Eight of Pentacles
diligence · apprenticeship · skill-building · steady work
Card art: Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, for A. E. Waite. Public domain.
The suit of Pentacles
In a few words
- diligence
- apprenticeship
- skill-building
- steady work
A craftsman carving coin after coin, each better than the last. Diligence, practice, skill growing through repetition.
Upright
- Everything
- A craftsman carving coin after coin, each better than the last. Diligence, practice, skill growing through repetition.
- Love
- Working at the relationship with steady care. Small daily acts, not grand gestures.
- Work
- Learning, training, mastering the craft. Detail matters now; do it well.
- Money
- Income through skill and steady effort. Not fast, but sure.
- Myself
- Practice is the path. Do the next repetition with full attention.
Work, employment, commission, craftsmanship, skill in craft and business, perhaps in the preparatory stage.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 266
Reversed
- Everything
- Careless work, a shortcut, or effort with no ambition behind it. Perfectionism can hide here too.
- Love
- Going through the motions. Or over-focused on work at love's expense.
- Work
- Cutting corners, or stuck in tasks that no longer teach. Move up or move on.
- Money
- Poorly paid effort, or skills not updated. Invest in learning.
- Myself
- Bored of the craft, or obsessed past usefulness. Find the middle.
Voided ambition, vanity, cupidity, exaction, usury. It may also signify the possession of skill, in the sense of the ingenious mind turned to cunning and intrigue.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 266
The card, as Waite described it
An artist in stone at his work, which he exhibits in the form of trophies.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 266
The plain-word meanings on this page were written for ShreeJyoti and are still under review.