The Four of Pentacles as Intentions: To Keep You, or to Keep Themselves From You

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Four of Pentacles as intentions is a plan made with closed hands. Here is what I would read in it, upright and reversed, and how to tell possession from protection.

If you want the short answer, I would read the Four of Pentacles as intentions that are held too tightly. In an intentions position the card suggests the person means to hold on: to keep you, in a way that may feel like being owned, or to keep themselves back from you, in a way that may feel like being shut out. The intention is defensive either way. The hands are full and nothing new can be received.

This is the figure clutching a coin with two under his feet and one on his head. They intend to keep what they have. They have not decided whether you are what they have or what they are guarding against.

The Four of Pentacles upright as intentions

Tina Gong's the Four of Pentacles guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with control, security, conservatism and holding on. When the card lands in a position that asks what someone intends toward you, I read those meanings as the shape of their plan rather than as a promise about what they will do. Feelings and intentions are different questions; the Four of Pentacles as feelings covers the first, and this page covers the second. The general card meanings at Biddy Tarot are a useful second reference.

Upright, I read the Four of Pentacles as a person whose intention toward you is about security: either to secure you, which can become control, or to secure themselves against you, which can become a wall. They are not relaxed about you. They are gripping, and gripping is not the same as sharing.

What I would not read into it is generosity or ease. The Four of Pentacles does not intend to give freely. What it intends to keep, it keeps.

What the card does not tell you

The card does not confirm whether the grip is on you or on themselves, that it will loosen, or that what is being guarded is something you would want. No card lets a reader see another person's plans. What a card can do is describe the kind of intention that fits the person's behaviour, and give you something to check against what they actually do.

The Four of Pentacles reversed as intentions

Reversed, the Four of Pentacles as intentions describes the hands opening or the grip failing: a person who intends to let go, toward you or away, or one who feels they are losing something they held too hard and intends to hold harder. It can also describe generosity arriving after a long clutch.

In your own question, ask whether the person has recently become more open and giving, or whether they seem frightened of losing something they were holding too tightly. A reversed card as intentions is a prompt to compare what is said with what is done, not a diagnosis of bad faith.

The Four of Pentacles as an ex's intentions

Asked about an ex, the Four of Pentacles as intentions can suggest they intend to keep you in some way, not warmly but as something they do not want to lose or let anyone else have. That is possession, not love. It can also describe an ex guarding themselves against you, which is a different and more reasonable grip. My guide to asking a psychic whether an ex will come back explains what a reading can and cannot say about that question.

The Four of Pentacles as a new person's intentions

For someone new, this card describes someone who intends you and is either too guarded to show it or too quick to want to own it. Both are about security. Being safe without being capturable is the balance that helps.

What their intentions look like in action

Look for control and holding: wanting to know where you are, slow to share themselves, treating the relationship as something to be secured rather than enjoyed. A Four of Pentacles intention looks like a closed hand.

What to record before drawing again

Keep three short notes: the question you asked, what the person is holding on to, you or themselves, and how it feels to be on the other side of that grip. The third note is yours to trust.

For comparison, the Devil as intentions and the Emperor as intentions describe different intentions. The the Four of Pentacles card meaning page covers the card in full, and the Four of Pentacles as timing and the Four of Pentacles as a yes or no cover the other questions people most often ask of it. For a personal interpretation, my guide to a love psychic reading online explains how I work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.