Four of Pentacles

i. The Nutshell

Upright
The Four of Pentacles reflects holding on too tightly - whether to things, ideas, habits, or control - often driven by a fear of losing stability. This tight grip creates tension between the need for security and the natural desire to grow, making it harder to move forward or embrace change. I often view tarot as a storyline, much like in narrative therapy, because how we tell that story shapes how we feel and act. Noticing a block means change is underway. Running into a wall happens when you try to move in a new direction without first adjusting your approach. The key is to clearly identify the block, whether it shows up in your body, feelings, thoughts, or actions. Avoiding or forcing it only makes it feel insurmountable, whereas remaining patient with yourself helps reveal small places where things can relax and shift gradually.

So this card epitomises how we relate to our thoughts and feelings because seeing problems as stories gives us perspective, whilst accepting feelings without resistance allows us to move forward in ways that reflect our values. Together these ways of working help widen our perspective, break mental blocks, and encourage self investment by taking meaningful action. They teach us to rewrite our inner story while staying present and open. Wanting safety is natural, but white-knuckle grip-age blocks change, whereas learning to loosen your hold alongside fear creates space for movement.

Keywords: Holding on, fear of change, control, security vs growth, patience, small changes, scarcity, investment, holding back
Translation: Notice when holding on stops progress, because change happens by adjusting your perspective.

Reversed
The Four of Pentacles reversed can show a loosening of control, but it often highlights what drives that control in the first place. This card can point to patterns rooted in abandonment wounds, fear of loss, or a lack of safety in early foundations. When there’s no deep sense of security, clinging tightly, or even overcompensating, becomes a form of self-protection. Greed or overspending may surface here, often as an attempt to soothe feelings of emptiness or to prove worth through possessions or status. These behaviours can mask vulnerability and provide a temporary sense of control or validation, but they don’t resolve the deeper need for safety or belonging.

Avoiding risks and holding back from change may feel protective, but it keeps life small. Fear of instability can also lead to swinging between over-control and impulsive choices, especially when trying to fill emotional gaps through material means. This reversal asks you to recognise these patterns without judgement. Building inner security, rather than relying on control or external validation, is key. Meeting these fears with patience allows for gradual trust in yourself and the world. This opens the door to taking small, grounded risks that create genuine stability and growth over time.

Keywords: Fear of loss, self-protection, greed, overspending, abandonment wounds, lack of foundation, risk avoidance
Translation: Recognise fear of instability or low worth behind control and clinging and build inner security.

ii. Illus-traits

A look at the symbolic language of the Four of Pentacles in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck:

Figure holding coins tightly – Represents control, fear of loss, and self-protection. Suggests a defensive stance toward change or risk, holding onto what feels safe even when it limits growth.
Crown and seated position – Symbolises a desire for stability, authority, or status. Shows how security can be equated with power or self-worth, and how clinging to control can create rigidity.
Coins placed on head, chest, and feet – Indicates how attachment can dominate thought, heart, and action. Reflects being overly focused on material security or protection at every level.
City in the background – Suggests distance from connection or community. Highlights how fear of loss can lead to isolation or withdrawal, creating a barrier between self and others.
Closed body posture – Expresses resistance and defence. Symbolises how self-preservation can restrict openness, flexibility, and the ability to receive support or new opportunities.

iii. Influences

Planetary Influence
The Four of Pentacles corresponds to the Sun, representing identity, vitality, and how we express ourselves in the world. It is linked to Capricorn, an Earth sign concerned with structure, responsibility, and building lasting security. Together the Sun and Capricorn highlight how a strong need for stability and recognition can shape how we protect ourselves or hold on to what feels safe. When balanced, this influence supports growth, self-discipline, and healthy boundaries. When unbalanced, it can show as fear of loss, over-control, or tying self-worth too closely to possessions or status. The life path lesson is to develop inner security and self-trust so that external stability supports growth rather than restricting it.

Natal Houses
The Sun in Capricorn aligns with the Tenth House, connected to career, achievement, and the structures we create in the outer world. Early experiences with responsibility, recognition, or authority can influence how you manage security and control. If those experiences felt unstable or lacking support, you may overcompensate by clinging to control, avoiding risk, or linking your value to success or material resources. The evolutionary lesson is to strengthen an inner foundation so that ambition and achievement are guided by self-worth rather than fear or self-protection.

