King of Pentacles
The King of Pentacles is the mature ruler of the earth suit, enthroned among vines and bulls. Readers traditionally take him as security, discipline and leadership in business, and Waite credits him with valor, practical intelligence and aptitude for business.
- Suit
- Pentacles (Minor Arcana)
- Golden Dawn
- Earth (court card)
- Upright
- security, discipline, leadership in business
- Reversed
- greed, stubbornness
Upright
Built things tend to last when the builder is disciplined. Readers see this king as someone who manages resources well, runs an enterprise with a steady hand and provides security for others. Waite ties him to business sense and practical intelligence. In the Golden Dawn scheme he carries Earth, the suit's element. Readers often draw him when a situation calls for experience, patience and sound judgment.
Reversed
Wealth held too tightly curdles. Readers take the reversed king as greed or stubbornness, the leader who cares more about the ledger than the people it serves, or who refuses to change course. The card asks where control has replaced good judgment.
In love and at work
Commitment shown through provision marks this king in romance: a partner who expresses love by keeping the household secure and stable. For careers, readers see leadership, business ownership and financial discipline. They treat the card as a picture of steady authority, and it makes no call on profit or loss.
In the picture
A king in a dark robe covered with bunches of grapes sits on a throne carved with the heads of bulls. He holds a scepter in his right hand and a pentacle in his left. Vines and grapes crowd around him, and a castle rises behind the wall at his back. His expression is relaxed, the look of someone at ease with what he has.
In a Caelumia profile
When King of Pentacles comes up upright in a Caelumia reading, it counts toward these themes for that day, alongside the rest of the profile: Ambition, Leadership, Stability.
Sources
- A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910). Waite's own guide to the deck he designed with Pamela Colman Smith, with each card's divinatory meanings.
- Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Book T: The Tarot (1890s, published by Israel Regardie in The Golden Dawn (1937 to 1940)). The source of the planetary, zodiac and elemental attributions of the cards.
Updated September 28, 2026.
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