King of Pentacles (Rider Waite Tarot)
First Impressions
There’s a lot of green in this card. Green and stone. Against a yellow sky a big man sits on a black throne adorned with bull’s heads and carved greenery like grapevines. I used to think he sat in an overgrown garden, but now on closer look I wonder if it’s just on a castle parapet that’s grown over with ivy, grapes, etc. The impression is more of stone with greenery rather than a garden with stone in it, if you get my drift. The parapet wall is directly behind him, and overlooks another multi-turreted castle with red and blue rooftops. Blue mountains in the far distance like there were behind the Queen of Pentacles, but further off this time and half hidden behind the plants. There’s a stone at his feet carved or shaped to resemble another bull’s head. There’s little red flowers at the outer periphery as well.
The king himself is a big man. He fills up a lot more, proportionally speaking, of the card than some of his family or his compatriots. In a way that reminds me a little of the High Priestess, he is very covered up; only his face and hands are uncovered. He wears a golden crown hemmed in by flora - red poppies at the points on top, a laurel wreath around the brim at bottom - and a red … wimple? No, that’s not right.
Lappetts, from my post on the Hierophant, that’s the word. Those red ear thingies that hang down on either side of his head. So lappetts and wrapping around his neck, in a bright scarlet red that leaves only his face showing. His gown is long and shapeless and black with a pattern of purple grapes and green grapevines and leaves; the black gown is uncharacteristic of the deck, and makes him look as though he and his throne are one - you can’t tell where one begins and the other leaves off. The greenery patterned on it, especially at the bottom, seems to grow organically into or out of that which grows on the stonework around him. Clearly this is a man at one with his surroundings! And you know what it also reminds me of? The High Priestess’ gown, how it becomes rippling water at the hem.
He wears armour underneath that gown, at least the one foot that protrudes is showing armour. That foot is raised to plant on top of the bull’s head stone beside him. Like those hunting trophy photos, the mighty hunter, gun in hand, with foot planted proudly on the carcass of the buck or moose or bear he’d just brought down. He holds a sceptre in one hand; a thick gold handle topped by an orb, very like the one the Empress holds. He rests the base of it on the arm of his throne, but his focus is not on it at all. Instead he looks to the other side, at or in the direction of the pentacle in his lap. He holds it at the top with his free hand, and it rests on his raised knee. Or does it - from my view it looks like it hovers over his knee but I’m not sure if that’s an illusion created by folds of the black robe underneath.
His face is satisfied, almost sleepy, and his eyes are downcast. Whether he’s sleepy, thinking, or just content, is subject to interpretation.
Overall I find it a busier card than the rest of his Pentacles family. There’s more going on, somehow, it’s not as clean. The greenery, the gown, the bulls, it seems very busy. Personally, my favourite King card of this suit is that of the Tarocchi Soprafino, the benevolent white-bearded Re di Danari, which shows him resting his ornate coin quite casually on crossed knee, looking off to one side against a very simple backdrop (well, I‘m also fond of the Blue Rose Tarot‘s version, with the image of Santa Claus in red business suit running his empire from the operations office, but that‘s another story).
My impression of this card, the Rider Waite version, is that of someone on whom the mantle of leadership sits quite lightly. He is easy in his command, is a natural administrator, and is able to take the time to enjoy the perks of being in charge.
Creator’s Notes
In
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot Waite has more to say of the King of Pentacles than he does of many other Minor cards. Or at least, if not about the King of Pentacles himself, he has at least finally come out and explained the switch from Coins to Pentacles:
Waite said:
The figure calls for no special description the face is rather dark, suggesting also courage, but somewhat lethargic in tendency. The bull's head should be noted as a recurrent symbol on the throne.
Why? Why wouldn’t this particular card call for no specific description? I think Waite just spent all his energy on the Major Arcana and ran out of steam by the time he got here. I’m not sure why he equates his complexion with courage, because courage is not something I’ve generally associated with this King (that’d be more the King of Swords, or Wands). But from his languid expression I definitely understand the lethargy, for all that I don’t agree with
why this card should be lethargic.
Now he goes on a bit about the Pentacles themselves, pertaining to the whole suit as opposed to merely in this one card.
Waite said:
The sign of this suit is represented throughout as engraved or blazoned with the pentagram, typifying the correspondence of the four elements in human nature and that by which they may be governed. In many old Tarot packs this suit stood for current coin, money, deniers.
This is a switch. Personally I prefer the traditional Deniers, or Coins in English-language decks, because rightly or wrongly I tend to view pentacles as more pagan or Wiccan talismans with which I identify very little. I don’t have a magical bone in my body
and incidentally I have always heard that a pentacle’s five points pertain to the five senses (and therefore to the tangible material world).
Waite said:
I have not invented the substitution of pentacles and I have no special cause to sustain in respect of the alternative.
Of course he doesn’t. I’d have been awfully surprised if he
did.
