Kings are associated with control, mastery, discipline and resolve.  Pentacles are associated with the material world, acquisitions of wealth and possessions, our connection to Earth and Nature, sensation, matters pertaining to the physical plane and the element of earth.  Pentacles can also be connected with practicality, groundedness and being realistic.  The King of Pentacles represents someone solid, reliable, mature and comfortable with his physical nature.  He may also be very materially comfortable.  This is a person who is comfortable with his authority and able to use it with common sense and practicality.  This card is someone who is at home with his material world and comfortable with the sensuous, physical side of human nature.  He is a master of all he surveys and understand how to work with his environment.  

"This shows an end to a physical, material, or financial patterns in your life.  There is no point in re-committing resources, physical energy, or money to this project.  It is important to recognize that your investment in this security pattern has run its course.  It is time to take some action to end the old pattern, and withdraw from your involvement in that direction." - Gail Fairfield

In the Blake LWB, Ed Buryn writes "In the creative process:  Test and refine your ideas or product to see if it works as planned; be practical yet innovative."

Looking at this card I got the sense that I have the potential to become the master of my financial fate and manifest the kind of prosperity and abundance I need in my life.  I have the ability to paint my own reality and have it be as colorful and brilliant as I desire.  However I still have some obstacles to overcome.  The positives about this situation are that I now realize that I don't need to "have it all" to be happy and that I actually don't need as much stuff to be happy as I used to believe.  I also know that I don't have to have just one job, I can try a few different careers that allow me more freedom and flexibility.  There is also a reminder that I need to reallocate resources in a way that is more likely to manifest the future I want and generate the ending I need.  I need to incorporate a practical and yet innovative approach to my future and how I want to generate income.

On both these cards I love the sense have the ability to create their own reality.  The Hudes King of Pentacles stands before a map of the world - he can go anywhere he chooses.  The Man of Painting is able to bare himself, expose his inner, true self and still feel in control and confident about what he will create by doing this.  Both are wonderful examples of the quiet, self-confidence the King of Pentacles possesses that allows him to manifest his dreams and desires into reality.

I know that with my degrees and experience, if I put the time and effort into searching for a more traditional job I could probably find one in a few months.  It might not be a perfect fit but it would probably be something I am quite capable of doing and wouldn't bore me.  However I think part of what this card is reminding me is that I want to be the king of my own domain; the master of my own money.  I don't want to depend on anyone else, be at someone else's whims anymore.  I want to be able to stand or fall on my own.

That doesn't mean I have to do it alone, it simple means that I will need to become more independent and decisive about things.  To paraphrase Harry Truman, "the buck stops here".  Whether I am successful or not will be more directly dependent upon my own actions.  Too often in the past, I've been able to minimize the consequences of my goofing off because I was willing to put in the extra time and effort necessary to make sure I eventually corrected the situation.  If I am my own boss, then the goofing off will have to become much less prevalent.  Who knows, I may learn that by working for myself I have a fool for a boss but I'm very determined and curious to find out if that's the case.