Pamela Colman Smith · RWS deck
The Minor Arcana
Four of Pentacles
Chesed in Assiah
- Suit
- pentacles
- Rank
- Four
- World
- Assiah
- Station
- Chesed
- Verb
- I ground
Chesed, what is given
Chesed is mercy: the faculty of expansion, and of being given to. The Four asks whether what has been formed can now receive something more.
Upright
Flowing. Provision held: the material gift meets its first test, whether it is given freely or gripped. In the world of action, mercy has to be able to move, and the card asks which way this holding is going.
Misdirected. The grip, which stops the flow the holding depends on, or giving with no container to hold it.
Reversed
Blocked. Gripping, so provision cannot flow out.
Flooded. Giving away faster than it comes in.
The image
A crowned man sits on a plain bench, holding a coin tight against his chest. Another coin balances on his crown and one is under each foot. A city lies behind him and he has his back to it. The picture fits only partly. It shows the grip, but only one answer to the question the station asks.
Learn how to read Four of Pentacles in a spread
This page shows you what Four of Pentacles means. Knowing how to read it — how it shifts next to the other cards, what the reversal is really telling you, and how to turn a spread into a clear answer — is what the RWS Decoded course and book teach, card by card.
