King of Pentacles

✦ Visual description

A figure in a dark three-piece suit and long coat stands in a field of pumpkins, wearing a carved jack-o'-lantern for a head. He holds a hat in one gloved hand and a small wooden tool or mallet in the other, with a pale rose pinned to his lapel and a red waistcoat beneath his coat. Bats fly in the dusky sky behind him, dead trees and a wrought-gold ornate border frame the scene, and the words "King of Pentacles" are written at the bottom of the card.

✦ Meaning

✦ Steward

You meet a steady steward who stands amid a harvest of pumpkins, his carved head smiling like a seasonal mask while his posture exudes command and calm.

✦ Symbols of Status

The heavy coat, rose on the lapel and ornate frame whisper of secure status, material success earned by patient work and reliable stewardship of resources.

✦ Sensation

Walk toward the card and you can feel the earth underfoot, the smell of autumn leaves and the sense that this person builds legacies rather than chases flashy gains.

✦ Possessiveness

Yet the same abundance can harden into possessiveness: the smile on the pumpkin can read as smugness when the focus narrows to accumulation and stubborn control.

✦ Shadow

If the image tips into shadow, wealth becomes rigid, indulgence becomes excess, and careful stewardship curdles into greed or inflexibility.

✦ Guidance

Let the scene remind you to cultivate prosperity with generosity and to check any impulse to hoard; when grounded and warm, the King of Pentacles offers skill, reliability and the slow satisfaction of well-tended growth.