King of Pentacles

The King of Pentacles symbolizes the business world in general and indicates an upswing in affairs, success in any enterprise, a stable career, and good prospects, especially in developing long-term projects. This card is connected with such qualities as enterprise and insight, success, experience and competence, the ability to manage. It can indicate a desire to receive money and acquire valuable property, achievements and authority, the advantage of possessing some resources. This Arcana inspires realistic assessment of the situation, active implementation of plans, and insuring what has been achieved. It brings with it the spirit of highest quality to everything it touches. Often, it is a harbinger of productive work and numerous purchases, when expensive exclusive things themselves come into one's hands.

The King of Pentacles is a recognized and experienced leader, having considerable life experience behind him, a representative of business and financial circles, a successful entrepreneur. He can provide support and inspire, give wise advice. He stands firmly on his own feet and can suggest how to untangle a knot of problems. This is a figure either indifferent or well-disposed towards the querent, but never hostile. Other cards may reveal either his attitude or show what must be done to gain his patronage. His traditional meaning is a wealthy gentleman. This is a person from whom practical help will come, a solid, well-off person, embodying stability and reliability. Like all Kings, he personifies a competent and serious approach and a responsible life position.

The King of Pentacles can be a significator of a father, spouse, a well-off partner, a practical mentor, a financial consultant, a sponsor.

In general, the card describes a stable situation and a solid foundation for any undertakings.

Impressive and weighty. All Kings of Tarot carry a spirit of impressiveness, but in the King of Pentacles, it is felt in a completely special way. It is immediately clear that you are a serious person with whom serious business should be conducted. Through this card manifest sound judgment, confident and practical problem-solving, strengthening of business qualities, expansion of resources.

Traditionally, the King of Pentacles is the happiest and most content of the Kings. He enjoys success, wealth, everything he has achieved, and all the blessings of earthly happiness. He usually acts in two directions: he tirelessly perfects the talents given to him by nature, and also actively realizes himself in external activity. The King of Pentacles possesses an intuitive ability to correctly control cash flows, wisely manage funds, including on a large scale. He has brilliant business abilities, often also in other spheres, for example, medicine. If the King of Swords generates brilliant ideas out of thin air, and the King of Cups masters the art of evoking feelings and emotional states as if 'from nothing,' then the King of Pentacles similarly knows how to create money – literally out of thin air. In his thinking, the category 'no money' does not exist. They were, are, and will be. Often the person described by this card is a successful banker, industrialist, merchant. This is a realist and pragmatist of high flight...and solid build. He is proud of his achievements and the loyalty of his subordinates. Majestic and relaxed, he accepts his position both as merit and as duty. He knows how to defend his rights and firmly holds the reins of power, possessing an almost supernatural ability to always be one step ahead (further development of the abilities of the Queen of Pentacles, for whom the symbol of her suit already becomes almost a mediumistic instrument). He may give the impression of a tough and unemotional person, for whom work stands far above personal relationships. In reality, this is the archetype of the 'enlightened monarch,' whose successes and personal qualities can be admired. He does not forget to think pragmatically, but sometimes rises to a completely different spiritual level. He knows the loneliness of the victor. Can be willful and ruthless in competitive struggle, although he never forgets his principles. Mature, brave, wealthy, this King is oriented towards his own benefit, but quite differently than the King of Swords. This is an authoritative person, ready to support and sponsor gifted people and sensible projects. Traditionally considered a benevolent dictator, a patron of arts and sciences, a philanthropist, the personification of a ruler equally powerful and cultured, capable of appreciating painting, music, and literature, and generally all sorts of pleasures (while the King of Swords traditionally understood mainly the language of fire and sword, and among pleasures preferred war and mass). This is a master of health and abundance, a sybarite and hedonist. As a rule (at least potentially), this is a faithful spouse and father of several children. Like the Emperor, he personifies security, structure and order, authoritativeness, and solidity. This person has an excellent feel for today's situation and knows 'which horse to bet on.' He possesses a brilliant, practically oriented mind, distinguished by good intuition, allowing him to discern what is real and what is not, which undertaking is worth engaging in and which is not worth starting, and what the result will be.

