One-to-one with the Knight of Pentacles

By Sarah Taylor

The Knight of Pentacles sits on his horse, both facing right, holding his pentacle out in front of him. Is it an offering? Is it a display? And to whom?

The Knight is in full battle dress, his armour covered with a robe of black and red, his visor up, a look of concentration on his face. His lips seem pursed together; he has an air of quiet determination. While the Knights of Wands and Swords face to the left, in a state of movement, this Knight and the Knight of Cups face in the opposite direction, stationary.

This is echoed in the Knight’s mount. Unlike the horses belonging to the Knights of Wands and Swords, the steeds of the Knights of Pentacles and Cups are at rest, although still holding a sense of activity in their posture: in the case of the Knight of Pentacles, its head is raised, not lowered; it looks like it is standing to attention. Horse and rider are one and the same, inseparable. I interpret them as an extension of each other, the horse emphasising the ‘outward riding’ nature of the Knight.

Both sets of Knights cards seem to indicate two different but complementary principles at work. One interpretation of this is the polarity of masculine/feminine — the principles of active vs. passive. Wands and Swords are phallic, directed, active; Cups and Pentacles are womb and egg, containing, passive (not submissive, not lacklustre). Masculine is left-brain; feminine is right-brain. The Knights reflect this dualism that resides in all of us.

In light of this illustration of opposites, perhaps we can interpret the offering of the Pentacle as an offering to life itself? They are an expression of life that life needs in order to become fully realised. They bring with them a particular quality.

Knights are youthful, not yet the rulers of their suit. They are full of idealism, but they have yet to be tested to the point where they have experienced what it is to step into symbolic adulthood. Youth tends to believe it is invincible; youth tends to believe it knows and understands it all. As youths, we often rush out into the world, keen to change it, whether for others or for ourselves. We are committed to transforming what lies out there: circumstances, income, standing, the people we love, the people we do not love. Until a time comes when we are offered another point of view, and we run slap-bang into failure, limitation, mortality — ourselves, in other words.

The Knight lies before that transition point where the focus shifts from the outer to the inner (which is why the Queens and Kings are seated). He is still on the move. According to Qabalistic principles, Knights are the airy aspects of their suit — which means that the Knight of Pentacles is the airy aspect of earth. He thinks his way into matter, and thinks his way out of it. As with all Knights, all challenges are met with thought. Everything can be solved by thinking about it. In this case, the world of matter is something to be scrutinised and understood with the intellect.

When we dissect, analyse and categorise, we are the Knight. When we are the Knight of Pentacles, we dissect, analyse and categorise our physical reality. To the Knight of Pentacles, there is no other reality — yet. He is content, for now, to believe that all that there is, he is holding in his hand. He is the unploughed field behind him, the seed of consciousness yet to spring from the earth. But its shoots are there in the form of sprigs sitting over the heads of both rider and horse, still as yet identified with the mind, but promising something more, as is seen in the outpouring of growth in the Queen, King and Ace of Pentacles.

Make no mistake: the Knight of Pentacles may be young and untested, but he represents rich potential — a fecund vista ripe with possibility.

Although writing about the Thoth Tarot, I think that Lon Milo DuQuette’s observation about the Knight of Pentacles (or, in the Thoth, the Prince of Disks) is relevant here:

He is the picture of someone who is in control on the material plane. He may seem a bit dull and emotionless, but he’s not. He’s just not a snob, and he doesn’t bother with things he considers impractical. He’s the ultimate handyman. [“Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot”]

As a handyman, everything can be repaired at the material level — all you need to do is to apply some thought to the matter. We are the Knight of Pentacles when we believe we can fix someone if only we can find the correct tool. We are the Knight of Pentacles when we believe we can make sticky situations disappear if only we can identify the magic object: new clothes, new neighbourhood, diamond ring. We are the Knight of Pentacles when we believe the world can be saved if only we can effect a shift at the physical level.

All of these things might work — or none of them might work — if the Knight had the whole story. Because what the Knight is in the process of embarking upon is the discovery of his heart (Cups, Queen, watery aspect of earth) and his creative raison d’être (Wands, King, fiery aspect of earth). When he has all of these, then he has come into contact with the power to effect change that dives beneath the surface and connects him with what is timeless and ultimately unchanging.

If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread.