Exploring the King of Pentacles

Welcome to Tarot Thursdays! This week we will be exploring the King of Pentacles and how it can be used as a prompt or brainstorming in our writing.

Tarot is an interesting thing. It’s based upon symbolism and metaphors through imagery. With these images the subconscious mind is tapped into through the story provided. Not everyone gets the same thing from a piece of art. Each piece will influence each person in a slightly different way.

Introduction of the Card

The King of Pentacles is card number 77 in the deck, the fourteenth card of the Pentacles Suit, and the fourth card of Pentacles’ Court in the Minor Arcana of the Tarot.

Let’s take a look at the following examples of this card below.

Card Examples

Notice the similarities between them and take note of their differences. Do any of these move you more than the others? Take your time and allow these cards to tell you their story.

My Analysis of These Cards

Now in these cards, all but the Tarot of Dreams depict material wealth in various forms that the king possesses. In the Tarot of Dreams I feel that the wealth itself comes from the environment he is in. He’s still wearing a great deal of finery though, so perhaps this is where the material wealth is being visually represented.

I don’t know, I have always found the material wealth aspect difficult to connect to when looking at the artwork for this suit since for me the Pentacles have always implied hard work and diligence. Granted, you can’t get and keep any of this wealth by doing nothing and managing it poorly so perhaps the imagery of the wealth is to imply that but sometimes I think that gets lost in translation.

Themes of the Card

Each card has a set of keywords associated with it that serve as themes for its image. These keywords will vary somewhat depending on who you ask.

According to the Learning the Tarot website, the keywords associated with the card are:

ENTERPRISING
ADEPT
RELIABLE
SUPPORTING
STEADY

You can learn more about what this site has to say about this card here.

According to the Biddy Tarot website, the keywords associated with the card are:

SECURITY
CONTROL
POWER
DISCIPLINE
ABUNANCE

You can learn more about what this site has to say about this card here.

What this Card Means to Me

This card always comes across to me as the hard working family man. You know like Mr. Incredible in the first movie. He wants to do right by his family and does all he can to make sure they are happy and comfortable. The most important thing to him is stability in the long term. Not just for now, but forever and he’ll work hard for that. He’ll make sacrifices for it if necessary.

I haven’t seen the second movie yet, but it looks like he switches roles with his wife within the household in an effort to re-establish that happiness and stability within his family. How that goes, I don’t know. (No spoilers!)

But the point is, he’s willing to go the distance for the goal he has set before him. He’s not afraid to put in the work and effort to get the job done. Because of that, he reaps the rewards from it even if it takes him awhile before he sees them. He knows they’re coming so he keeps going and doesn’t quit.

The key phrase I choose for this card is: MASTER OF THE BODY.

Music Playlist

In this spirit of all this, these are the songs I have picked out for this card.

The Writing Exercise

This exercise is a free write. Permit yourself to write whatever comes to mind based upon the theme of this card. Choose a keyword or key phrase and run with it to see what you come up with.

I would love it if you linked or pinged back what you wrote so I could see where you went with this.

Happy writing!

Mythic Tarot by Liz Greene (Author), Juliet Sharman-Burke (Author), Tricia Newell (Illustrator) © 1989
Dragon Tarot by Terry Donaldson (Author), Peter Pracownik (Author) © 1996
Universal Tarot by Lo Scarabeo (Author), R. De Angelis (Illustrator), A. E. Waite (Designer) © 2001
Tarot of Dreams by Ciro Marchetti (Author), Lee Bursten (Author) © 2015