Six of Pentacles
© Photography by Soulchology | Six of Pentacles - Radiant Wise Spirit Tarot by Lo Scarabeo
i. The Nutshell
Upright
The Six of Pentacles shows the balance between giving and receiving. It points to times when help is offered or accepted, and when resources - whether time, energy, or money - are shared fairly. This card reflects a reciprocal state where support flows both ways, reminding us that exchange is part of healthy relationships. It also highlights awareness of power dynamics, as giving can create feelings of control or dependency if not balanced carefully. This card encourages paying attention to how you give and receive support in daily life. Are you open to accepting help when needed? Do you offer assistance without expecting something in return? Notice if pride or fear of vulnerability blocks the flow of support because recognising these patterns can help restore balance and build trust. The Six of Pentacles also signals recovery after hardship, including recovery of mind, body, and soul.
After difficult times, paying attention to your own body and needs is essential for recovery. Supporting your physical, mental, and emotional health on your own terms helps rebuild strength. You can’t give to others before giving to yourself. This personal care is a vital part of healing, independent of outside help.
Keywords: Balance, giving, receiving, fairness, support, power dynamics, recovery, sharing, reciprocation
Translation: See where you can bring balance by giving and receiving help, but first take care of yourself.
Reversed
The Six of Pentacles reversed highlights imbalance in giving and receiving, both toward others and yourself. It can signal self-neglect by ignoring your own needs, or unhealthy patterns in how you offer or accept help. This card points to moments when generosity is withheld, used to control, self sabotage, or when pride prevents you from asking for or accepting support. So, this reversal asks you to examine your relationship with support. Are you giving to feel superior or receiving out of obligation? Are you neglecting your own care from feelings of self worth, or over-extending yourself with others? These patterns hinder your recovery and growth. Restoring balance requires honest reflection on these patterns. It means taking care of yourself and helping others without expecting anything back, which helps heal your mind, body, and soul after tough times.
Keywords: Imbalance, control, pride, withholding, self-neglect, unhealthy dependence, blocked recovery
Translation: Reflect on how you give and receive, including how you care for yourself.
ii. Illus-traits
A look at the symbolic language of the Six of Pentacles in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck:
Scales held by the central figure – Represent balance and fairness in giving and receiving. They highlight the need for equal exchange in relationships and the careful weighing of resources.
The central figure handing out coins – Shows generosity and support offered freely. It reflects moments when help is given with awareness and intention.
Two recipients receiving coins – Represent those in need, showing vulnerability and reliance on outside support. They highlight the importance of being open to receiving help.
The giver’s clothing and posture – Suggest a position of power or control. This points to the dynamics involved in giving, where generosity can carry expectations or create dependence.
The uneven ground beneath the figures – Symbolises the instability that can exist beneath these exchanges, reminding us that balance requires ongoing attention and care.
iii. Influences
Planetary Influence
The Six of Pentacles corresponds to Jupiter, associated with generosity, growth, and expansion. It connects with Libra, an Air sign focused on balance, fairness, and relationships. Together, Jupiter and Libra highlight how patterns of giving and receiving shape our sense of fairness and trust. When balanced, this influence supports open exchange, cooperation, and growth through shared resources. When unbalanced, it can show as control, dependence, or conditional generosity. The life path lesson is to develop a perspective that values mutual support without expectation; generating trust that nurtures both independence and connection.
Natal Houses
Jupiter in Libra aligns with the Seventh House, which rules partnerships, relationships, and cooperation. Early experiences with fairness, reciprocity, or imbalance in relationships influence how you give and receive support. If these experiences caused mistrust or uneven exchanges, they can lead to difficulty accepting help or giving without conditions. The evolutionary lesson is to build trust in relationships through honest, balanced exchanges, learning to support others and yourself without control or self-neglect.
Astrological Signs
Libra channels Jupiter’s expansive energy into seeking harmony and justice. It values fairness and equality but can struggle with indecision or avoidance of conflict. The Six of Pentacles shows how imbalance in giving or receiving can block growth and connection. Its lesson is to develop trust in equitable exchange by recognising that true stability comes from balanced relationships, where support flows freely without strings attached, i.e. unconditional.
