Houses and cities in tarot

Houses and towns stand for home, belonging, community and the settled life. The Chariot sets out from a walled city; the Ten of Cups shows a cottage across a river from the family; the Ten of Pentacles is set under the archway of a great house; the children of the Six of Cups play before a house with a guard walking away; the Four of Wands celebrates with a castle behind. In readings buildings tell you whether a figure is at home, leaving or returning. Notice how near or far the town is.

Cards that show houses and cities

The Chariot
The Chariot: The town and river
Behind him, beyond a strip of river, stand the walls, towers and red roofs of a town. He has left settled life behind and crossed water: the chariot is heading out into the world.
Two of Wands
Two of Wands: The landscape below
Water, fields, a red-roofed house and blue-grey mountains stretch away on either side. The land is fertile and peaceful. The question is not whether the world is worth reaching but whether he will go.
Four of Wands
Four of Wands: The castle and its tower
A grey wall with a round, red-roofed tower stands behind them, with more turrets and a house beyond. Waite calls it an old manorial house: home, shelter and settled life.
Eight of Wands
Eight of Wands: The hill with a building
On the left a green hill rises with a small building on its top, drawn very simply. It gives the flight a destination: somewhere the wands, or the news they carry, are heading.
Ten of Wands
Ten of Wands: The house among the trees
A red-roofed house stands among trees on the right. It is the destination where the load might be set down; Waite adds, darkly, that the place he approaches may suffer from the rods he carries.
Two of Cups
Two of Cups: The house on the hill
Behind the couple a small red-roofed house sits among green hills. It sets the meeting in an ordinary, lived-in world and hints at the home and shared life a bond like this might lead to.
Six of Cups
Six of Cups: The old town
Behind the children rise a square stone tower, steep grey roofs and yellow walls. The setting is old and enclosed, a safe and familiar place, the kind of world memory tends to preserve.
Ten of Cups
Ten of Cups: The house
A small house with a red roof stands on a rise among trees. Waite calls it 'a home-scene beyond': the stable, modest place that holds the family's life together.
Three of Pentacles
Three of Pentacles: The Gothic arch
Two pointed arches rise from a slender column, set against a brick wall, with darkness beyond. The church setting gives the work a sense of permanence and of serving something larger than the people doing it.
Four of Pentacles
Four of Pentacles: The town behind him
A walled town with tall towers, red roofs and a few trees stretches along the horizon behind him. It suggests the society and exchange he has turned away from: the place where coins circulate, while his stay still.
Five of Pentacles
Five of Pentacles: The dark wall
The window is set into a heavy dark wall with no visible door. It suggests a world that seems closed to them, though the light inside says otherwise.
Six of Pentacles
Six of Pentacles: The town in the distance
A small walled town with a tower and green trees appears low on the right horizon. It places the scene on the edge of a settled community, the world of trade the merchant belongs to.
Eight of Pentacles
Eight of Pentacles: The distant town
On the far left, a small town with a red roof and a tower stands among green trees. It is the world where the finished work will be sold or used, kept at a distance while he concentrates.
Nine of Pentacles
Nine of Pentacles: The manor house
A house with a red roof and pale walls stands among the trees on the right. It is the estate Waite describes, a sign of settled, permanent comfort beyond the garden.
Ten of Pentacles
Ten of Pentacles: The archway and coats of arms
The foreground is framed by a stone arch, with heraldic shields on the left pillar, one showing a castle. Heraldry is the visible sign of a family's name and lineage, and the arch is the threshold of the estate.
King of Pentacles
King of Pentacles: The castle
A castle with pointed towers rises on the right behind a low wall. It represents his domain: a secure, established place that he has built and governs.