Astrological Signs
Capricorn channels the Sun’s energy into practical goals and ambition. It values persistence, order, and creating something lasting, however under strain, this can lead to rigidity, fear of change, or resistance to letting go. The Four of Pentacles invites you to examine where fear-driven holding-on blocks growth. Its lesson is to build inner resilience so you can release unnecessary control, take measured risks, and open space for progress and transformation.

Numerology
The Four of Pentacles is linked to the number four, which represents stability, boundaries, and the foundations we depend on for security. It shows a stage where we set and keep these foundations. When balanced, it brings order, discipline, and progress, but when not, it leads to fear of change and over-protection. The key lesson is to create security from within, so that outside structures help us grow instead of holding us back. Four wants you to manage, organise and help others get their life in order, having developed a solid foundation within yourself.

Element
The Four of Pentacles belongs to the Earth element, which emphasises practicality, structure, and stability. It reflects how maintaining security can provide a sense of control but may also resist necessary change. Balanced, Earth energy supports reliability, patience, and progress but when not it points to over-control, material fixation, or fear of risk. The karmic lesson is to trust that real stability comes from inner resilience, allowing you to loosen control and adapt without fear.

iv. A Day in the Life of the Four of Pentacles

Well That Escalated Quickly
You may feel unsafe letting go of control or taking risks. This can appear as holding onto possessions, money, routines, or fixed ways of thinking. You might overspend to feel better or cling to what is familiar, even if it limits you. Fear of instability can lead to self-protection, isolation, or reluctance to share resources or trust others. Early experiences of neglect, loss, or abandonment may feed into patterns of mistrust or over-control. These habits can cause anxiety about security, self-worth, or whether it’s safe to even change at all.

Adjusting the Knobs
You begin to notice how fear of loss or instability shapes your choices, and see when you resist change or hold back out of self-preservation. You start making small, deliberate changes by loosening control in safe ways; tracking spending, or allowing help from others that support other themes. You practice grounding yourself when fear arises and learn to separate old patterns from present circumstances. These adjustments build confidence in your ability to manage uncertainty without shutting down, people-pleasing or overcompensating.

Writing the TED Talk
You feel stable without needing to constantly be on-guard. You manage your resources with care but without fear. You take calculated risks where growth is possible and recognise that security can coexist with flexibility. You are more open to sharing, receiving support, and trusting others. Life feels balanced because you know your foundation comes from within, not just from external control. You see that true stability is built through maintained effort, trust in yourself, and a willingness to adapt when needed.

v. Working with these Energies

The Four of Pentacles means feeling safe, wanting control, and being afraid to lose what you have. It shows the need to find balance between over-control and allowing growth on every level because holding on too much can stop us from moving forward.

Notice what holds you back
Pay attention to moments where you resist change, avoid risk, or cling to what feels familiar. Do you over-save, splurge or overspend to comfort yourself, or withdraw to avoid feeling exposed? These patterns often form from early experiences of instability or abandonment, where control became a way to feel safe. Recognising them helps you see whether you are reacting to the present or repeating an old survival strategy.

Track what’s underneath
Habits like over-controlling, reluctance to share, or equating worth with money or possessions often stem from past fear of loss or neglect. You may feel torn between wanting stability and fearing what happens if you let go. These patterns can reflect unresolved tension between safety and expansion. Reflect on whether your current behaviour matches your circumstances now, or if it belongs to an earlier time when security felt fragile.

Choose steady presence
The Four of Pentacles urges you to create security starting within. Manage your resources carefully, slowly let go of control, and begin to trust. Progress happens through patient, thoughtful actions so create balance by choosing stability whilst staying open to change.

vi. Building Skills

Daily Exercise: Stepping Back from Holding On

The Four of Pentacles highlights patterns of fear-driven control to possessions, routines, or beliefs as a way to feel safe. These patterns lead to worry, control, and avoidance of risk, often rooted in past instability or loss. Psychospiritually, this card invites you to build inner security instead of relying on external control. This exercise uses ACT’s Defusion to help you notice these thoughts without getting caught up in them, creating space to choose in accordance with what matters to you. Over time this supports loosening control, acting from core values, and opening space for transformative change.

