TAROTKnight of Pentacles
Upright
Stability, responsibility, and a practical outlook
Achieving goals through hard work and discipline.
Being grounded in reality
Reliable and trustworthy in relationships and business.
Victory through patience, persistence, and an attention to detail.
Intuition
The knight of Pentacles is perhaps much younger than that seen on other decks. This is because the ancients expected their children to work the land, and they were often some of the hardest working.
The young man on the horse is Ponos, the personification of hard work.
Reversed
Lack of progress through stagnation, laziness or being over-cautious.
A lack of motivation.
Resistance to change or fear of the new.
A focus on work that is creating a poor work-life balance.
Astrologia
Patience and perseverance in all things. Very hardworking with strong intellectual and communication skills that mean choosing the safest route. Emotionally balanced; kind, with almost a childlike belief of good in the world. Potential inability to express strong emotions.
Knight of Pentacles
The Knight of Pentacles represents hard work destined to pay off in the future via wealth or something of value.
This ‘something of value’ does not have to be money, but anything that is important to you. It can be career, a relationship or family. The significant distinction being that the thing of value should be like a seed you place into the ground; it grows over time.
All Knights relate to action, which can be confusing for the Knight of Pentacles as he seems to be doing nothing.
He stays still because he is guarding a plowed field. He is not one to charge off, but will stay and protect the home and aiding its growth. He is not about a fight now, but steady, hard work that will pay off in the long term.
This Knight is not a traditional warrior. He looks like a boy or young man, completely unlike depictions in other decks.. There are two reasons for this:
First, the Knight of Pentacles embodies future growth. The young Knight graphically depicts this raw potential.
Second, the ancient personification of hard work and toil was a child. Children in rural settings were expected to work hard; this was a primary reason they were brought into the world.
Ponos
Ponos was a personification god (a daemon or spirit), representing the hard, painful work required to achieve a task.
Similar to Selene (who is the Moon in the Major Arcana), Ponos does not rule over toil; he is toil. He presided over physical labor, associating heavily with the back-breaking work carried out by subsistence farmers in the ancient world.
He is depicted as a winged young man or boy. The young were expected to bear a massive share of the effort in working the land. Hard work and adversity constituted the mandatory path a youth had to take before becoming a dependable man.
Times have changed, and hard work for the young now means education, learning skills, and entering a profession. One facet of Ponos has unfortunately not changed; he wears an ancient Greek Corinthian helmet associated with fighting. Then as now, the casualties of the frontline are nearly always young men.
As with many earth based deities, Ponos lived under the ground. Specifically, the kingdom of his King and Queen; Hades.
Description and Symbology
The card shows a young man on a horse. He wears a Corinthian helmet, suggesting a dependable and strong allegiance to a cause. This represents persistence and belief in a career, a project, or a relationship, rather than a readiness to fight.
Other than the helmet, the young man is naked. This alludes to the ancient Greek ideal of the naked form as the uniform of the pure, righteous and heroic. The Greeks often depicted their most heroic warriors going into battle naked or near naked (noting this is an idealization seen in statues, vases, and friezes associated with the gods and mythical characters; the Greeks did not actually go to battle naked).
The man is winged, suggesting his divine status; he is Ponos, the personification of hard work.
His horse stands still, but is also alert and just as ready to fight. The horse is the color of the ground, symbolizing the earth as the source of all wealth. Whether it is sustenance, precious stones or metals and stone, it all comes from the ground.
Both Ponos and the horse stand still, looking over a plowed field representing their previous hard work. They await the spoils of this labor. Ponos holds a gold pentacle in his hand, looking at it intently. This confirms the fruits of this hard work hold immense value.
If Ponos were to see the pentacle itself as the thing of value rather than something to maintain the things that are really important, then all would be lost, as this represents a fall towards wealth and status for its own sake.
Ponos
The rider, Ponos, wears a Corinthian helmet, as favored by the ancient Greeks when going to war. This suggests his dedication to a cause. He is also naked, suggesting the ancient idealization of the naked form as the uniform of the pure and heroic fighter. Hard work that aims for a brighter future is always pure.
The horse
The horse is still, but also ready to fight. The horse is the color of the ground, denoting the earth as a source of wealth when work is put into it. The same is true of other things; relationships, career, education. Like the earth, you get back what you put in for all of them!
The plowed field
The knight watches over a plowed field, representing hard work that will pay back in the future.
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
For existing relationships, this card is a great sign for a continuing, forward-looking relationship. Any problems can be resolved if you put the time and effort to it (and this is all likely), and there will be a growing strong bond where each partner has a deep appreciation of the other (even if they don’t mention it as much as they should!).
For new relationships, this card signifies good things for the future. There is trust and a positive view for the future from the other party.
In each case, the results of anything you put into the relationship may not appear immediately, but look to the future.
There is also a strong streak of earthy sensuality, so it may not be all waiting; you may be swept off your feet with some deep love!
For existing relationships, there is inertia and perhaps even boredom. Things are plodding along, but there is no spark and only mundane work to be done. Although you may be thinking more about the future, the card advises adding some interest back into the relationship for the present.
For new relationships, the card suggests there may be a lack of interest, and this may cause a drift apart unless you correct the situation. This lack of interest may even be unavoidable – the relationship will flounder once the initial thrill has gone.
There will be a period of hard work within your career via a difficult project, hard decisions or a need for training.
Despite these problems, there will be gains if you are patient and persistent, and the gains will be large if you survive the distance.
For those not looking for a change or comfortable in their current status, the card suggests training or aiming for a promotion (or looking to move to a better employer) will be beneficial – the results of this will not show for a while but will be very positive.
