Illustration by Pamela Colman Smith, 1910. Public domain in the US since 1966 and in the UK since 2021. Vector digitisation of the Rider–Waite–Smith deck by OpenClipart contributor "klaatu-tarot", released public domain.
Four of Pentacles
The Fortified Estate
Waite's 1911 list includes legacies and inheritance for the Four of Pentacles; the picture does not establish where the man's money originated.
A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III, section 2, Pentacles: Four; Global Grey 2017 transcription.
A crowned man sits with a coin on his head, one held to his chest and one under each foot, a city behind him.
More context
A crowned figure clasps a pentacle, with another above the crown and two beneath the feet. Waite's 1911 account describes him as holding to what he has. Its divinatory meanings include security of possessions and attachment to them, but also gifts, legacies and inheritance. The reversed list gives suspense, delay and opposition. The image therefore supports an account of possession and retention. It does not establish that the city supplied his money or that the man cannot move.
Light
Waite includes secure possessions, gifts, legacies and inheritance among the card’s divinatory meanings.
Shadow
His reversed meanings are suspense, delay and opposition; holding property does not guarantee an unimpeded outcome.