Pentacles are of the element Earth. They are the manifestation into the material world of our hopes, fears, dreams, and desires. They are the world of our senses; our bodies and the spaces we inhabit.

Walking in an ancient forest we can hear and smell thousands of seasons beneath our feet. Sitting beside the ocean we can watch, listen to, and feel the waves, the endless backwards and forwards, breathing, flowing motion, outside ourselves and yet a deep part of our being. Feeling the soft sand or the hard yet accepting warmth of pebbles beneath us, we can allow our heartbreak, our anger, our disappointment and our love to be released through our connection with the eternal, life-giving waters.

Pentacles, the earth element, can be overlooked in our time of screens and headphones. Experiencing the real world and truly feeling it through all our senses seems less important or perhaps less accessible than watching or hearing it at one remove through our tech devices.

Pentacles can represent our relationship with money, our personal wealth or business, financial support for family, community or charities. This is one aspect of the earth element. But Pentacles or Discs are about so much more than this.

Your sexuality as expressed in your relationships is an important aspect of the earthy, grounded Pentacles. Are you acknowledging your desires or feeling able to express your sexual or gender identity? Pentacles ask us to celebrate our bodies, to dance and sing, to hug and kiss, to embrace difference and diversity because it reflects the ever-changing, evolving world that we live in.

Our planet Earth, our Mother, the source of life for us and every other being or life form with which we share it, is a part of us in every sense. In turn, Earth as it revolves in a constant and predictable orbit around our Sun, is a just a microscopic part of an unimaginably huge Universe whose beginnings and endings within other immeasurable Universes can hardly be conceptualized. In the words of the Joni Mitchell song

We are stardust. We are golden. We have got to get ourselves back to the garden. (Woodstock by Joni Mitchell)

The relatively new theory of panpsychism argues that consciousness is present in matter at the subatomic level throughout the universe. Animists religions like Pagan, Hindu, Jain, Shinto and Buddhism have always believed this to be true. The idea of Spirit as consciousness is common to many belief systems and underlies many spiritual and therapeutic practices including tarot reading. Jung’s principle of a universal shared consciousness which we all tap into at the unconscious level means that we are connected not only to one another but to the physical world we inhabit.

Our relationship with this planet, our Mother Earth, and to our environment; to the food we eat, the air we breathe, the hands we hold and the people we hug; our gardens and open spaces; our rooms and offices; our classrooms and our places of worship; our clothes and our bodies - all these are reflected in the symbols of the Pentacles.

When Pentacles come up in your reading they are a reminder of how important your physical environment is. What about your living or workspace? Are you facing physical limitations that are hard to accept? Are you taking the time you want or need to enjoy the outdoors, or perhaps you are facing challenges with your health? Are you trying to look after your body with diet or exercise and finding it difficult? If you are experiencing financial problems, now is the time to take control of your expenditure and perhaps ask for help and advice. Ask yourself what you really need to balance your life.

When you see the Pentacles in your tarot spread, be aware of your physical body, of your environment, of the importance of your own connection to the earth. Embrace the physical, earthly aspect of your life. It is a part of what connects us all to our planet and to the totality of life in the Universe.