Alms of Pentacles

Element: Earth

Upright

·generosity
·giving and receiving
·charity
·balance

Reversed

·strings attached
·selfishness
·debt
·imbalance in giving

Upright

One hand holds the scales, the other lets coins fall into open palms. This is giving and receiving, the flow of it, sometimes you're the one pouring tea, sometimes the one with the empty cup held out. Both are sacred. Do each without shame. Notice which side of the counter you're on, and whether you've gotten stuck there.

Reversed

The scales tip. This is the gift with strings, the help that leaves a debt instead of relief. Or the reverse, you only ever give and never let a hand reach back, and the bond goes lopsided. The card asks for honest flow, real giving, real taking, with no ledger underneath.

In the imagery

Behind the counter a robed keeper weighs a small brass scale in one hand and tips warm coins into two cupped palms reaching up from the dusk-side of the shop. Sacks of beans and dried herbs sit weighed and shared on the dark wood. The balance held against the open, receiving hands shows the even, unshamed flow of plenty passed along.

Draw a one-card reading →Read this with Dylan

Others in the pentacles