Minor — Pentacles

Queen of Pentacles

In profile, facing left, the Queen of Pentacles sits enthroned amid flowering nature, wearing a vermilion cloak edged with ermine. One hand contemplates a golden pentacle; on her lap, wide open — for the first time in the entire suit — lies the Book. At her feet, a hare keeps watch. She is the sovereign of the living: Earth understood, at last readable.

Symbolic reading

With the Queen, the Book opens — this is her function in every suit, and nowhere has the wait been longer: for twelve cards, Earth kept its Book sealed, because matter reveals itself only through the wear of time — an entire life was needed to earn the first page. Her profile turned to the left speaks of introspection: she no longer watches over the world, she understands it. Everything in her answers the Knight: his greens of the road become her reds and golds; his forward motion becomes her meditative stillness — effort has become enjoyment of the fruits of the earth. The hare at her feet holds both ends of the element together: fertility and vigilance — that which gives life remains on guard. And nature flowers even into her throne: to rule matter is to let it live.

Reversed reading

Understanding folds in on itself: comfort that lulls, nature possessed rather than inhabited, an open page that is never turned — or the pentacle finally released for the hand reaching out.

• fertility
• wisdom
• nature
• understanding
• prosperity
• care