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Combinations · Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot
Knight of Pentacles combinations
His horse has halted above a ploughed field, and he keeps his eyes on the coin in his hands. The card beside him names the job he is measuring it for, a home, a debt, a bond or a long project. All 78 pairings, a second Knight of Pentacles among them, are written out below for both cards upright and reversed.
Card meaning: Knight of PentaclesCombinations 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.
Of the four Knights, this rider is the one who has stopped. He holds his coin and gazes into it while his horse stands above a ploughed field, and that pace sets the clock for any card beside him: months and years, rarely weeks. The partner says what the patience is for. With the Empress the work becomes a harvest at home or in money. The Lovers get a loyal bond shown through deeds more than declarations, the Ten of Cups a household his labour keeps safe, and the King of Pentacles an experienced figure whose way of keeping wealth the querent can learn.
Sixty-two of the other seventy-seven partners read well with both cards upright, and fifteen stay mixed. Most of those fifteen hand his method a strain to carry: the Tower's sudden hit to a careful routine, the Devil's long commitment turning into a chain, the Five of Pentacles' lean stretch, the Nine of Swords' sleepless worry over a long project, the Two of Swords' choice that takes its time. Upright beside an upright card, he never reads hard.
Reversed, his care goes stiff: stagnation, fear of change, procrastination, routine without growth. No upright partner reads well with him then, and twenty-five read hard, Justice, Death and the Tower among them. Where he stands for someone, the pair describes what the querent meets beside a steady or stalled colleague, partner or relative.
Knight of Pentacles beside other cards in a spread
Beside Major Arcana cards
Twenty trumps read well beside the upright Knight, each giving his patience a direction. The Emperor lends a strategy, the Hierophant rules to work within, Justice a contract honoured and property handled by the book, Death a necessary change carried out step by step. The Devil and the Tower stay mixed. Reversed under him, the Chariot and the Devil read well, as lost control is regained through method and an old hold loosens. Turn the Knight over and Justice, Death, the Devil, the Tower and the Moon read hard.
Beside Wands
Fire and Earth are neutral, and a Wand brings speed the Knight has to absorb. The Ace and the Page of Wands hand him an idea to build, the Four a long plan reaching a stable home or role. The Five, Eight and Ten stay mixed upright: rivals scrambling, a fast offer, a heavy workload. Reversed under him, those three and the Seven read well, while a reversed Queen of Wands brings the querent's impatience and reads hard. Reversed himself, he turns the Five and the Seven through Ten hard.
Beside Cups
Water and Earth are friendly, so a Cup gives his steadiness some feeling. The Two of Cups builds love with practical care, the Ten of Cups gets the patient work that protects a happy household, and even the Eight of Cups reads well, a departure planned step by careful step. Only the Four and the Five stay mixed upright, interest lost and grief carried by routine; both read well reversed. A reversed Knight turns the Four through Seven and the Nine hard.
Beside Swords
Air pulls against Earth, and seven Swords keep the upright Knight mixed: the Two, Three, Five, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten, each a pressure on slow work, from a choice that takes time to a painful ending he starts rebuilding after. Reverse the Three, Five, Eight, Nine or Ten under him and the pair reads well, recovery finding a method. The Ace, Four, Six and the courts read well upright. A reversed Knight reads hard beside nine of them, the Page of Swords and the Four among them.
Beside Pentacles
His own suit doubles the Earth, and twelve of the thirteen others read well with both upright. The Ace's new opening gets the work it needs, the Four's careful saving grows slowly, the Eight's training moves at his pace, the Queen's stewardship turns effort into a comfortable home. The Five alone stays mixed, a lean stretch met with a budget kept day by day. Reversed under him, the Five reads well as recovery held in place by careful habits; a reversed Knight beside the upright Five reads hard.
Beside court cards
All fifteen other courts read well with both cards upright. A court often stands for someone the querent works or lives beside, and the pair shows what the querent meets there: the King of Pentacles as an established hand whose system can be learned, the Queen of Swords as logical decisions carried through, the Page of Cups as a tender beginning given time. A reversed court under the upright Knight reads mixed, the Queen of Wands excepted. Reverse the Knight instead and only the Page of Swords reads hard.
Beside a card of the same number
Knights have no number, so their pairs carry no quintessence and rank is the link: the Knights of Wands, Cups and Swords. Upright, each brings a different tempo to his method, a fast start that also lasts, a sincere feeling given the patience it needs, a swift decision then built patiently. One reversed Knight makes any of these pairs mixed, and two make it hard. A second Knight of Pentacles doubles the diligence upright and doubles the standstill reversed.
Beside reversed cards
Upright, the Knight reads hard beside a single reversed card, the Queen of Wands. Fourteen reversals work in his favour, because the partner's trouble is lifting and his method gives the recovery something to stand on: the Five of Pentacles' hardship easing, the Three of Swords' worst pain passing, the Devil's hold loosening, the Ten of Wands' extra duties set down, the Chariot's lost control regained. The other sixty-two stay mixed, steady work carrying on beside a partner's unresolved trouble.
Knight of Pentacles with every card
Each row gives the outlook in all four states, read from Knight of Pentacles's side: Knight of Pentacles first, then its partner.
Harmonious
Mixed
Challenging
↑ ↑
↑ ↓
↓ ↑
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The Moon
Patient, methodical work carries the querent through a confusing period without rash moves.
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