Photo courtesy of Liz Anastasiadis.
In tarot, there are hierarchical beings of fantasy: pages, knights, kings, queens, empresses, and emperors. Each one serves its own purpose and meaning depending on the Arcana. Pages are meant to represent young, sometimes foolish, and ambitious people who often wear their hearts on their sleeves.
The noble page of Pentacles tarot card has been drawn several different ways. The Rider Waite Tarot deck shows a young person standing on a grassy field with flowers in bloom. Behind them and to the left, you see a thriving forest, and to the right, a bustling city on the horizon. The gold coin in their hand is being carefully examined with awe and ambition. They are standing on the brink of success, abundance and with their goals within sight. All they need to do is turn around.
In this article we will explore what the Page of Pentacles means and how it can be interpreted in different ways based on the reading that you receive. Read on for:
Take notes or bookmark this article if you want to remember some key details later on!
The major Arcana consists of 22 archetypes that represent powerful forces. They have an order of progression that represents the Fool's Journey. The cards begin with the Fool, also known as card zero, and the journey then flows to The Magician and the High Priestess. When a major arcana card shows up in a tarot reading, it’s signaling for you to pay attention to the good and bad that it might represent. It’s an important sign of a major upheaval in some sense.
The Minor Arcana are representative of four elements: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. Each has their own ace to ten, and a page, knight, king, and queen. The numbered cards are known as the Pips and the others are court cards. Once you get the general gist of one card's meaning, you'll be able to understand the rest.
The Modern Witch Tarot Instructional Guide by artist Lisa Sterle interprets the Pentacles as representative of earth, work, finance, nature, and the physical reality of things. Therefore, the Page of Pentacles is a young person focused on their bag. They are optimistic, dedicated, focused and determined, but often disregarded. Since the Page is young and inexperienced, people rarely take them seriously. Some will view the Page of Pentacles as someone who has their head in the clouds.
The cool thing about the Page is that it’s not an inherently masculine or feminine card, so it’s interpretation can be fluid. It doesn’t have to necessarily represent yourself in a reading but another person in your life who might have drive and ambition to a fault. If you are someone who is non-binary, it can tend to represent either feminine or masculine qualities in a person but those things don't have to be parallel to gender.
The Page of Pentacles in the upright can represent the more positive qualities of the card. It’s representative of manifestation, finances, entrepreneurship, and personal development. It means that you are channeling manifestations regarding physical health, whether that be financially or through relationships and networking. However the difference is that this person is young and has a childlike awe when interpreting the world around them. They might be more optimistic, sometimes to a fault.
What often people might forget about the Page of Pentacles card is that it represents, in the upright position, somebody who has the skills to achieve their goals but they may not be using them correctly. They are truly talented and have the ability to manifest their desires into their reality. Essentially, they are a young person who is a work in progress that has a high chance of succeeding once they draw up a concrete plan.
Overall, the Page of Pentacles in the upright position means that a job or career pursuit of some kind is going in a positive direction. It's also a word of caution to pay attention to your potential blind spots regarding your skill-set, finances, and professional life.
The page of Pentacles in the reverse can sometimes mean that a project you were working on has not fully come into fruition. It means that you need to narrow your focus and draw up a concrete plan for your goals. It's essentially saying you were on the brink of success but, they will not be successful unless you know what you're doing.
If you are someone who has a lot of dreams and you don't know which one you want to choose, you might see the Page of Pentacles pop up in a reading in the reverse. You might be going too much with the flow without any kind of concrete foundation. Even though shooting for the moon can be a good thing, if you don't have a plan things can tend to fall apart.
This also means that you could be distracting yourself with other people's opinions, or simply by procrastination. When the Page of Pentacles shows up in a reading in the reverse, it's calling you out by telling you that you need to get it together.
Nonetheless, the Page of Pentacles is not only interpreted by whether it is in the upright or reverse position. If you are doing a longer tarot reading for yourself or someone else and the Page of Pentacles shows up it can change your entire reading. Most people associate the Page of Pentacles with material wealth. However, what is considered as ‘wealth’ can differentiate from person to person.
Different people might treasure their personal relationships over their career path. Maybe what is considered wealth to them is not securing a dream job, but finding the love of their life. Or, it could mean that you were pursuing wealth for the wrong reasons. You're so focused on the shiny gold coin in your hand, that you forget about what got you there. It can be interpreted as a cautionary tale: if you are overcome by greed and wealth, it will leave you empty. The best way to keep track of the different meanings and how they connect to your life is by journaling your readings.
Say the reading that you are doing for yourself is focused on love and the Page of Pentacles shows up. This can mean that you are focusing too much on your career, and not enough on your personal relationships. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it could be calling you out for being a workaholic. Essentially, the Page of Pentacles in a love reading means that you need more of a balance in your life, because too much of one thing can disturb the rest.
If the Page of Pentacles shows up in a reading related to your family life, the same rules can apply. It also could mean that while you are daydreaming about your future possibilities, you’re not paying attention to the present. Being grateful for what you have already will propel you to your goals. Most people tend to focus on what they don't have rather than what is already in front of them. We are all guilty of this at one point or another, so the Page of Pentacles can be interpreted as a wake-up call.
The Page of Pentacles in a reading indicates some kind of fortune being bestowed upon you. It is not through luck nor is it purely imagination, but the drive and ambition of the person. If you think you are the Page of Pentacles, you have a knack for getting what you desire, but not in the way that people might expect.
