Suit of coins

The Suit of Coins or Pentacles is used in Latin suited playing cards, including tarot decks, and corresponds to the suit of diamonds in conventional playing cards. In divinatory and occult tarot it is part of what is called the "Minor Arcana". Like the other tarot suits it contains fourteen cards: ace (one), two through ten, page, knight, queen and king.

The suit represents the urban Third Estate (the merchants, artisans, and town-dwellers).

Divinatory and occult meanings

In occult and divinatory usage the suit is connected with the classical element of Earth, the physical body and possessions or wealth. Coins as a Latin suit represent the feudal class of merchants and traders, and therefore to worldly matters in general. Associated physical characteristics include dark hair and eyes, dark complexion, and sturdy build.

In the Rider-Waite tarot deck and derivative decks, the suit is called the suit of pentacles, and each card incorporates one or more discs each displaying a pentagram. In the Book of Thoth it is called the suit of discs, and the cards are associated with the Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn signs of the Zodiac.

Alternate Decks

In French-language decks, the suit is called Deniers ("silver coins"). The picture cards are Valet (Page), Chevalier (Horseman or Knight), Reine (Queen), and Roi (King). This suit was later changed to Diamonds.

German and Swiss decks use round Schällen ("Hawk Bells") instead.

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