Waite said:
But the consensus of divinatory meanings is on the side of some change, because the cards do not happen to deal especially with questions of money.
No, not necessarily questions of money. But coins represent not only money, but that which money can buy. Tangible goods. Home and property. Food and other creature comforts. And so I still lean more toward Coins rather than Pentacles. However, it’s Waite’s deck I’m studying here, so his rulings and associations by which I have to abide.
Others’ Interpretations
As far as divination goes, Waite says the King of Pentacles means:
Waite said:
Divinatory Meanings: Valour, realizing intelligence, business and normal intellectual aptitude, sometimes mathematical gifts and attainments of this kind; success in these paths. Reversed: Vice, weakness, ugliness, perversity, corruption, peril.
Not much to add here.
Symbols and Attributes
Astrologically the King of Pentacles is associated with Taurus, the sign of the Bull. Well, duh, you say, Waite and Colman Smith beat us over the head with bulls in this card just so we wouldn’t miss it. Ruled by the planet Venus and the element of Earth, Taurus is a springtime sign in this hemisphere and so relates to that season’s fertile energy and growth. It speaks of potency (as in manly virility, I guess I’d see it here) and great determination. Stubbornness, says this mother of a Taurus! Sandra A. Thomson says that Taurus is also related to the acquisition of money and possessions, which I can see illustrated in this card. It also ties to the aspects of its ruling planet, Venus, with its good taste and love of comfort.
Elementally this card is the Fire (King) of Earth (Pentacles). Kings are men of great energy and power, dynamic forces to be reckoned with. And, of course, masculine. So they are all embodiments of the element of Fire in their respective suits. In this case, Earth. What is the comparison, when Earth and Fire meet? Volcanoes, I guess. Molten rock, fire below the earth. Great destructive power. But great capacity for creation as well. Think about the Icelandic island of Surtsey, which was created by volcanic eruption almost while you watched in the 1960s. And I think this fits well with at least the latter part of the “official” Golden Dawn title for this card: Lord of the Wild and Fertile Land, King of the Spirits of Earth. How many myths and legends are there from various cultures, describing volcanoes as being caused by gods (good or malevolent) below the surface of the earth? Can’t you just see this King here ruling them, keeping them in line? He’s got it good here, he’s not jeopardizing his wild and fertile lands by letting those unruly gods get out of hand. Not that these lands look all that wild to me. Fertile, sure, but I think the castle behind him gives a definite air of domesticity and civilization.
The king is big. I don’t mean he’s a big man himself, perhaps, not like the rotund and jolly looking guy in the Robin Wood deck, but that he takes up more of the card space than many of his counterparts. Like his counterpart in the Thoth. The Kingly equivalent, the Knight of Discs and his horse dominate the scene. And so does this guy. I take it to mean that he is the centre of his world. A larger than life figure, one who takes up most of the scene. In a family he’d the dominant parent, in a work project he’d take charge, in a group he’d the alpha male. And in a relationship there’d be no question who wears the pants!
His robe is voluminous and black, patterned with a profusion of grapes and grapevines. Grapes represent abundance and fruitfulness, and also the ability to work toward your goals - a lot of labour goes into a fruitful vineyard. Black typically represents the finer things (black-tie affair?) and authority; it also can be associated with that which is hidden or under the surface. This is a man of layers. While his mate seems to be more focused on the tangible, the King of Pentacles recognizes the depth of that which underlies the tangible. Perhaps it gives him more of an appreciation. The length of the robe is interesting, in that it flows and drapes and suggests that he is one with his surroundings. Whether the greenery grows out from him, or he rises from the garden, it shows one who is literally in his element. Just like the High Priestess in this deck, whose gown became water at the hem and showed how well she embodied the element of Water, so does this King exemplify the element of Earth. He
is Earth. Overall it’s a picture of harmony, of being comfortable in his own skin and his own place in the world.
His crown is gold and represents his personal authority. Around the base is a laurel wreath, a symbol of victory and accomplishment. It’s also topped by red poppies. Today we consider (at least in Commonwealth and various other countries) that the red poppy is a symbol of remembrance of those who were killed in conflict. But at the time this deck was created that wasn’t as obviously the case; the poppy really arose in its current symbolism during World War I, based on John McRae’s poem “In Flanders Fields” about the poppies that grew among the soldiers’ graves in France. In 1909 I can assume that it would have had different connotations, although wikipedia does state that it was noticed as far back as the Napoleonic war how poppies grew amid the soldiers‘ graves. As opium comes from the poppy, it was first a flower of sleep, of forgetfulness, of indolence, of peace. I don’t think Colman Smith meant that the King of Pentacles is a drug addict, a lazy hapless sort drifting along on a cloud of opium smoke. But he is a man at peace.
Underneath his robe, from the one foot that protrudes, we see that the King wears armour. It’s a symbol of protection and defensiveness, but also of strength. This is a man of action, who has the need for protection. But it’s hidden as well; the action, riding out to war, is not the be-all and end-all. But he does protect himself and his assets, and his armour illustrates that. He’s the only King in the Rider Waite Tarot to show armour; I see this as meaning he’s the most cautious of his person and his assets. He has the most to protect.
