EN (English)
Strength and the Six of Pentacles
A merchant weighs coins for two kneeling beggars, and a woman with no weapon holds a lion's jaws. The pair asks whether power is being used to support people or to keep them kneeling.
How the two cards meet
The merchant of the Six of Pentacles stands over two kneeling figures, dropping coins from one hand and holding a pair of scales in the other. He decides who gets what. Strength shows a different relationship to power: a woman in a white robe and a crown of flowers bends over a red lion and closes her hands on its jaws without force, joined to it by a garland of roses. The Major card's subject is power exercised with compassion; the Six brings it down to money, favours, salaries and gifts.
Eight and six make fourteen, which gives Temperance as the quintessence, the card of measured mixing. Balance is the test in every state here: Strength asks whether the hand is gentle, Temperance whether the measure is fair.
Combinations are common patterns, not rules
The readings here describe how a pair most often reads. Check each one against two things before you apply it. The first is the question: the same pair says one thing about a relationship and another about a job offer, and the question decides which side of the pair matters. The second is the background, meaning what the querent already knows about the situation, the position each card holds in the spread, and the cards around the pair. When the question or the background points another way, go with them over the general reading. Each pair page lists the exceptions that come up most often.
Four ways the pair can fall
Both upright
Outlook: Harmonious Yes or no: YesKindness backed by real strength: giving and receiving stay fair, and support flows both ways.
This is soft power with an open purse. Strength's compassion and the Six's generosity point the same direction, and because Strength rules its own impulses, the merchant's scales stay honest: help is given without strings and accepted without shame. Partners show up for each other in hard times, and the one who carries more, materially or emotionally, does it without overstepping the other's dignity. For a single person, warmth and attraction come with mutual respect from the start. At work, diligence earns recognition, a bonus or a promotion, and Strength's diplomacy turns a negotiation into an exchange both sides can live with. Mentorship works well here, given or received. Money can come back from an earlier investment, or arrive as support the querent has earned through their own conduct.
Advice
Offer help to one person this month who would not ask, and accept the next offer of help made to you without arguing.
Strength upright, Six of Pentacles reversed
Outlook: Mixed Yes or no: Not yetThe exchange has gone lopsided, and calm self-respect is what puts the scales right.
Somebody is giving far more than they get back. The reversed Six shows strings attached, effort that goes unrewarded, or a partner who takes the most for the least. Upright Strength gives the querent the self-respect to name the imbalance without anger and the firmness to say no. Its tolerance stops short of letting kindness be exploited. If the querent is the over-giver, Strength says that compassion includes their own needs; if they are the one taking, Strength's responsibility for one's actions asks them to even the account. In a relationship, a calm conversation about who carries what can restore reciprocity. Colleagues may be leaning on the querent's work without credit, and Strength supports raising it plainly with whoever sets the pay. Money owed may be slow to return, and patience with a firm deadline handles that better than pressure.
Advice
Name one arrangement where you give more than you receive, and set a clear limit on it in a calm conversation this week.
Strength reversed, Six of Pentacles upright
Outlook: Mixed Yes or no: Not yetReal help is on offer, but insecurity turns accepting it into dependence.
The coins are falling, and the querent is kneeling for them. The upright Six brings real support: a loan, a gift, a mentor, a partner who carries the load for a while. Reversed Strength brings self-doubt and a dependency on outside help, so what should be a bridge risks becoming a crutch. Accepting is right; staying on one's knees is the problem. A generous partner may end up as the patron in a way neither person planned, and the querent's low self-esteem keeps them from offering anything back. At work, a senior colleague's backing can carry the querent through a stretch of shaken confidence, and the professional training the Six can bring is a way to rebuild it. Financially, help arrives when it is needed; reversed Strength warns that impulse spending can waste it.
Advice
Take the help, and decide now which part of it you will be able to return or take over yourself within three months.
Both reversed
Outlook: Challenging Yes or no: NoGiving becomes a power play: gifts with strings, control dressed as help, resentment on both sides.
Here the merchant's scales are rigged and the lion is loose. Reversed Strength brings domination and the misuse of power to control rather than support; the reversed Six adds unequal exchange, hidden motives and manipulation through gifts and assistance. The querent may be on either side: using money or favours to keep someone close, or kneeling to a giver who expects obedience in return. Romantic relationships turn on debts, real or emotional, and one partner keeps score. Friendships sour over money lent and never repaid. At work there may be exploitation, a disproportionate workload without compensation, and the querent's insecurity makes it hard to object. Ventures can fail through greed or mismanaged funds. Reversed Strength's counsel, diplomacy instead of force and support sought from outside the situation, offers the way out.
Advice
Stop any loan or gift that comes with conditions you resent, and talk the arrangement through with someone outside it before you agree to anything new.
When this reading may not apply
In a question about a specific person's generosity, the cards show the querent's part of the exchange: how they give, how they receive, and whether they can say no. As an outcome, upright Strength with the upright Six favours fair support, though the Six is a staged card and the balance it shows should be checked against what actually happens. In a 'what to let go of' position, the reversed Six with upright Strength becomes an instruction to stop pouring resources into one-sided ties. Where the querent works in care or charity, the pair can describe the work itself rather than a personal relationship.
Frequently asked questions
Latest Posts
Discover the ancient wisdom of tarot cards and unlock the mysteries of your spiritual journey. Our blog is your gateway to understanding the rich symbolism, meanings, and practical applications of tarot reading.
