TAROTTwo of Pentacles
Upright
Balancing life’s different demands.
Maintaining balance in our lives despite many tasks and problems we have to juggle between.
Prioritizing our time whilst ensuring what is truly important never falls off our list of priorities.
Intuition
The figure on this card is Gelos, the spirit of laughter. As well as maintaining balance within our lives, it is also important to maintain a healthy attitude to its ups and downs. Laughter and a sense of humor is often the coping mechanism that tips the balance in our favor!
Reversed
Inability to find a balance during an upcoming busy period in your life.
Lack of healthy work-life balance.
Failing to stay true to your inner priorities or allowing others to set your life-priorities.
Taking too much on, or not reaching for help, or lack of planning.
Astrologia
A balance of two very opposite forces (Jupiter vs. Capricorn). Ambition, along with the determination and planning to make the best of upcoming changes or ‘either-or’ forks in life. Possible over-emphasis on material gains and being over-cautious.
Two of Pentacles
The Two of Pentacles shows a character juggling two pentacles (coins). The card represents being able to balance and maintain life despite conflicting tasks or responsibilities.
Juggling these responsibilities creates a rough ride as we struggle to keep everything from falling to the ground. Two ships thrown across a rough sea mirror this danger, echoing the motion of the pentacles
The juggler smiles at his task. He revels in the chaos.
Gelos
Gelos is the personification spirit (daemon) of laughter and joy. This choice serves a specific purpose: life brings ups and downs, and the absolute best cure requires seeing the humor in it.
Gelos appears in ancient plays, bringing comedy and humor. The ancients regarded him highly in everyday life, not because laughing is fun, but because laughter fundamentally alters your perspective.
Gelos is strongly linked with Dionysus, the God of wine, religious ecstasy and sexuality. Gelos was one of Dionysus’s retinue, making all of the above more memorable through laughter and good fun.
This link to Dionysus is deliberate in this deck. The card featuring Dionysus (The Hanged Man) and the Two of Pentacles share a distinct similarity.
The Hanged Man concerns the internal Self, demanding inner acceptance of a duality: the way things are versus the way you must accept them to advance. This requires profound internal change. You move forward through an intractable problem by sacrificing part of your former Self.
The Two of Pentacles is another 'duality difficulty'. It is about having two things that need your attention, and it suggests carrying on by proactively juggling your time, effort, or outlook to make them work, but not by changing your inner Self to accommodate this. As suggested by the card, such problems reduce and go away quicker if you maintain a positive attitude towards them.
Description and Symbology
The card shows a juggler with one foot planted solid on the ground and the other raised. He refuses to take things seriously. In the Rider-Waite-Smith card, the juggler looks like a playful entertainer. In this deck, the juggler laughs out loud, loving the task.
Behind the juggler, we see two ships in a very stormy sea. One sits high on the crest of a wave; the other sinks into a trough. The ships directly map to the two pentacles.
Life will give us ups and downs. Even in the good times, we have conflicting tasks to balance and juggle. We should take this in our stride and get on with it all because they are just part of life.
Life will give us ups and downs. Even in the good times, we have conflicting tasks to balance and juggle. We should take this in our stride and get on with it all because they are just part of life.
Laughing at the trials chance and providence throw at us remains the best response. We might not escape the repercussions, but we endure them faster and with a sharper, positive perspective.
The Juggler
The juggler holds two pentacles representing material possessions or things we value. Life is about constantly juggling such things: income vs. outgoings, what we want vs. what we need, and what we would like vs. reality. Yet the juggler does not feel the weight of his decisions because he knows his goal is to be happy despite all the complications. Sometimes, you don't even have to be right. You just have to be happy with your choices.
The rough sea
Behind the juggler we see a rough sea and black clouds. This symbolizes ‘life can be full of fears and bad outcomes’.
The ships
The ships are buffeted around the rough sea but do not sink. They tell us that all trials will pass if we hold on and sail an even keel. The ships also match the two pentacles being juggled. They represent the same thing; all that we value.
Tips for Readings
The following table shows the upright and reverse meanings for general questions. The last row ('Yes/No') is useful when you are picking a single card to decide a yes or no decision.
Upright
Reversed
There are issues for at least one partner that mean they are carrying stress or a heavy workload, and this is probably coming from outside the relationship.
It is important for you both to work as a team, offering support, understanding, and help. Without this, the relationship may start to suffer. And don’t forget to keep the relationship at the top of the list!
