MINOR ARCANA
Ten of Pentacles Tarot Meanings
The Ten of Pentacles brings us to the conclusion of the Pentacles suit, it is the completion of the earth cycle and brings us back to the prospect of a new cycle, usually in another elemental energy. With the Ten of Pentacles, we have achieved what we set out to at the beginning of the suit, we now have more wisdom about the world and our place within it. We can see and appreciate the things we truly value and that means the most to us and feel supported by all we’ve built.
Sometimes the Ten of Pentacles is read as a generational card, suggesting relationships and situations that revolve around the family, the family home and various generations within your family tree. However, this isn’t always the case and it really depends on the context of the question being asked.
Ten of Pentacles Upright Meanings
In the upright position, the Ten of Pentacles hints at success and achieving our biggest goals and accomplishments. Some of the key meanings of the Ten of Pentacles are:
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Wisdom
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Success
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Affluence
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Value
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Generational
The main keyword that I always refer back to with the Ten of Pentacles is abundance because it refers to having everything you need to feel safe and secure within your material world. You have an abundance of love, affluence, success and wisdom which all form a strong foundation within the structure of your life.
Ten of Pentacles Reversed Meanings
In the reversed position, the Ten of Pentacles can indicate a lack of all the things we see in the upright position, as well as internal conflict around what we want our external world to look and feel like. Some of the main reversed meanings of the Ten of Pentacles are:
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Loneliness
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Conflict
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Financial failure
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Unconventional
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Devalue
When we lack that material and external world security and support, we can start to spiral. In a lot of ways, the Ten of Pentacles represents our most basic needs, food, shelter, water etc. so when we reverse this card and we see a lack of our most basic needs, we can often lose focus and start to retreat inwards towards darker and harder to manage mental space.
Reading Ten of Pentacles in a Tarot Spread
When the Ten of Pentacles pops up, pay close attention to the position it appears in within the spread. In an external position such as the environment position in a Celtic cross spread, it can refer to our home, family and work being in a state of abundance or about to be. If it’s in a more internal position such as the subconscious position, it may suggest that your basic needs are not currently being met and you have to make changes in order to fulfil those needs and start to move forward again.
The Ten of Pentacles is a bit like the four walls of your home, it can be a safe space filled with love and security, but if left unmanaged it can start to crumble. If the card appears and you get the feeling not everything is as solid as it should be, take a look at the structure of your daily life and see where changes could be made.
Ten of Pentacles as An Invitation
If the Ten of Pentacles appears as an invitation it could be that you are being asked to look at your life structure, assess where there is room for improvement and acknowledge the areas that are thriving.
For Ten of Pentacles, this invitation could be the following:
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An invitation to look at your external structures and see what needs improvement or acknowledgement
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An invitation to spend more time with family or friends
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An invitation to work on money management and stay wise to big investments
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An invitation to enjoy the abundance you already have instead of looking to accumulate more
Ten of Pentacles as Sage Advice
The Ten of Pentacles lends itself quite nicely to the realm of advice, because it’s a wise elder within the Pentacles suit, it’s been through a lot and come out with a high level of wisdom around the realities and material issues of life and living.
Some advice Ten of Pentacles may offer is:
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Decide where you hold the most value within your life, whether it’s family, money, career success or material possessions, then do what you need to in order to manifest it in abundance
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Not everything has to be done the way it has always been done, if you want to live a more unconventional life compared to your family, then do what you feel called to do
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Not everyone will agree with you all the time but have the patience and grounding to be able to compromise and be flexible in those situations where you can not win
Ten of Pentacles as a Lesson
When the Ten of Pentacles appears as a lesson, it is usually a lesson around what you determine as being valuable, what your core values and priorities in everyday life?
Some lessons that Ten of Pentacles may offer you are:
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A lesson in understanding what your core values are and how you can live by them
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A lesson in finding value in non-materialistic places
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A lesson in breaking the mould and forging your own place in the world
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A lesson in prioritising family and community for better wellbeing
Ten of Pentacles as a Redirection
If the Ten of Pentacles appears to try and redirect you, it may be that you’ve been too focused on materialism and you’ve been missing out on the value of non-materialistic things like family and friends.
As a redirection, Ten of Pentacles could symbolise a need to:
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Re-focus your goals to look more towards creating connections with those closest to you
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Take some time off work in order to reconnect with your home and personal life
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Re-assess your core values as your current focus is not leading you down the right path for you and your needs
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Check-in with your most basic needs as they have been neglected
Pentacles
Within the Ten of Pentacles we see the epitome of what the Pentacles stand for. Wealth in all its forms, not just in money and possessions, but in family, connection and belonging.
The Pentacles are the suit that asks us to look at our physical and external world, our environment and everything within it. Many people will automatically go straight to money with the Pentacles, but they refer to anything that exists in our material world. This includes our well-being and physical health as well as the structure of relationships whether romantic, platonic or familial.
Earth
The Pentacles correspond with the element of earth, helping give these cards a very grounded, stable and nurturing quality. We can use the elemental energy of earth to get a better feel for the Pentacles and how to approach them.
The element of earth is the ultimate give and take, which is why we often relate it to fertility and in some cases, karma. We can only get out of the earth what we put into it. A field lacking in water and nutrients can’t be used to grow anything, the same idea applies to our karmic energy. We can only benefit from elemental earth when we meet it half way and give as much as we take.
Tens
In numerology the number ten is the first number to feature double digits and therefore we have to combine the properties of both digits. We can do this through addition (1+0=1) which gives us a root number of one, the number of creation. Or, we can examine the collaboration between the digits’ properties.
The latter of these techniques means we have to look at how the properties of the number one supports or conflicts with zero. In the case of the number ten, we are gifted with a possibility for something new, the chance to start a brand new cycle and new possibilities being on the horizon for us.