6 of Pentacles

  • Arcana Minor
  • Suit Pentacles
  • Figure on this site A fair trade
Historical evidence

In the earliest decks

In the Visconti-Sforza deck, made in northern Italy around 1450, the six of coins is a plain pip card: six round discs set among vine and flower ornament, with no people, scales or scene. What the discs stand for is debated. One reading takes them as the radiant suns used as a Visconti emblem, another as the gold florins of Filippo Maria Visconti.

The Tarot de Marseille keeps the same idea. The suit is called Deniers there, and the six coins sit in a neat geometric pattern with leafy flourishes, again without a scene.

The first tarot deck known in which every suit card carries a picture is the Sola Busca, engraved around 1490 and hand-coloured in 1491, probably in Venice. Pamela Colman Smith and Waite probably saw photographs of it, which reached the British Museum in 1907, and some scholars see its influence on the Rider-Waite-Smith minor cards. The cards usually named as borrowings are the Three of Swords and Ten of Wands, not the sixes of coins.

Historical evidence

The Rider-Waite-Smith card

The scene most readers know today comes from the 1909 deck that Pamela Colman Smith drew for Arthur Edward Waite. A merchant weighs coins on a scale and gives them to people in need. It is a new picture: the older Italian and Marseille sixes of coins are plain patterns of discs, and the charity scene has no basis in them.

Waite’s own description of the picture is short and is quoted below.

Myth and literature · Quotation

Waite’s description

A person in the guise of a merchant weighs money in a pair of scales and distributes it to the needy and distressed.

Modern interpretation

As read on this site

This is the meaning used for readings here. Using the tarot to divine is a modern practice, and the Norse figure shown for each card is this site’s own association; the tarot began as an Italian card game. A short history is on the Tarot page.

Upright

Keywords: generosity, charity, unequal exchange given well, giving from abundance

One hand has more to give and the other has more need, and the giving still means something real, generosity offered from a position of having enough to share, received without shame by someone who doesn't yet have as much. This card honors that kind of exchange: not assumed equality, but real goodwill moving in a direction that genuinely helps, freely given and gracefully received.

In general: Something is being given generously from a position of having more, and it's being received without shame. The exchange doesn't need to be equal to be good.

In love: Supporting a partner from a place of having more to offer right now, given freely, without either side needing the exchange to be perfectly even.

In work: Generosity or mentorship offered to someone with less standing or fewer resources right now, given in a way that actually helps rather than creating obligation.

Reversed

Keywords: strings attached, hidden debt, dependency, resentment in unequal exchange

Generosity that comes with conditions attached, spoken or not, turns a gift into a quiet debt, and debts collected later cost more than the original kindness was worth. This card warns against giving that's secretly transactional, or receiving help that's started to feel like dependency rather than support. Worth checking what's actually being asked for in return, even if it was never said aloud.

In general: Generosity here may have conditions attached that weren't stated outright. Worth checking what's actually expected in return.

In love: Help or support in the relationship that's come with unspoken strings, an expectation of repayment or gratitude that was never actually agreed to.

In work: A favor, mentorship, or financial help that's created a dependency or sense of obligation rather than a genuine boost.

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