The King of Pentacles embodies the fiery masculine aspect of the Earth element. He is truly passionate in his creative aspirations. Therefore, everything he touches becomes successful. He is talented and skilled in what he does, and he is destined to demonstrate the fruits of his efforts also through the prism of the Earth element, be it finances, constructions, collections, or his own body 'sculpted' at the highest level... furthermore inscribed into a high social status (the image of a well-known bodybuilder who successfully hammered his way to the post of governor of a prosperous state). Archetypically, the King of Pentacles is a ruler united by sacred bonds with the High Priestess, the representative of the Great Goddess. He does this so that during his reign the land bears fruit and the family multiplies.

Notice how comfortably the King is settled on his throne, how warmly he looks at his pentacle. The luxurious castle visible in the background is a symbol of royal grandeur, power, and the stability of his domains. The creature trampled under the King's left foot are the defeated enemies. In his right hand, he holds a golden scepter, symbolizing his power. His clothing is adorned with a pattern of grapevines, and the throne with repeatedly repeated symbols of bulls' heads, as a hint at the zodiac sign Taurus, ruling this card. In some decks, several mythical animals can be discerned on his throne: a lion, a griffin, a bull, and an eagle, which is associated with the tetramorphs of the Major Arcana. The King of Pentacles symbolizes enduring values.

Through this Arcana, we realize the responsibility that comes with possession. It is precisely the King of Pentacles, with his sense of reality, who understands the meaning of the words 'you are forever responsible for those you have tamed.' The King of Pentacles consolidates, protects, patronizes, preserves, and establishes boundaries.

The traditional meanings of the King of Pentacles are guessed by almost everyone intuitively – success in business, high status, a prominent position, a responsible post, reaching the pinnacle of a career. Any King of Tarot embodies a wise leader, but it is a completely different kind of wisdom in spirit. The King of Pentacles is an intelligent leader whose efforts are focused on acquisition, preservation, accumulation, protection. This is not what worries the King of Wands, ready to turn the world upside down for a 'fiery idea,' not what truly interests the King of Swords (from his point of view, matter is only a semi-abstract quintessence of some efforts, possession of which may look like power), and not what the King of Cups understands, reigning in the flow of his 'metaphysical' reality. The King of Pentacles is a practical organizer of such a level, compared to whom all other Kings have 'seven Fridays a week.'

Of course, this card resonates most clearly with financial management, but it also patronizes industrial production, agriculture, food and other supplies, business related to minerals, construction, mechanics, engineering. The King of Pentacles can be a financier, a stockbroker, a wholesale trader, an antique dealer, a realtor, a producer.

This is a card of undoubted success in monetary matters. If the querent takes responsibility for using their capital, they have every chance to achieve well-being and prosperity. Financial stability and confidence. A large win, inheritance, profitable deals. Stable income.

Advice: clearly manage material resources, do not let the matter drift. Direct energy towards developing long-term projects. Take a calculator and calculate everything. Order the results of one's activity, realize their level.

Obstacle: greed and hypocrisy, clinging to what has been achieved and unwillingness to broaden one's views to see further perspective.

Reliability, maturity, and responsibility in relationships, with an emphasis on protection, care, and possession. As a significator, the King of Pentacles describes serious, long-lasting, and mature connections between people, providing each other with development, well-being, social status, and confidence in the future.

Here the power of passion and the instinct of possession, inherent even in the younger representatives of the earthly suit of Pentacles, is balanced and at the same time reaches full development. Usually, the King of Pentacles has very conservative views on relationships between the sexes. He values constancy and love, but if it doesn't work out, he will buy the proper attitude towards himself with money. Trophies of this kind do not greatly disturb him. A typical portrait of the King of Pentacles is a healthy man, trusting instincts, a gourmet and hedonist. As for other figures of Pentacles, personal loyalty is very important to him. This card is a significator of good potency, can indicate a conscious or unconscious desire to have a child. A life-loving epicurean, the King of Pentacles, like no other partner, is able to convey that life is worth living. Walking hand in hand with him, one can open one's soul to him without hesitation. He is an advisor, not a shoulder to cry on; his mind is cold, yet he is a reliable friend to be trusted. This is a patriarch, protecting family and traditional values. For him, the main thing is deeds, not words, dreams, or good intentions.

