Ten of Pentacles Tarot Card Meaning

Ten of Pentacles upright

Under an archway into a house, a man and woman stand with a child who reaches towards two dogs; an old man sits in the foreground. Waite lists gain, riches, family matters, archives and the house of a family. Think long term — about family, property and what you pass on.

Ten of Pentacles reversed

Waite reversed gives chance, fatality, loss, robbery and games of hazard — and sometimes a gift, dowry or pension. Avoid gambling with what the family relies on.

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

Is Ten of Pentacles a yes or no?

Upright: Leans yes. Yes — a secure, lasting outcome.

Reversed: Reversed, Ten of Pentacles reads as mixed — not a clear yes or no: family disputes, risk, loss.

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

Symbolism in the Ten of Pentacles card

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

• Archway into a family house — Waite: the house or dwelling of a family
• Child with hand on a dog — the youngest generation
• Old man seated in the foreground — the eldest generation

In Waite’s own words (paraphrased)

Upright: gain, riches; family matters, archives, extraction, the abode of a family.

Reversed: chance, fatality, loss, robbery, games of hazard; sometimes gift, dowry, pension.

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.