Numerology
The Six of Pentacles is linked to the number six, which represents balance, responsibility, and harmony in relationships. It marks a stage where fairness in giving and receiving is tested and restored. When balanced, it encourages generosity and mutual support. When unbalanced, it can lead to control, dependence, or withholding. Sixes need to understand they can't help people who don't want to help themselves. You can guide someone, but you can't force them to act which is why 6s need to learn to love and appreciate themselves first and foremost as over-giving can be a characteristic. 6s need to learn when to say no, come to terms with imperfection and to respect both their own and others’ boundaries.
Element
The Six of Pentacles belongs to the Air element through Libra, emphasising communication, relationships, and social interaction. This card reflects the need for balance in how we connect and share resources. When balanced, Air energy nurtures clear exchange and cooperation. When unbalanced, it can lead to manipulation, pride, or neglect of self-care. The life path lesson is to build fair and just connections that support both your needs and those of others, promoting growth through balanced interaction.
iv. A Day in the Life of the Six of Pentacles
Well That Escalated Quickly
You find it hard to ask for help, let go of control, or trust others, so you might avoid requests, feel uneasy when someone offers support, or accept but feel obligated or drained. Fear of imbalance leads you to hold back or overextend yourself, and past experiences of unfairness or rejection make it difficult for you to trust the give-and-take in your relationships. You feel stress, tension and find it hard to build lasting, healthy connections or feel secure when exchanging support.
Adjusting the Knobs
You begin to notice how fears of scarcity or being taken advantage of affect your decisions, catching yourself holding back help, hesitating to ask for it, or giving in ways that wear you down. You start trying small changes, like accepting support when it feels safe or offering help without expecting anything back. You’re working on recognising when old fears surface and separating them from what’s actually happening now; and over time notice how this reduces your anxiety around fairness and control.
Writing the TED Talk
You give and receive with more confidence and openness, and taking care of your needs while offering support without fear of loss or obligation. You set clear boundaries, communicate honestly, and build relationships based on mutual respect, accepting help without guilt and giving without strings attached. Stability comes from balanced exchanges grounded in trust and flexibility, and you realise that healthy support flows both ways, strengthening your well-being and growth.
v. Working with these Energies
The Six of Pentacles highlights how giving and receiving affect your balance and trust. It shows struggles with fairness, either withholding help or causing dependence, often rooted in early uncertain support. Recognising this clarifies your interactions and choices.
Notice what holds you back
Pay attention to moments when you avoid asking for help, hesitate to offer support, or give more than you can manage. Do you withhold because of fear, or do you give to feel in control? These habits often stem from past experiences of imbalance or mistrust. Reflect on whether your responses fit the present or replay old patterns and notice any physical tension or stress that may show where these issues remain unaddressed.
Track what’s underneath
Reluctance to receive or give freely can reflect fear of losing control or being vulnerable. You might feel torn between wanting connection and protecting yourself from harm. These tensions show unresolved conflicts between trust and self-protection so consider if your current behaviour respond to present needs or old wounds where safety was uncertain.
Choose steady presence
The Six of Pentacles invites you to find balance through honest, fair exchanges. Care for your needs while remaining open to giving and receiving support. Build trust in yourself and others by staying focused on the present. Progress comes from balanced effort, feeling safe, and being open to connection and change.
vi. Building Skills
The ACT framework below helps you work with hesitation, fear, and rumination connected to the Six of Pentacles, guiding you toward balanced giving and receiving aligned with your deeper purpose.
Contact with the Present Moment
Notice what is happening now in your experience around giving and receiving. Stay connected to this without getting caught in rumination about past unfairness or future worries. Ground yourself in what your body and intuition are telling you in the moment.
Cognitive Defusion
When thoughts like ‘I shouldn’t ask for help’ or ‘If I give, I’ll lose control’ arise, step back and observe them as passing mental events, not facts. This helps keep your perspective clear and prevents fear from driving your decisions.
