Page of Pentacles Tarot Card Meaning

Page of Pentacles upright

A youth walks slowly, gazing at a pentacle that seems to float above his raised hands, unaware of anything around him. Waite lists application, study, scholarship and reflection — and also news, rule and management. Learn the skill properly; small steady steps.

Page of Pentacles reversed

Waite reversed gives prodigality, dissipation, liberality, luxury and unfavourable news. Watch spending, and do not let comfort replace effort.

A reversed card (What does Upright / reversed card mean?) is one drawn upside-down.

Is Page of Pentacles a yes or no?

Upright: Leans yes. Yes — step by step.

Reversed: Reversed, Page of Pentacles reads as a gentle no: wastefulness, luxury, distraction.

The yes/no lean is BornClock’s reading convention drawn from the card’s meaning — Waite himself did not assign one.

Symbolism in the Page of Pentacles card

What appears in the 1909 Rider–Waite–Smith picture, as Waite describes it:

• Youth gazing at a pentacle above his hands — Waite: absorbed in study
• Moving slowly, unaware of surroundings — Waite: wholly absorbed

In Waite’s own words (paraphrased)

Upright: application, study, scholarship, reflection; news, messages; rule, management.

Reversed: prodigality, dissipation, liberality, luxury; unfavourable news.

Source: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910, public domain). Some of Waite’s 1910 fortune-telling meanings are old-fashioned; the plain-English reading above is ours.