The Three Of Pentacles Tarot Card’s True Meaning: Love, Health and Money

The Three of Pentacles is a positive card that primarily revolves around your employment and work in general — particularly teamwork.

It often denotes creative endeavors and how these efforts help serve others. A lot of hard, stressful work can be in store when the Three of Pentacles appears in a spread.

If you remain committed to the task at hand the end result will be success. You may even emerge as a recognized expert in the respective endeavor once all is said and done.

hard work rewarded

Element: Earth
Planet : Mars
Astrological sign: Capricorn
Key dates: December 31st to January 9th

Visual Elements and Symbolism

In the Rider-Waite deck the Three of Pentacles depicts a young man who works in a cathedral, standing on a bench speaking with two other men, a monk and an aristocrat or scholar, the latter holding plans of the cathedral on a piece of parchment.

The monk wears a grey robe, symbolizing divine balance, while his tonsure references the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ at his crucifixion, indicating higher purpose. The aristocrat is wearing a medieval garment once worn by academics called a liripipe, which symbolizes knowledge.

The man standing on the bench is an apprentice to the aristocrat, the bench symbolic of a simple yet practical foundation, and his yellow apron symbolizing his knowledge. The tunic and boots he wears are violets representing the wisdom, or intellect, crucial to the field of architecture.

In spite of the apprentice’s weaker understanding of architecture, the two more established men are listening to him intently, respecting his ideas while determining how best to proceed with the project at hand. Together, the three men represent teamwork and harmony.

The Three of Pentacles as a Person

People represented by the Three of Pentacles tend to be excellent team players with considerable communication skills who take great pleasure in their work.

They often hold jobs that require them to work with their hands, such as a construction worker, but also tend to have professions closely tied with real estate, either as an agent, mortgage broker, or loan officer.

Three of Pentacles people are known for their integrity and problem solving skills, and won’t easily back down in an argument. However, they are generous when it comes to helping others and are very good listeners.

three of pentacles illustration — Three of Pentacles — Marco Proietto

upright

The Three of Pentacles Upright: Positive Meanings

Representative of learning, studying and apprenticeship as it applies to work and employment, the Three of Pentacles denotes that you’ve worked hard, continue to work hard, and are building a solid foundation that will only lead to success in the activities most important to you.

You may be working with others in order to realize these goals, but by nature you collaborate harmoniously with your colleagues and co-conspirators, an admirable side of your disposition that will always serve you well.

Love and Relationships

You may be finding yourself romantically involved with somebody you know from school or work, or are at least desiring one or more of your co-workers sexually.

While you may have traditionally tried to stay away from sexual relationships with work associates, there is no good reason not to take love where you find it, and if that’s at your workplace, then so be it. This relationship could well outlast your present employment anyway.

If you’re already in a relationship, then the Three of Pentacles indicates that both parties are prepared to put in the work and accept the compromises that will enable it to prosper. At the same time, however, drawing this card in a love reading could also be a warning that you’re placing your career and work interests over your relationship, and that the latter is sure to suffer as a result if you don’t start changing your behavior.

Career

In a career reading the Three of Pentacles stands for skilled labor and teamwork, particularly with respect to careers in architecture, design, and construction.

It suggests a superior work ethic, commitment to your job, and a determination to excel in your respective field. When this card appears it suggests that all your hard work and dedication has not going unnoticed and that a promotion or salary increase is likely to be the result of your efforts.

It can also mean you will need to work with a team in order to meet your professional objectives. However, you fully understand this and have no problems collaborating with those whom you respect.

Money

Finding the Three of Pentacles in a financial reading is a good omen as it indicates you’ll soon be rewarded for your efforts. The financial woes you’ve been experiencing lately are about to come to an end.

Regardless of your current financial situation, you can expect it to improve, and possibly in a major way. While you wouldn’t want to use the rent money to buy them, this might be a good time to take a chance and purchase a few lottery tickets or, more realistically, devote a small amount of money to a chancier, long shot investment that could potentially pay off in a big way.

Health

If you’ve been working out and trying hard to get yourself into primo physical condition, finding the the Three of Pentacles Tarot card in a health spread is a great omen as it portends that all of your hard work and exercise is beginning to pay off.

You’re feeling good, looking good, and the people around you are noticing and commenting on how vibrant and healthier you’ve been looking lately. While you’ve been very disciplined and committed to your weight loss and physical exercise routine, don’t grow complacent and start taking your improved condition for granted. In other words, keep up the good work!

reversed

The Three of Pentacles Reversed: Negative Meanings

In a general reading, drawing the The Three of Pentacles reversed is not the best card you could hope to find in a spread. It suggests that you’re having difficulty learning from your mistakes, possibly because you refuse to acknowledge they were mistakes in the first place.

