health
Body neglected for empire-building.
Spiritual
Prosperity gospel. Money as proof of spiritual status.

The image, three ways

Rider–Waite–Smith

A king sits on an elaborate throne in a vine-decorated bower. He is dressed in robes embroidered with grapes; his crown is heavy with leaves. He holds a scepter and a pentacle. A castle is in the background.

Four ways a reversal speaks

After Mary K. Greer, Tarot Reversals (2002)

  1. 01 · excessive

    Greed; wealth crossed into accumulation as identity.

  2. 02 · shadow

    Corrupt power; money used to control; the patriarch who buys silence.

  3. 03 · opposite

    Financial collapse where empire was assumed; the king's holdings revealed as overextended.

  4. 04 · karmic

    Inherited materialism; the family's worship of money continuing in this generation.

Learn to read reversals →

What the tradition says

The tradition agrees that the King of Pentacles represents achieved, mature mastery of the material world — the successful builder who now stewards what he has made. Most readers describe him as reliable, generous, and established: a man whose competence is proven, whose wealth is real, and whose authority in practical and financial matters is earned rather than assumed.

Where the readings differ: Greer pushes the card toward an ethical question about stewardship and outward flow of resources, where Gray and Pollack keep the emphasis on the King's established success and personal reliability as its own sufficient meaning.

  • Aleister Crowley · 1944

    The Book of Thoth

    Lord of the Wide and Fertile Land — fiery earth; the active, ruling intelligence of material mastery.

  • Rachel Pollack · 1980

    Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom

    Pollack reads the King of Pentacles as the established master — the entrepreneur whose first venture has matured into empire, the craftsman whose craft has become institution. His grapes show abundance; his throne shows it has not become rigid.

  • Mary K. Greer · 1984

    Tarot for Your Self

    Greer asks the King of Pentacles' querent: what is your wealth actually serving, beyond yourself? The card refuses accumulation as a final goal; mastery here means stewardship — the resources flow outward as well as remain.

  • Eden Gray · 1960

    The Tarot Revealed

    Gray reads the King as the successful businessman, the patriarch of the family enterprise, the financial elder. Often a particular man — established, generous within his sphere, someone whose word in financial matters is sound.

Shadow

The greedy patriarch; the wealth-as-identity man; the controller through money.

King of Pentacles: common questions

Is the King of Pentacles a yes or no card?
In a yes-or-no reading, the King of Pentacles leans yes.
What do tarot writers agree the King of Pentacles means?
The tradition agrees that the King of Pentacles represents achieved, mature mastery of the material world — the successful builder who now stewards what he has made. Most readers describe him as reliable, generous, and established: a man whose competence is proven, whose wealth is real, and whose authority in practical and financial matters is…
What does the King of Pentacles tarot card mean?
The king of earth. The King of Pentacles is the established master of material — the successful entrepreneur, the wealthy patriarch, the businessman who has built and now stewards. As a person, the one whose word is bond and whose generosity is real. As energy, the call to embody mastered material success.
What does the King of Pentacles mean in love?
Stable, providing partner. Or your own embodiment of material competence in love.
What does the King of Pentacles mean for career and money?
CEO, established business owner, master craftsman, head of family enterprise.
What does the King of Pentacles reversed mean?
Materialism. Greed. Status obsession. Wealth as identity. Or, the stubborn elder who can't change.

More from the suit of Pentacles

King of Pentacles combinations

Last reviewed 2026-06-18

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