The King of Pentacles is not so much emotional as sensual. He is not ashamed of his bodily pleasures, is in full contact with what he feels, and vividly senses any natural needs. He truly loves sex and sees no reason to be shy about it. Categories of inspiration and romanticism are not close to him, although, if needed, he will organize their presence – just as he would organize the presence of caviar and champagne. Simply for him, they always remain something like a foreign language, even if the grammar is mastered perfectly and the accent is almost unnoticeable.

An excellent card for health, as well as a good prognosis for treatment and recovery. The card favors maintaining pregnancy.

The reversed King of Pentacles can 'signal' infertility or impotence, as well as developmental defects. This is a card of perverted physical nature, systemic disorders and defects, decay. Also, this card of age-related illnesses and changes, arthritis, gout, prostatitis, etc.

It can indicate that the root of the problem is excess weight, lack of restraint in food, alcohol, and other 'bad excesses.'

The shadow side of the King of Pentacles: insatiable (and relentless) lust, hardened mercantilism, or languid idleness (that very 'Oblomov within us').

Common meanings of the reversed King of Pentacles – a dangerous person, a ruthless and dishonest competitor, the type of a corrupt politician or businessman using dirty means to achieve his goals and striving for absolute power. The reversed King of Pentacles is treacherous, greedy, cannot be trusted in anything. With the reversed King of Pentacles, danger and walking on the edge are always associated. Moreover, either he himself is the source of the latter, or he is forced to encounter it due to his activities. In general, this spirit of danger and corruption, vice and greed, dubious honor and using any means to achieve one's goals evokes all known camorras, 'ndrangheta, and cosa nostra. Their dark power, dirty deals, emphasis on 'family,' and shadow wealth carry the energies of the reversed King of Pentacles. Here, there is also the possibility of obtaining life's blessings, but the price turns out to be extremely high (in the afterlife these blessings will not be needed), and there can be no talk of any selflessness in this case.

Astrological equivalents: the same as in the upright card, but the influence of Saturn is stronger, and instead of the Second House, the Eighth is involved.

The card will speak of the prematurity and fruitlessness of the situation expressed by subsequent cards. It can describe a situation of doubt and weakness, fear and despair (after foolish self-confidence or manifested willfulness). This is an indication that the querent is not the master of the situation. Possibly, they have a bad financial and business reputation or face financial collapse. Sometimes, this card can indicate a narrow-minded pragmatist, demonstrating a superficial business-like approach. Cruel and brazen exploitation of people and other resources, motivated by acquisitiveness and greed, ruthless usury. Corporate machinations for increased profit or avoiding a debt pit, problems with taxes, smuggling.

The reversed King of Pentacles is a stern, stingy, and complexed person, vulgar and uncouth, dissatisfied with what has been achieved and seeing no prospects to achieve something else. He is capable of spewing bile on every occasion, and does so without the intellectual 'sparkle' characteristic of the King of Swords in such a situation. One of the ancient meanings of the card – senile bitterness, the figure of an old man who directed all life experience and mind to his selfish goals. He may be characterized by extreme materialism, arrogance and stinginess, a priori rejection of spirituality, and an authoritative character (a kind of Marquis of Queensberry). The address to the reversed King of Pentacles is Bulgakov's line: 'Despot and philistine, don't break my arm!'

One can say that in the reversed King of Pentacles, there is a mixed influence of the signs Gemini and Capricorn. The combination of the latter in astrology is considered unstable, causing a patchwork through which a person is forced to pass on his life path.

Like the Queen, the reversed King of Pentacles can point to betrayal, envy and jealousy, offended possessive feelings, danger and threat. This card can personify sexually obsessed superiors, living in a world where everything is bought and sold, and dragging into bed everything that moves, almost regardless of gender and age. This is also a card of sexual relations between blood relatives. Through this card passes any corporate environment where advancement occurs through sex with bosses and deliberately boorish and unfeeling behavior is cultivated.

With The World and Six of Swords – to lose one's way and squander a fortune (from an old interpretation book)

King Midas

King Minos of Crete in the guise of a bull

Mokiy Parmenovich Knurov ('Cruel Romance')

Professor Philip Preobrazhensky ('Heart of a Dog')