In some approaches to the Tarot, the suits are ordered such that Pentacles is the final suit of the minors, and thus the King of Pentacles represents a sort of pinnacle experience, or an arrival. It is someone who has ‘made it’. It’s easy, within our capitalist system, to interpret this King as one who is successful in their career and/or makes a lot of money, and has such material abundance that they can afford to be generous (I would argue here that if you can ‘afford’ generosity, is it virtuous?). And while I agree that this King does represent a pinnacle, it’s not of achievement necessarily, but of integration. I see the suits as follows: the suit of Wands relates to our gut center, Cups to heart center, and Swords to our head center. This is informed by my understanding of the Enneagram (if you’re unfamiliar with this system, please visit conciousenneagram.com. Also visit if you’re familiar! Abi does tremendous work), which describes these centers as “centers of intelligence”. The Pentacles suit, from my perspective, shows us working towards a balanced embodiment of these 3 centers. In many ways, I think it shows our path towards wholeness and it’s where we put spiritual principles into practice. The Pentacles are about the life we build as we discover who we are through the other suits. So the King of Pentacles has reached an extreme level of ease and comfort with themselves through continued and intentional practice. They have found integrity in what they believe and how they live, and have found harmony and balance in their thoughts, feelings, and actions. And I think that, because of this kind of spiritual maturity, they truly understand their role in the ‘circle of life’ (and in fact, I think Mufasa from the Lion King is a perfect example of King of Pentacles).

Queens represent our sovereignty over our own experiences. Swords are the suit of communication and truth, and detail our struggles with our inner narrative/self-talk and mental health. The court cards of the suit of Swords show various ways we wield this power of the mind. Queens of Swords possesses great inner authority: they* know their truth, they own their story, and they do not allow themselves to be manipulated. Now, this is not to say that this Queen is illogical or will not listen to reason. But they would, for instance, not fall for an attempt at gaslighting. This would be wonderful archetype to call upon if your experience is being questioned or doubted in any way: Queen of Swords does not insist that you wage a fight against those who doubt you, but won’t let you second guess yourself. You know what you know! Your experience is your experience! This Queen also demands discipline regarding our own mental health. Because of the nature of sovereignty, they must patrol and maintain their own boundaries. So if you are engaging in behaviors that you know damn well cost you peace of mind (staying up til 2 AM on Twitter anyone?), Queen of Swords can come along to ask that you shore up those boundaries to keep order within their realm.

*I use they/them pronouns for all court cards, because gender is a construct!