October 19-25, 2026: A Blessed Season of Riches 🍁

A garden is a grand teacher.  It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all, it teaches entire trust.
Gertrude Jekyll

This week, we are given an autumnal gift. If you’ve longed for rich, nurturing assistance, look no further than the resplendent Queen of Pentacles.

Pentacles are the suit of the element of Earth: money, career, health, practical matters, and the physical, material realm. And she is a Court card—which can be complicated by the fact that the Courts may be an actual person we know (we ourselves or someone else), or they might indicate a particular kind of energy being brought to bear.

The Queens of the Tarot can be Priestesses, Mothers, and esteemed representatives of the Divine Feminine. Binary or not, for simplicity’s sake, I refer to this Queen as “she” but please remember that any of the court cards may be “she,” “he,” or “they.”

In the Waite-Smith deck, she is depicted as a mature woman who is financially secure, even wealthy. She has a great appreciation of beautiful objects, home, and creature comforts.

She holds her Pentacle gently but firmly on her lap, knowing that there is no disconnect between the earthly and the spiritual, for to be fully alive is wealth beyond imagination. The Queen also knows she is the steward, not the possessor, of her prosperity.

You can see that she is seated outdoors, beneath a rose arbor that is very similar to the one that the Tarot’s expert manifester, The Magician, stands within.

Her throne is carved with fruit trees and the symbols of Capricorn, because she is ruled by this sign of the zodiac. There are also mountains and rivers or lakes in the background. This is no surprise since Capricorn is not just any goat, but the mythological sea goat.

Spokeswoman for Venus

The Queen of Pentacles is often considered an embodiment of The Empress, who, in the R-W-S cards, sits beside a shield with the symbol for Venus.

And it just so happens that she is turning up in a week that will feature some important Venus aspects. Our adept expert, astrologer Elisabeth Grace, tells us that on Tuesday…

At 2:56 AM ET, Venus squares Pluto…Tuesday’s square between Venus Rx and Pluto has been humming in the background all weekend, pushing questions about values, money, women, art and social expression to extremes. Watch the markets, your wallet and your mouth.

With Mercury already stationing for its Saturday retrograde, watching your mouth is an excellent idea, and emulating this calm, circumspect Queen would be wise.

In addition, Elisabeth tells us that on Friday —

11:44 PM ET, Sun meets up with Venus. The technical term for Venus in the heart of the Sun is cazimi, a condition traditionally associated with exceptional strength. With Venus retrograde, this conjunction marks the beginning of a new Venus cycle — an opportunity to reconsider what and whom we value, and perhaps rediscover something precious that was overlooked or lost.

Sound advice, nods the Queen, gazing at the Pentacle in her lap.

She might also add that with the Mercury retrograde mentioned above in Scorpio, you might want to lock down things that should be kept secret, like passwords. To be on the safe side, be able to access that information offline. Make sure your valuables (like digital funds, for instance) are secure. And for heaven’s sake back up your important records and contacts!

Remember, Mercury retrograde is not the devil (that was last week, ha ha!). It offers an advantageous time for reviewing, revising, and re-thinking things to do with travel, technology, communication, and commerce. Added to that, retrograding Venus asks for us to reconsider what we value, especially in terms of art, beauty, and women’s issues.

Combined, the timing of this visit from the Queen suggests you give some thought to your home, health, and our money. Whatever unfolds for you in the volatile days ahead, she urges us to lavish lots of attention on staying GROUNDED.

The Nature of Wealth

This Queen’s gifts include robust health, vitality, and sexuality. The magical hare in the foreground is a harbinger of fertility and good fortune.

All of Nature is the Queen’s treasure. She may be a fitness instructor, economics expert, potter, cook, mechanic, herbalist, animal caretaker, or environmental champion. She is your favorite Earth Mother, wealth maker, and smart pragmatist. Some of my favorite IRL Queens are Elizabeth Warren and Martha Stewart.

And I have to also mention my maternal grandmother, whose birthday would have been today. She was not a hippie-type Earth mother by any stretch. But she was a prize-winning gardener and officer in the American Camellia Society, an antiques dealer, career woman, charitable organizer and fundraiser, and she made her home my childhood safe place.

The Queen of Pentacles guides us to appreciate what is sacred in the “mundane.” The gentle groundedness of this Queen provides safe, kindly protection for us to do this deep work.

Steady and generous, you’ll often find this Queen in the garden, experimenting in the kitchen, tending to friends, children, and animals, running a successful business or two, and reveling in only the finest, most sensuous pleasures of life.

Yet, holding her pentacle, she is never tempted to spend what she does not have. Instead, with feet firmly on the beautiful Earth around her, she advocates careful watchfulness and intelligent use of resources.

Giving Thanks

As the American election drama escalates, she might nudge you to first take care of the sensible tasks you need to attend to but then take time to savor the quiet, cozy comforts of Autumn. Soak up the golden light of these precious days. Let the lengthening darkness be an antidote to the shrill noise all around us.

With the holiday season waiting just beyond Samhain’s gate (the commercials are already in full swing), she would caution you about being pulled into the coming maelstrom of consumerism. Much of the advertising tells us that we are lacking the perfect body, possessions, and lifestyle. But the Queen recommends that you ignore these messages and instead give thanks for being precisely who you are. And possibly all while hammering out a savvy budget.

Take the time to stay in harmony with the rhythm and beauty of the natural world. There, you will discover the source of her true wealth (and your own).

If you are dealing with career, home, illness, or other essential concerns, she is a staunch ally. Who do you know (of any gender) that is gentle, wise, and blessed with commonsense skills? This person is always eager to share their beautiful home, bountiful table, Earthy wisdom, and practical magic, all borne of a lifetime’s experience.

To this Queen, material well-being is not some rare prize for only the privileged few. Instead, she asserts that all are welcome at Life’s table. Time is not her adversary, and Nature is not a hostile enemy but a friend.

How would our priorities change if we lived as if we were lovingly interconnected with the planet, not set apart or exiled from it?

Like the Queen, let your throne be, not in some dreary castle, but in the meadows and forests. Allow Mother Nature to shower you with blessings this week.

Divine treasures are everywhere, for when you trust life, there is no lack. Thus may the loveliness and abundance of Earth’s eternal garden fill your heart.

ps: On a more personal note, I can’t help but marvel that this card would appear the day after teaching one of my favorite workshops: Working with the Magic of Prosperity.

So, if you would indulge me, I would like to recommend this YouTube video that offers a Queen of Pentacles example that I have wept over every single time I’ve watched it—which is now in the dozens. It’s about 15 minutes long.