The Spiritual Meaning of the Six of Pentacles

In the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck, the Six of Pentacles card usually depicts someone handing out money (coins or pentacles) to two people who are kneeling at his feet, begging for help. The giver stands, wearing a rich red cloak, looking down on the two paupers. This one has, while the other two have not.

Are You Giving or Receiving?

When we look at the Six of Pentacles, we may want to consider who we relate to more: the one giving or the one receiving? Are we in a position of having a lot, with plenty to give away to those who need it? Do we feel filled up and generous, able to give? Or are we brought to our knees, desperate for help, with nothing left to do but ask?

Pentacles or coins represent material reality. They are related to the element of earth and the physical needs of the body. They have a relationship with the root chakra, which is the energy center related to safety, security, and material reality. Pentacles can represent money and work, of course, but we must remember that work is a physical, material process that requires the body. Sixes are about growth, having established a foundation and then creating the space to move to the next step.

Ask for Help When You Need It

In the story of the suit of Pentacles, the preceding card (the Five of Pentacles) is about needing help you’re not asking for. A figure is frozen, out in the cold, just outside of a church where they could go inside and warm up. Here, with the Six, we’ve surrendered (whether by choice or force) to asking for help. By the time we get to the Seven of Pentacles, we’ve gotten what we wanted—and found it didn’t quite satisfy what we thought we wanted after all.

If we’ve gotten to the point of asking the cards for help, we may already be on our knees, desperate for some guidance. Why has it been so hard to ask for help? What stops us from asking for what we really need?

Asking for help is an incredibly important life skill, and it’s one many of us struggle with. As this card popped up for me several times over a couple of weeks, I had to ask myself about my own relationship with giving and receiving. Giving—okay, sure, that’s no problem. I’ll give to the point of having nothing left. But receiving? That feels harder.

I think this is partly because it’s impossible to control and receive at the same time. When we are receiving, we are open; we take in, perhaps, with a sense that we’re going to owe something in return. The giver holds the power: They control what to give and how much, as well as what might be owed later.

Relinquishing the Need to People-Please

Significantly, in this card, the giver stands above the two who are on their knees, in a physically higher position. This can look like people-pleasing: “I give of myself so that I am liked, so that I am safe, and so that I am in control, and will do so to the point of burning myself out.”

People-pleasing almost always trades authenticity for control. It is a form of manipulation borne out of a need for survival. There can be no true intimacy when there is people-pleasing, no equal exchange of giving and receiving.

But receiving can also be a gift. So often the only thing the giver wants is to be received. For their work of art to be met with appreciation. An offering of their time to be met with attentive listening. A box unwrapped met with a face of joy. We often don’t realize that once we have received something given lovingly, without ulterior motive, there is nothing left to owe.

So if you have pulled the Six of Pentacles, you may want to ask yourself about your relationship to giving, receiving, and control. If getting what you wanted required a release of control, would you let go? If you could keep your control at the cost of getting what you desire, is that worth it? Are you ready to let go of your need to control, fall to your knees, and ask for help?

Explore Romani perspectives on how to read tarot cards.