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Combinations · Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot
Six of Pentacles combinations
Every card that lands beside the Six of Pentacles changes what is being handed over, or tips the exchange toward one side. Each of the seventy-eight partners, the Six's own double included, is read both ways up.
Card meaning: Six 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.
Help changes hands in the Six of Pentacles, and its partner says what kind of help it is and on what footing it arrives. The Five of Pentacles, just before it in the suit, supplies the need it answers. The Ten of Pentacles turns the coins into family support or an inheritance. The Devil shows real help binding the querent to the one who gives it. On the card a well-dressed man in the guise of a merchant drops coins from his right hand to two beggars kneeling with their hands held out, a pair of scales in his other hand, city buildings and green trees behind them under a clear sky. The querent can stand in either place, giving or kneeling, and the partner often shows which.
Upright, the Six reads well beside sixty-four of the seventy-eight cards. The fourteen that keep it mixed carry a weight of their own, such as the Tower's collapse, the Ten of Wands' load or the Nine of Swords' fear of being a burden, so the help is real while something else in the reading still needs settling. Reversed, the exchange turns lopsided: debt, strings attached, giving with nothing coming back. No partner lifts that face above mixed, and with both cards reversed sixty-six pairs read hard. For the quintessence, add six to a numbered partner: the Emperor gives the Wheel of Fortune, Justice the Star, the Ten of Pentacles the Tower.
Six of Pentacles beside other cards in a spread
Beside Major Arcana cards
Twenty trumps read well with the upright Six. The upright Emperor brings a fair patron and pay that matches the effort, Justice repaid debts and reward that fits the work, the World a chapter closed with fair shares all round. The Devil and the Tower stay mixed: help that can bind, support after a sudden collapse. A reversed Devil reads well as a dependency ends, a reversed Emperor hard as support turns into control. Under a reversed Six, the Devil, the Tower and the Moon read hard.
Beside Wands
Fire and Earth are neutral, so a Wand gives the coins something to fund: the Ace's fresh project, the Two's next step outward, the Page's paid chance to learn, the Six's recognition matched by a fair reward. The Five and Ten stay mixed upright, a contest over who has earned the reward and a load carried for others. Both read well reversed, the dispute settled or part of the load set down. Under a reversed Six, those two, the Eight and the Knight of Wands read hard.
Beside Cups
Water is friendly to Earth, and the Cups bring feeling into the exchange. The Two keeps give and take level between equals, the Six returns old kindness in feeling and in money, the Ten lets a household thrive on shared good fortune. The Four, Five and Seven of Cups stay mixed upright: an offer the querent barely notices, support after a loss, hopes running ahead of what is given. Reversed under the upright Six, all three read well; the Five and Seven turn hard once the Six is reversed.
Beside Swords
Air and Earth are contrary, and the suit divides. The Ace, Two, Four and Six read well upright with all four courts, from clear terms to help on the way out of a hard place. The Three, Five, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten stay mixed, help near at hand while pain, a quarrel, secrecy or fear stands in the way. Reverse any of those six under the upright Six and the obstacle lifts, so the pair reads well. Reverse the Six instead and all six read hard.
Beside Pentacles
Earth beside Earth keeps the talk on wages, loans and gifts. The Ace brings an opening through support, the Three good work fairly paid, the Four a secure base that makes giving possible, the Ten family wealth shared inside the household. Only the Five stays mixed upright, hardship meeting a helping hand the querent still has to accept, and it reads well reversed as recovery speeds up. With the Six reversed, the Five and the Seven read hard, help failing the hardship and patience spent on unfair terms.
Beside court cards
All sixteen courts read well beside the upright Six, and each shows the querent's own way of giving or receiving, or how they experience someone in the exchange. The Page of Pentacles takes paid training, and the Queen of Cups gives with care and receives with grace. Turn either card over and the courts fall to mixed, except the Knight of Wands, who reads hard under a reversed Six as his energy goes into a lopsided deal. With both reversed, none of the sixteen reads well.
Beside a card of the same number
Six is the Lovers' number, and six and six make twelve, so the Hanged Man is the quintessence with the Lovers and every Six, asking the querent to see the exchange from the other side. The Lovers makes it give and take between equals, the Six of Wands recognition with a fair reward, the Six of Cups old kindness returned, the Six of Swords help on the way out of a hard situation. A doubled Six of Pentacles, one copy reversed, sets a fair exchange beside a lopsided one.
Beside reversed cards
With the Six upright, a reversed partner mostly reads mixed: support is there, and the partner's trouble slows the querent in using it. Thirteen read well because the reversal removes what kept help away. The Devil's dependency ends, the Five and Ten of Wands settle the dispute or share the load, the Four, Five and Seven of Cups wake up, heal or see clearly, six Swords ease, and the Five of Pentacles climbs out of its hard stretch. The reversed Emperor alone turns the upright Six hard.
Six of Pentacles with every card
Each row gives the outlook in all four states, read from Six of Pentacles's side: Six of Pentacles first, then its partner.
Harmonious
Mixed
Challenging
↑ ↑
↑ ↓
↓ ↑
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The High Priestess
Help flows fairly, and your intuition tells you where to give and when to accept.
The Hierophant
Support flows through proper channels: a grant, a patron, a mentor who shares fairly.
Five of Swords
A conflict ends in a payment or settlement, fair only if the stronger side allows it.
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