Nine of Pentacles in 6 decks
The same card as 6 decks draw it, five and a half centuries apart. What stays the same is the card’s core; what changes is where a reading can find something new. The meanings are written for the Rider–Waite–Smith picture; the descriptions here are of each deck’s own. Not in Oswald Wirth, which has no Nine of Pentacles card.
Side by side
Choose any two decks and read the pictures against each other.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A woman in a long gold robe embroidered with flowers stands alone in a vineyard heavy with grapes, one hand resting on a pentacle and a hooded falcon perched on the other. Six pentacles sit in the vines beside her and three at her feet. A manor house stands in the distance and a snail crawls across the ground.
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
Eight coins stand in two columns of four, with a ninth in the centre framed by two blue and yellow ribbon scrolls. A stem above and below the middle carries a green flower with red buds at the top, a red star flower beneath the scrolls, and a blue bud at the bottom.
Marseille number cards are read through their number and suit; the written meaning here gives the scene the Rider-Waite-Smith card adds.
Rider–Waite–Smith
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A woman in a long gold robe embroidered with flowers stands alone in a vineyard heavy with grapes, one hand resting on a pentacle and a hooded falcon perched on the other. Six pentacles sit in the vines beside her and three at her feet. A manor house stands in the distance and a snail crawls across the ground.
Tarot de Marseille
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
Eight coins stand in two columns of four, with a ninth in the centre framed by two blue and yellow ribbon scrolls. A stem above and below the middle carries a green flower with red buds at the top, a red star flower beneath the scrolls, and a blue bud at the bottom.
Marseille number cards are read through their number and suit; the written meaning here gives the scene the Rider-Waite-Smith card adds.
Tarot de Viéville
Jacques Viéville, c. 1650
Nine coins: four pairs in two columns with a single coin at the centre. Red and grey ribbons wind between them, a small grey flower sits above the middle coin and a red leaf points down at the bottom.
Viéville number cards show only their suit symbols; read them through number and suit, with the written meaning as a guide.
Visconti-Sforza
Bonifacio Bembo, c. 1450
Nine gold coins in scalloped blue rings and pale ochre outer rings: one at the top centre and four rows of two below. Small blue and red flowers sit between the pairs, with green vines along the sides inside a red border.
In the Visconti-Sforza deck the number cards show only their suit symbols, and the trumps are unnamed and unnumbered.
Sola Busca
c. 1491
A round scaled cage on legs is filled with coins, with red flames bursting from its sides and top. Beneath it a small child crouches among more flames, and single coins rest on the top and on the ground. The numeral 9 is at the right.
Soimoi
Mike Koz, 2025
A woman with long black hair and a tattoo on her neck stands in a red kimono patterned with flowers, a hawk perched on her gloved left hand. She holds one gold coin at her waist, and eight more gold coins with three-comma swirls hang on cords from a pine branch above. Petals drift across an orange evening sky over a distant torii and city skyline.