Four of Coins

What it is

The Four of Coins is a plain numbered card from the suit of coins, one of the Latin-suited family of playing cards. It appears in ordinary decks and in tarot, and those who read tarot place it in the Minor Arcana, the group name they give the suit cards of the pack. English also knows it as the Four of Pentacles; both titles point to the same piece of card. Its use divides by region: at the card table it is one piece among many, while in a reading it becomes a sign said to speak of wealth, of holding on and of letting go.

Where it comes from

The card belongs to the Latin-suited line of playing cards, the deck family whose sets are counted under Spanish and Italian playing cards. Tarot carries the same suit, and those who read the cards gather the suit's members under the heading Minor Arcana. From there the card's story splits. Across much of Europe, tarot packs went on serving the table, dealt in games handed down among players. English-speaking countries never took those games up on any wide scale, and there the cards came to serve another trade: fortune-telling. That reading culture gave the card its second name, Four of Pentacles, and its meanings as an omen.

How it is done

A reader does not judge this card in isolation. It is laid with others in a spread, a set arrangement of cards, and read alongside them. Orientation matters: the same card carries a different message face up and face down. Upright, the Four of Pentacles is taken to picture someone devoted to material wealth, one who hoards valuables and keeps them closed to everyone else. Reversed, the message turns over, and the card is read as a caution against the spendthrift, the person who lets money run through their hands. The reader then folds these hints into whatever the rest of the spread holds.

What it is for

In fortune-telling the card serves as a commentary on money and the hold it has on someone. Upright, readers take it to name a lover of wealth, a gatherer of valuables who shares nothing; reversed, they hear a word of warning aimed at wasteful habits. Between the two positions the card covers both ways a relationship with money can fail, gripping too hard on one side and letting go too easily on the other. Anyone who sits for a reading about money, property or security may meet it, and the message it carries changes with the way it lands.

What people believe

Reading the cards rests on a few shared ideas. Every card of the Minor Arcana is held to carry a message of its own, and the message reverses when the card lands upside down, which is how one card can name a hoarder one way and a waster the other. Readers also link the pack to astrology: the Four of Pentacles is tied to the Sun in Capricorn, joining a zodiac sign to the card's theme of guarded wealth. These meanings come from the reading tradition; at the game table the card is played without reference to any of them.

Compare and confuse

One card, two English names: Four of Coins and Four of Pentacles are used for the same card, and writing on tarot may use either. The coin suit marks the card out as belonging to the Latin-suited line, kin to the decks played in Spain and Italy, and places it among the Minor Arcana that tarot readers name as a group.

Today

The card lives a double life. In Europe, tarot packs are still dealt out in card games, and the Four of Coins takes its place there like any other card. In English-speaking countries the picture is nearly the reverse: the games never gained a wide following, so the deck is met chiefly as a fortune-telling tool, and this card is known mainly for what readers say it reveals about wealth and hoarding. One printed piece of card, two working careers, set on different paths by whether the games behind it travelled.

Questions people ask about Four of Coins

Good reading and sources

• Four of Coins on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data