There will be a period of setbacks or problems, and you are either not ready for them or ignoring them.
The card may also suggest a period of inertia; you have traded safety and the regular paycheck for growth. You may even have become lazy and complacent — no effort, no training nor furthering your cause.
Finally, you may be happy today, but your situation is likely to change. More expenses as your family grows, a sudden change in the market, or even a job loss. You are asked to consider how this will affect you, and whether you are set up for change.
In all cases, you may feel safe currently, but that is merely because you are not considering the future. You need to start doing this more!
Any health problems will resolve so long as you take a long term view. Better general health for the future, and taking the time to heal and recuperate for any current ailments.
The card is a future looking one. There may be obstacles and fears today, and although the path forward may feel dangerous, there is a safe port at the end of this period – so long as you keep your eyes on it!
Either you have become infatuated with status and outward appearance to the detriment of your inner health, or have been working yourself so hard to gain future wealth that you have ignored your health.
It is important to find a balance. All social media is bad for your health (as confirmed by every long term analysis!). Fashion/status are transient friends, and although working towards the future is a good thing, take some time to find better balance when it comes to resting and recuperation in the present. Nothing is so essential at work for you to die or become ill over it.
The ancients (and especially the stoics) had a belief that all hard work and the obstacles you meet today will shape the better future you. This was a practical approach to spirituality that was not based on religious texts, but your path through life. Your wounds harden and become your armor for tomorrow, and your struggles make you mentally stronger.
This is a path you will need to follow if you want to grow from your experiences in the near future. There will be challenges, but an eye to the future will result in a better future you.
This card is associated with material gains to enrich your life and make for a brighter future, but materialism has a darker side. Wealth for its own sake (aka greed), and maintaining implied status as a false sense of value are an alternative path. You may be on this path.
Working hard for future wealth is all about securing personal growth and enriching the life of those people and causes you care for. Nothing else should matter.
If you are considering any financial investment, business or project, this card notes that you will need to put in the work, but there will be a significant gain in the future if you follow through to the end.
This may involve training or getting the skills and experience to justify promotion, or putting in the analysis and work for a business idea or investment.
With this work and planning in place, the plan will succeed.
You are not planning for the future, so your time is being wasted. There are two ways this may be happening.
You may be working hard, but with no clear plan for it to better you in the future. You are not gaining the recognition or remuneration.
You may have no eye to the future with regard to bettering yourself through hard work or training, instead playing too safe or staying in a comfortable position where you take the monthly paycheck but forgo future growth.
Either way, you are not going to be in a better position in the future, and the card advises giving this some thought.
Yes. There is hard work ahead to make things happen. If you stick with it, the fruits of success will come in the future.
No. You are either not committed to put in the work, or consider yourself to be safe in your current position and will quickly revert to doing nothing.
Reading the Card
Like all court cards, the Knight of Pentacles can represent people or things other than yourself:
- A change in career or financial position, usually something that you have worked hard to attain.
- Stability and working towards the future. It can signify a stable relationship, project, or career.
- A hardworking and diligent person close to you. This person will have strong commitment to seeing things through and will succeed through sticking around for success/growth to happen, rather than charging away. This is illustrated in the card; the knight is not galloping off.
- A dependable, loyal and honest person in a love relationship who will look to the future. There is also a strong sensual facet to this person, so it is not all about working hard though!
- When reversed, the card represents a failure of responsibility or a waste of resources. It can point to a lack of vision, laziness (i.e., the ‘resource’ being misused is the abilities of the person in question), misuse of money or other assets, or a love of wealth in itself rather than as something to make life better. It can also point to an unhealthy need for status.
When reading the Upright and Reversal sections below, note that the text applies to you or any of the figures mentioned above. The question asked, or your first instinct upon seeing the card, dictates who or what the card signifies.
The Upright Card
The upright card represents the responsibilities and rewards of hard work directed to practical aims such as career, education and forming a secure environment for love and romance to flourish.
The Knight of Pentacles is associated with a number of attributes:
- The strength and resilience to overcome challenges.
- The determination and patience to pursue goals
- The practicalities of establishing plans that end with physical results rather than vague dreams or hopes.
- The sense of responsibility, loyalty, and persistence.
Put together, we have a hardworking and dedicated person, who has future goals and the grit to see them through.
The card confirms you are on your way to achieving something of deep personal value. This will require hard work and deferring rewards today for a brighter future tomorrow, but if you move forward on this path, you will reap rewards.
The Reversal
The reversed card is associated with a failure of responsibility or a failure of resources (such as time, wealth, or resources).
It can be a failure to take up the flag of the cause, leading to indifference, laziness, or lack of grit.
It can point to being wasteful use of your wealth. You spend on the pleasures of today, neglecting to build a foundation for tomorrow. This manifests as falling for status or the trappings of success, refusing to share the fruits of your labor to better yourself and those close to you.
It can also point to being overly cautious, and maintaining yourself in a safe position rather than promoting growth
Finally, it represents moving forward with self-centered intent: greed and the hoarding of wealth for its own sake. Do not confuse a growing bank balance with true growth.
Card Design Process
The standard Knight of Pentacles shows a well armored knight on a sturdy warhorse, but that doesn’t really show hard work and the future; the future is for the young and those who have patience but also the ability to move quickly and fight for their goals when the need arises.
The imagery of Ponos illustrates this perfectly. Perhaps initially a little different for some users, but hopefully more useful for the modern sense of ‘moving forward with hard work’. You also need to be agile and quick when it counts.
Final Words
The Knight of Pentacles represents setting practical goals, then moving forward with resilience, hard work, and patience. There are few shortcuts in real life. This path feels like the long route, but it guarantees far greater, and far more certain, rewards in the future.