For new relationships, there may be workloads that prevent you from seeing each other as much as you’d like. Don’t take this as a negative – there is a connection, just not enough time in the day at the moment!
There are issues from outside the relationship to do with workload or conflicting tasks, and this is affecting the relationship.
It is important to keep your life in balance and place the things that have long term value at the top of your list, and your relationship and family is among them.
Make time for your significant other even if you cannot offer direct help, because communication or just someone to vent with can go a long way.
For those early into a relationship, there may be a period of not seeing each other as much as you’d like. This is caused by issues outside the relationship, so don’t confuse it as a problem within the relationship. Communication is the key!
A time when you need to be sure of your priorities is approaching. There will be a lot of work to do, and more than one task may come in at the same time.
This may be work vs. personal, or conflicting tasks within work.
Whatever the make-up of the work, it is important to be true to yourself and set your own priorities rather than take on the priorities of others, as they may not be totally to your benefit.
It may be essential to learn to say ‘no’ or ask for help, as well as realistically assess timescales and how much time you can professionally afford if you also have personal commitments.
You are taking on more than you can do at work, and this is affecting other parts of your life.
The card suggests it is important to reassess what you have promised, and be honest to both yourself and others.
Sometimes you have to admit defeat in one area to maintain other areas of your life, or you have to tone back commitments in one area to maintain other areas.
Although you will soon be busy with a number of tasks, it is important to not forget your health and well-being. Taking time out to recharge or clear your head between different tasks is not dead or wasted time, it is time well-used to maintain the quality of your effort.
You are taking on too much and although you may be meeting your targets in your chosen priorities, others are getting neglected. One of the most important ones is your personal health and this is suffering. Either place your own well-being higher up in your list of priorities, or expect a burnout!
You will soon be busy in more than one area of your life and will need to juggle your priorities. Do not lose track of the most important priorities: your sense of who you are, your purpose for being on this planet, and your future.
Short term goals set by your boss or other task-giver may or may not also align with your career and financial goals, but make sure they also make you happy and not just some bean-counter at head office!
You are taking on too much and losing sight of two very important priorities; being true to yourself and maintaining your most important relationships.
Although some things can be put on hold, make sure you have your personal priorities intact, because this card suggests this is not the case.
You will be called on to juggle your money between important costs.
This may involve pain with budgeting and cutting some items in the short and mid-term, but it is essential to take a longer term view and work towards your best future interests.
You may be overspending or fixing the issue with borrowing and taking on too much debt.
It is important to cut back and create a more maintainable budget
Yes, through being able to work through hurdles in your life whilst being able to juggle multiple tasks and responsibilities.
No, through failing to maintain a good balance in your life.
Reading the Card
The Upright Card
On a surface level, the Two of Pentacles deals with juggling day-to-day priorities: holding more than one job, balancing career and family commitments, or a worker who has multiple clients and management to keep onside.
On a deeper level, the Two of Pentacles is about forming a balance between things you need to do to survive and those you need to give your existence value. The card signifies a time when these concerns will occur in your life.
You may be rushed off your feet at work and at the same time have personal or family tasks to complete. You may be deciding between tasks that will make you money but leave you mentally exhausted, against something that will fulfill you creatively but not make much money.
Numerous commitments always demand your time. We find ourselves doing both when we have the time to give, but not stepping back and thinking about what level of both makes us happiest. The Two of pentacles tells us true value is never a thing but getting the balance right.
The Reversal
The Reversed Two of Pentacles presents the exact same options as the Upright card, but warns you are getting the balance completely wrong:
- You try to fulfill multiple tasks, but end up doing them poorly.
- You focus entirely on one task and ignore the other, guaranteeing repercussions later.
- You do no task, dropping all pentacles and sinking all ships.
The card signifies your plans are unbalanced. You need to consider where true value lies for you rather than your boss, the people you are trying to please, or the ideals you are expected to maintain.
Card Design Process
The problem with illustrating Gelos the spirit (daemon) of laughter is that there are no surviving statues or images of him.
The aim was to design a figure who looks capable of drinking everyone else under the table while cracking a joke, leaving everyone laughing about it the next day despite their blurred vision.
Final Words
The Two of Pentacles represents a busy period ahead where you will need to juggle different (and possibly conflicting) tasks. The goal will be to find a balance that allows you to move forward and be happy with your choice rather than needing to please everyone else.
