The Nine of Pentacles Tarot Card

Are you finally coming into your own? Have you been surrounding yourself with beautiful things? Has a love of the good things in life crept into your consciousness? When the enjoyable side of materialism dominates your days, the Nine of Pentacles is a card that will appear in your Tarot reading.

A woman in a luxurious robe ponders a small bird perched on her gloved left hand. Behind her is a hedgerow, bountiful with luscious grapes. Beyond it is a landscape of simple beauty, a nice house, trees and all of it under a golden sky. Her right hand rests atop one of nine pentacles. These golden circles emblazoned with a star are stacked on either side of her. On the ground in front of her, a small insect is visible. This bug is often illustrated as a snail.

Pentacles represent materialism, wealth and the consequences waiting for us in the real world. The woman is wearing fashionable attire and lounging about her own little corner of the world. She appears to have leisure time enough to care for a bird as a hobby. Perhaps she enjoys the ancient sport of falconry. This is a testament to wealth, but the hedgerow seems a little encasing. Is she trapped by her wealth? Is the bird a symbol of hope to be free from a burden? If she herself cannot break free from her enmeshment in the material world, does the bird offer her a ray of hope, an attachment to a spiritual side that is lost in the trappings of wealth and luxury?

There is much debate about the Nine of Pentacles. Many people attach their political ideologies to this card in interpreting the position of this wealthy woman as either a blessing or a curse.

Meaning in Past, Present and Future Positions

Each Tarot reading describes things in terms of the past, the present and the future. Where a card lands may change its meaning somewhat as well as the definition of how it relates to you and your life.

In the past position, this card describes a childhood of receiving everything you could have ever wanted. But were you still bored and feeling possibly unloved? The suit of Pentacles does not cover love, emotions or satisfaction of spiritual questions. While the Nine of Pentacles represents the bliss of having it all and refining one’s taste to enjoy the best of the best, the Pentacles are, at their core, only representing things, not relationships. You may find that this card landing in the past position brings up issues of your childhood that you do not necessarily want to re-visit, and yet, your reading may be a true revelation if you fearlessly ask whether you controlled circumstances of your past or whether they controlled you.

The Nine of Pentacles in the present position indicates that you are in a safe, pleasant environment. You may be a little bored, though, and this could lead to all sorts of mischief, considering that it is likely you have the funds to afford a frivolous excursion, affair or other trifle that may skip a little too close to the dark side of things. Remember that boredom can lead to abandoning the things that bore you, but it could leave you with nothing else if you have not developed yourself on the inside.

Of all the cards in the Tarot deck, this one is probably best in the future position. Nothing screams “And she lived happily ever after” quite like the Nine of Pentacles in the future position. When this card rests in your future, the outcome of the question you have going into your reading will always be positive, and contain upbeat answers like “comfort is on the way” or “You are moving toward a life of refined elegance.” The irony of the Nine of Pentacles in this position is that it becomes difficult to critique the boredom that occurs when wealth and materialism overtake us when that very boredom is a goal toward which we are striving.

Card Combinations

The Nine of Pentacles is a card that suffers when there are other cards from the same suit in the same reading. This card represents a captive and fragile existence, dependent on others more often than not. Other Pentacles cards in your reading take precedence over this card and make for more issues regarding materialism controlling your life.

If the suit of Swords is present in great numbers with this card, expect lots of discussion about your possessions. Perhaps there is gossip in the neighborhood circulating about you. When your reading features the Nine of Pentacles and many cards from the suit of Wands, you will be enraptured with art and music and perhaps become the patron of a starving artist or struggling musician. When the suit of Cups dominates a reading that includes the Nine of Wands, you have the best of both worlds: material success and comfort along with deep, heartfelt emotions. This is a blessed Tarot combination.

If there is a self-centered quality to the Nine of Pentacles, blame it on the relationship between this card and the Tarot’s Major Arcana card Numbered 19, The Sun. This card shows a child in complete self-centered bliss. The reason there is not a care in the world is that the child-like mind has not gone outside of itself. The other Major Arcana card with a close relationship to the Nine of Pentacles is the number 9 card: The Hermit. This card reinforces the isolation present in the hedgerow blocking out the rest of the world. Are you becoming a prisoner of your own possessions?

If either The Hermit or The Sun show up in a reading with this card, you are looking at a deep psychological resource for insight into your personal development as well as a mystic look into who you are becoming.

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