His sceptre is a phallic, masculine symbol, a straight rod. But it’s topped by the fecund and feminine spherical shape of an orb. Together they represent creative force and the union of opposites. On its own, it’s a common symbol of temporal power. It looks like the same one carried by the Empress (also connected to Venus). Unlike her, he holds his quite casually. The Empress seems to hold it aloft, making a point of displaying it. But it’s as if the King of Pentacles has forgotten he’s carrying it. It’s still held up, but not like a beacon. His role and his title aren’t so terribly important to him as the end result, as what he can do and what his role as king can do for him.
Instead of looking at the sceptre, his face is turned roughly in the direction of the pentacle he props up on his knee. At least it’s suggested. The way his eyes are downcast suggests that they’re closed, though, and the contented look on his face shows me that he’s content and relaxed. It’s as though he’s caressing the pentacle, losing himself in the pleasure of the feel of its weight and smoothness, or even just the pride of ownership. But he’s not cuddling it close, not hanging on to it (like the man in the Four of Pentacles, for example), but holding it casually. Holding things casually seems to be an ongoing theme for this guy! He has them, he holds them by right of ownership, he doesn’t need to cling to things. They’re indisputably his, and nobody will try to take them away from him.
His armored foot rests casually on top of a stone that looks to me like a bull’s head, although it’s also been suggested that it’s a helmet from a suit of armour. But in high-resolution scans I see it as a bull’s head. Well, that’s a no-brainer. Another link to his Taurean roots. Reminds me too of him as a hunter. The bringer home of the bacon. Or the beef. But I’m also reminded of pictures and carvings of one slaying the bull. Mithras? I only know what I know of him from Mary Stewart’s trilogy on Merlin, the Persian sun god, so I went to wikipedia. And I found one thing I think would apply:
wikipedia said:
Mithras […] is the Zoroastrian angelic divinity (yazata) of covenant and oath. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth, and the guardian of cattle, the harvest and of The Waters.
So I guess he’s harder working than he looks, and this moment we see is a brief interlude, a rest.
But the bulls we see on the ground and also on his throne also represent virile masculinity, strength and power, stubbornness and wealth - it costs a lot of money to raise and feed a bull. They are slow and stolid, but unstoppable and terrible to deal with when they’re made angry. I see these qualities as projected onto the King of Pentacles. The throne on which they’re carved is black like his robe. It’s as if it’s an extension of himself. The throne belongs to him, it suits him. He’s a natural leader and this is his rightful place.
The castle behind him must be where he comes from. It indicates his wealth and security, all that he has accomplished. With the stone wall behind him, it all represents the fact that he is able to provide for and protect himself and his loved ones. It has also been suggested that the fact that the wall is between the King of Pentacles and his castle suggests a distance, a separation between the King and his home. The man who’s distant from his family, cut off because he’s too busy to get to know them. And it’s true that I don’t necessarily get the warm fuzzy daddy vibe from this guy. But I certainly see that while he may not be the man for the bedtime stories, he’s definitely the man to see that his kids have the best of everything and want for nothing, no matter the cost. He’s a provider, a protector of his family. They are safe and secure and well provided for. And the fact that the castle is on the right-hand side of the card would lead me to believe that he is confident of his ability to do so in the future as well. His legacy for his children.
The greenery around him looks abundant on first glance, but then appears more to be a skim of vines and such over stone, unlike the pasture and forest of the rest of his family. I take this to mean that his focus is more on building the strong foundation than on growth and creation. He’ll build the walls around the garden, but it’s up to his wife and family to plant and tend it.
My Interpretations
The King of Pentacles I always think of as the father figure in the old sense of the word. From the times when the father was the provider who brought home the bacon, chopped the wood and built the house, but was not so involved in the daily routine of bedtimes and homework and teaching them to tie their shoes. Although he may not be especially warm or demonstrative, his children know he loves them, and would do anything for them. He may represent a businessman who deals in matters of the suit of Pentacles - finances, property, land and home and possessions. Whatever it is he works in, he is successful at it and wealthy as a result. And he turns this wealth toward the security of himself and his family. This King would not invest in risky ventures or madcap schemes, but rather in low risk investments, even if the payoff is slower or less than the “get rich quick” ones. He’s a cautious man, and prudent.
In the abstract I see him as representing corporations and companies or those otherwise in positions of authority regarding Pentacle-type endeavours. He could refer to a bank or mortgage company for example, if that seems relevant in a reading. He also refers to contracts in the same fields.
As a person: a father figure or authority figure such as a boss, a hardworking and practical man, a Taurus or other Earth sign.
If I drew the King of Pentacles in a reading, I would take it as advice to be responsible in financial and practical matters. And to take the time to enjoy the fruits of my labour, both alone and with others. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy, after all.