This could be because the truth may be overwhelming and more than you’re prepared to face right now. However, hiding your head in the sand is not working to your favor, and will continue to drag you down until you come to grips with reality, regardless of how unpleasant it may appear to you initially.

This card in the reverse position can also signify a poor work ethic, a lack of motivation, or unnecessary delays resulting from conflict with your colleagues.

Love and Relationships

In a love question the Three of Pentacles reversed suggests that somebody — a third party — is directly or indirectly compromising your relationship. This could mean you or your partner is having an affair, has developed a strong attraction to someone else, or that somebody is planting destructive ideas about your relationship in to one or both of your heads.

If so, this individual is doing so for strictly selfish reasons, with little true concern for either of you.

On a happier note, drawing the Three of Pentacles can indicate that you are particularly fertile at the moment and if you’re in a relationship and would like to start a family, this is a good time to start trying.

If you are single and don’t wish to be, it’s possibly because you’re being too apathetic about your romantic life and need to step it up a few notches.

Career

You may not be performing as well as you’d like at work, with your productivity compromised along with the overall quality of your work.

While you may only realize this deep down, the reason for your slowdown is that you’ve grown tired of your career, with your job bringing you little satisfaction anymore, yet you don’t see a way out or any other professional activity you could do to replace it.

As such, you need to take some time away from your job — even a week or two week vacation would be enough — to really sit back and assess your career with an eye to the future. Your professional life isn’t likely to improve until you come to terms with this reality.

Money

In a money reading, drawing the Three of Pentacles reversed indicates that the reason you aren’t as wealthy as you feel you should be is due to a lack of effort.

You need to lose this sense of entitlement you carry and appreciate that if you want to improve your financial status you are going to have to work for it. No financial windfalls are likely to come your way otherwise.

However, you should take comfort knowing that you definitely can improve your finances if you want to badly enough. The same can’t be said for everyone.

Health

As with your finances, drawing the Three of Pentacles reversed in a health reading is telling you that you can’t just sit back in front of the TV eating snacks and drinking soda every night and expect to radiate physical fitness and good health. Rather, if you want to see results, you’ll need to put some effort into it and start eating better and exercise more frequently.

So far as illness is concerned, if you’re feeling fine, it’s because you are. However, trust your instincts. If you start to feel as though something isn’t quite right inside, don’t let yourself go in to denial about it and have whatever it may be addressed immediately.

three of pentacles tarot illustration — Three of Pentacles — Kelsey Showalter

spreads

Your Past, Present, and Future

The Three of Pentacles in the past position indicates that all those years you spent studying were a wise investment of your time that will continue to pay off — not only financially, but as a result of the self-assurance and confidence higher education has brought you.

In the present position, it indicates that you will need to keep developing your craft and continue learning new skills if you want to realize your notably ambitious goals. However, you have the kind of disposition that allows you to accept these realities, and rather than be discouraged by them, you are more apt to buckle down and do what you need to do in order to forge ahead.

In the future position, the Three of Pentacles indicates that you have the potential to create a piece of work that will be seen as iconic, a model for others to follow and emulate. While this is likely to be a work of art, like a song, book, film, painting or screenplay, it doesn’t have to be, and could also manifest as a new approach to something you’re doing at work, such as a guide to performing some job-related activity that will serve to train new workers for decades to come.

Important Card Combinations

As with all cards, their interpretation can be dramatically different depending on the position of the cards spread out beside them. Here are a few interpretations to take away from the following combinations.

Three of Pentacles and Six of Wands

When combined with the Six of Wands, the message to be taken away is that you’ve been doing good work, it’s being recognized, and your coworkers all love you as a result of it.

Three of Pentacles and Three of Cups

The Three of Pentacles combined with the Three of Cups indicates teamwork and celebration.

Three of Pentacles and Moon

The Moon card can be taken quite literally in this context. The night shift, or working overtime hours well into the night, is what’s signified when these two cards appear together in a spread.

Three of Pentacles and Magician

Taken together, the Three of Pentacles and the Magician card signify a talented sales team.

Three of Pentacles and Lovers

In this context, the Lovers card suggests that you are in love with something at your place of work. This could be one of your co-workers, the job itself, or a project you’ve worked on that you feel really good about.