Acceptance
Allow feelings of discomfort, fear, or guilt around sharing or receiving support to be present without pushing them away. Accepting these feelings creates space for balanced exchange instead of blocking connection.
Self-as-Context
Recognise you are more than your thoughts, feelings, or urges related to giving and receiving. You are the aware observer behind these experiences with the ability to choose how to respond in a way that reflects your values.
Values
Clarify what truly matters to you beneath surface worries or impulses. Identify core values your actions want to support, such as fairness, generosity, or self-care, together with your generational and societal values such as teaching, mentoring and legacy.
Committed Action
Choose a small, concrete step that aligns with your values and current experience of giving or receiving. Commit to moving forward even if the path isn’t fully clear, trusting that balance and growth come through action despite fear or doubt.
vii. Embodiment
This five-minute mindfulness practice helps you reconnect with your body when fear or the urge to control rises, especially during stressful moments. Use it to pause, breathe, and regain perspective before accepting every thought as true:
Breath – Notice how you feel about balance and fairness in your life. Breathe slowly and bring your attention fully to your present experience of giving and receiving, setting aside thoughts about past imbalances or future worries.
Body – Place a hand on your chest or stomach. Take slow, even breaths. Pay attention to any tension or discomfort connected to control, trust, or responsibility. Let your breath help ease this tension and ground you in the present moment.
Action – When feelings of imbalance or unfairness arise, focus on a nearby object. Describe its details; shape, colour and texture to move your attention from rumination about control or obligation back to what’s around you.
Focus – Keep your awareness on your breath and body sensations. If your mind drifts into anxiety about giving too much, holding back, or fears of dependence, gently bring it back to the here and now. Connect with your deeper values about fairness, generosity, and trust, and choose actions that build inner balance and healthy relationships. From this place, you can support outer harmony based on clear boundaries and self-trust.
viii. Your Impressions
Look at the Six of Pentacles in your deck or the image above. Allow your first impressions to come without analysing.
What stands out first - the figures, their posture, the coins, or the balance scale? Notice any physical sensations, memories, or shifts in energy as you observe. Does anything connect to your own experience of giving, receiving, or fairness?
Check in with your body. Do you feel tense, guarded, or open? Does the image bring up feelings related to balance, control, or trust?
Reflect on how you respond when dealing with giving and receiving support. Do you hesitate to ask for help, give reluctantly, or feel uneasy when others offer assistance? Notice what happens when you stay present with these reactions without judging yourself.
ix. Intuitive Meaning
Use this space to reflect on what the Six of Pentacles means to you personally:
When you experience imbalance in giving or receiving, how do you respond? Do you hold back, give too much, or withdraw?
Are there times when controlling the situation feels safer than trusting others? Have you avoided receiving help or withheld support to protect yourself? Where have you noticed yourself blocking fair exchange or connection before it can happen?
What physical or emotional signs show up when fear of losing control or being dependent takes hold? Do you feel tension, restlessness, rumination, guilt, or exhaustion? Have these patterns led to neglecting your needs, distancing from others, or overextending yourself in ways that don’t serve you?
How have past experiences of unfairness, mistrust, or imbalance shaped how you give and receive now? What might change if you stayed present with these feelings and allowed yourself to engage in more balanced exchange? How could this shift improve your ability to accept support and build stronger connections?
Applied insight with a three-card reading using the Six of Pentacles as your anchor:
What past experiences, possibly outside my awareness, have shaped how I give and receive support, contributing to imbalance or mistrust I’m feeling now?
What beliefs or patterns lead me to withhold help, give too much, or avoid connection when things feel uncertain? Even when life seems stable, how do these patterns show up in my daily behaviour, especially if past experiences make it hard to trust or accept balance?
Where in my life do I feel out of balance in giving or receiving, and how might my own actions contribute to this? What is one concrete step I can take today to move toward healthier reciprocal balance with both myself and others?
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.