Name the thought - When you notice a fear-based thought e.g., ‘If I don’t hold on, I’ll lose everything’, stop and silently say, ‘I’m noticing I’m having the thought that…’ before repeating the thought.
Observe rather than engage - Picture the thought as text written on a screen or a cloud drifting past. You’re observing it, not pushing it away or following it.
Reconnect with your body - Place your feet flat on the floor, take a slow breath, and feel your hands rest loosely in your lap. Notice that you are here, present, and safe in this moment.
Act from values - Ask yourself, ‘What choice would reflect who I want to be right now, rather than what this thought demands?’ Take a step forward that reflects this answer. For example, relaxing your grip on a fear-based habit by delegating a task, or taking a night to sleep on a desire before making an impulsive purchase.

vii. Embodiment

This five minute mindfulness practice helps you stay grounded when you feel the urge to control especially during stressful situations. Use it to pause, breathe, and regain perspective before responding.

Scent – Choose a scent that helps you feel calm and steady. Breathe it in slowly, bringing your focus fully into the present moment.

Body – Place your hand on your chest or abdomen. Take several slow breaths - count them if you feel called to. Notice any tension or tightness without trying to change it. Let your breath soften physical strain and help you feel anchored.

Action – While in moments of stress or resistance, pick an object nearby to focus on. Name and describe it in detail in your mind, noticing shape, colour and texture. This anchors your attention in the present moment and creates space and distance from the stressor.

Focus – Keep your attention on your breath and body sensations. When your mind drifts into rumination about loss, security, or control, return it to the present moment which is all there is. Connect with your deeper values and choose actions that build inner security rather than reinforcing fear.

viii. Your Impressions

Look at the Four of Pentacles in your deck or the image above. Allow your first impressions to arise without analysing.

What do you notice first – the figure holding the coins, the seated position, the crown, or the city in the background? Pay attention to any physical sensations, memories, or shifts in energy as you observe the image.
Check in with your body. Do you feel grounded, tense, or guarded? Does the image bring a sense of security, or does it highlight fear of loss or control?
Reflect on how you respond to situations involving money, control, or change. Do you cling to routines, overspend to feel better, avoid risks, or withdraw to protect yourself? Notice what happens when you stay present and observe these reactions without judgement. Try letting go a little in safe situations to feel more secure and balanced.

ix. Intuitive Meaning

Use this space to reflect on what the Four of Pentacles means to you personally:

When you feel the need to hold on tightly - whether to money, routines, or control - how do you respond? Do you become guarded, avoid risk, or withdraw from others?
Are there times when security feels stable but also restrictive in other ways such as emotional fulfilment? Have you resisted letting go, struggled to trust others, or avoided changes that might unsettle your sense of control?
What physical or emotional signs appear when fear of loss or change takes hold? Do you notice tension, anxiety, restlessness, fatigue, or over-focus on control? Have moments of withdrawal, mistrust, or overspending strained your health, relationships, or well-being?
When have past experiences of instability, abandonment, or betrayal influenced how you protect yourself? What would it look like to trust yourself enough to loosen control and create safer ways to connect and grow?

Applied insight with a three-card reading using the Four of Pentacles as your anchor:

Where in my life am I overly guarded out of fear or mistrust? What is one small step I can take today to create more space or flexibility?
What past experiences, family patterns, or beliefs make it hard for me to feel safe letting go or trusting others? How have these shaped my need for control or self-protection?
If I approached security with perspective, patience, and trust in myself rather than fear of others and/or external factors, what would transform? How might this open space for healthier connections, balance and growth?

Let your cards talk and note your feelings as your answers unfold, writing your own words below:

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x. Closing Reflection: Track Your Evolving Lens

Your relationship with each card will grow over time because it’s meant to shaped by your life. Consider the prompts below to revisit and reflect.

What I thought this card meant when I first pulled it: —————————————————
A recent experience that changed how I see it: —————————————————
How I feel about it now, in my body or life: —————————————————
What surprised me as this card kept showing up: —————————————————
One way this card is living in my life right now: —————————————————
If this card visited me today as a guide, what would it want me to remember? —————————————————

Revisit these after a week, a moon phase, or a meaningful moment. Let the card evolve as you do.

If you feel a quiet sense of recognition, curiosity and want to explore it, browse the sessions page for what feels right.

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