HAVING/NOT HAVING: RESOURCES KNOWLEDGE POWER
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HAVING/NOT HAVING: RESOURCES giving/receiving taking care of/being taken care of sponsoring/being sponsored supporting/being supported offering/receiving a gift or reward acquiring/not acquiring what you need Reversed Early Phase: You may have to think about resources in the future. You may need to take care of someone or be taken care of. A gift or reward may be offered. Issues of support may materialize. Late Phase: There's less focus on resources. You no longer need to take care of someone or be taken care of. The time for a gift or reward is past. Support issues are decreasing. |
HAVING/NOT HAVING: KNOWLEDGE teaching/learning imparting/receiving information becoming/finding a mentor offering/taking advice showing/being shown the ropes knowing/not knowing a secret Reversed Early Phase: You may have to think about information in the future. You may start to teach or study. You may seek advice or be sought for your knowledge and opinion. Late Phase: There's less focus on knowledge. The need to seek or offer advice is fading. You no longer want to teach or study. What people know is less important. |
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leading/following dominating/submitting acting with authority/deference asserting/denying your wishes coercing/being coerced doing all the talking/listening |
Reversed Early Phase: You may have to think about power in the future. You may need to follow or lead. Issues of dominance and submission may become important. Late Phase: There's less focus on power. The need to assert your authority or submit to someone is fading. Leadership issues are decreasing. |
Description
The Six of Pentacles is a difficult card to describe because it falls in the shadowy area between the lack of the Five of Pentacles and the affluence of the Ten of Pentacles. These two cards represent the extremes of not having and having. The Six of Pentacles covers the huge middle ground where it is not exactly clear who has what.
On this card, a well-to-do gentleman is tossing a few coins to a beggar while another supplicant waits to the side. The giver holds the scales of justice as if claiming the right to decide who deserves blessings and who does not. In this picture we see both sides: what it means to give and to receive, to dominate and to submit, to be on top and to be on the bottom. It seems clear who has and who hasn't, but is it? Life is not that simple, and how quickly fortunes change.
In readings, the Six of Pentacles asks you to look very deeply into the whole issue of what having really means both materially (resources) and immaterially (knowledge, power, love). You may see yourself on one side or the other, but this card asks you to reconsider. Think of the successful executive who suddenly declares bankruptcy. The tyrannical invalid who dominates through weakness. The teacher who learns from her students. The parent who controls by giving away money.
The keywords for the Six of Pentacles include both the have and have-not sides of each meaning. Sometimes this card is a clear sign one way or the other. You will get the gift, give advice, or defer to another. In all cases, though, you should question the obvious and go deeper. Why are you in the situation you're in, and where is it leading? Who is really in charge? What's really going on?
Some Possible Opposing and Reinforcing Cards
Opposing and reinforcing cards do not work in the usual way with the Six of Pentacles because this card can mean either (or both) sides of the same issue—having or not having. The other cards in a reading can help you figure out which side applies in your case. The following cards also deal with this issue:
Empress—abundance, physical comfort
World—affluence, material fulfillment
Ten of Wands—struggling to make ends meet, hard times
Five of Pentacles—lack, not having
Seven of Pentacles—material reward, having
Ten of Pentacles—affluence, having
