VIII, Suit of PentaclesEight of Pentacles tarot card meaning
Upright and reversedEight of Pentacles in shortIn short
The Eight of Pentacles is the apprentice at work. A young craftsman sits at his bench cutting a star into a gold disc, his finished pieces hung on the post beside him. Steady practice, care, and a trade learned one piece at a time.
- Craftsmanship
- Diligence
- Learning
Piece oneThe workshop
A bare room: lilac-grey wall, yellow floor, nothing to look at. Waite reads work, craft and skill, perhaps at an early stage. An empty room suits that stage. You practise until your hand knows the work.
"Work, employment, commission, craftsmanship, skill in craft and business, perhaps in the preparatory stage."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe empty room is the right place to learn. No view, no visitors, nothing to show off to. The wall leaves the young man alone with his bench and his discs. The finished pieces on the post are the only decoration, and he made all of them.
Piece twoThe finished pieces
Five finished discs hang on a wooden post and a sixth leans at its foot. Waite says he shows his work as trophies. Each is the same star, cut again and again until the hand knows it.
"...which he exhibits in the form of trophies."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe post shows the progress. Each disc on it is the same star, cut again, so you see the practice stacking up. It stands beside the young man as a record he can look at. The disc on his bench is the next one, and the one on the floor waits after it.
Piece threeThe workbench
He sits on a plain wooden bench in a bare workshop. One more disc lies on the floor, waiting its turn. Our picture has no town, sky or audience: a wall, a floor, the work.
Why it is hereThe bench is where the hours go. He sits low and close to his work, with a hammer and a chisel and nothing else. The disc waiting on the floor and the pieces on the post mark the time spent here. A plain seat for a long job.
Piece fourThe craftsman
A young man with curly hair bends over his work, eyes on his hands. Waite calls him an artist in stone, and in the Three of Pentacles he calls the same figure an apprentice who later gets his reward. Nothing else in the room pulls at him.
"An artist in stone at his work..."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereHe is the card's whole point: one young man paying attention. His eyes stay on the chisel and the disc, so he ignores the wall, the post and everything else. The finished pieces beside him exist because he keeps looking down at the next one.
Colour, and where else it appearsEchoes
-
The workshop
Muted lilac-grey over warm yellow: a quiet wall, and a floor the colour of the gold he shapes. In the Three of Pentacles the same young craftsman stands inside a church, with a monk and a patron watching. Here nobody watches. The skill grows in this bare room before it goes to the church.
Also in -
The finished pieces
Gold on red-brown grained wood: rough post, smooth discs. In the Nine of Cups a man sits in front of a full row of cups, pleased with what he has. Both show off a row of the same object. His cups are for enjoying, and these discs are the work itself.
Also in -
The workbench
Ochre floor, dark wood: the colours of earth and honey, the suit's element turned into a room. In the Three of Pentacles the craftsman stands on a bench too, to reach a carved arch. There the bench lifts him toward a building. Here it holds him at the level of his hands.
Also in -
The craftsman
Blue-grey shirt, dark apron, and red stockings, the only warm note. In the Three of Pentacles Waite's same young man carves stone in a church, his back to us. In the Seven of Pentacles another young man leans on his staff and stops working to look. This one does not look up at all.
Colour notes are ours, read from the picture; Waite does not explain the colours.
Eight of PentaclesUpright
Skill being built. Waite's meanings: work, employment, commission, craftsmanship, skill in craft and business, perhaps in the preparatory stage. Training, a new job, an apprenticeship, anything you get better at by doing it well, many times.
Be patient and pay attention. Progress is quiet and steady, and the work shows it. Keep your head down, do it properly, and let the pieces add up.
Eight of PentaclesReversed
Waite's words: voided ambition, vanity, cupidity, exaction, usury. Effort turns into greed, shortcuts, or work done for show.
He adds that skill can turn to cunning and intrigue, a clever mind used for the wrong ends. Check your reasons for the work, and check the quality.
Yes or noYes.
Yes, if you do the work. Practice gets you there.
Eight of Pentacles in your lifeIn your life
Love
Love grows through effort and attention. Small daily care beats big gestures.
Work
Good for learning, training and careful work. A course, a new skill, a job where you can grow.
Money
Steady work, steady money. Invest in your own skills and skip quick gains.
Health
Small habits, repeated daily, pay off. A card can't diagnose you; if something's wrong, see a doctor.
Spirituality
Treat practice as a craft. The same prayer, meditation or study, done daily, slowly deepens.
Advice
Do the task in front of you, and do it well. Mastery comes piece by piece.
As a person
Hard-working, focused, modest. They'd rather improve the work than talk about it.
Past, present, future
Past: years of practice. Present: steady work and learning. Future: mastery, and work you're proud of.
Written by us, from Waite's meanings and the picture.
Symbols and correspondencesAt a glance
- Suit
- Pentacles
- Element
- Earth
- Astrology
- Sun in Virgo
- Sephira
- Hod
- Upright
- Work
- Reversed
- Voided ambition
QuestionsCommon questions
Yes. Skill, work, steady progress. The reward comes from effort, so it favours anyone willing to practise.
Commitment shown through effort: a relationship you both work on, day by day.
Yes, if you do the work.
Waite calls him an artist in stone who shows his work as trophies. He learns his trade by repetition, the same star cut again and again.
The Sun in Virgo, an earth sign, in the Golden Dawn system, with the sephira Hod. Virgo's eye for detail suits the craftsman.
Waite keeps it short: an artist in stone at work, showing his pieces as trophies. In the Three of Pentacles he calls him an apprentice who later got his reward.
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911Card meanings and quotes: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911. Element, decan and sephira: the Golden Dawn's Book T. Colours, life situations, yes or no and questions: written by us, from Waite's meanings and the picture.
All 14 Pentacles