Five of Pentacles Tarot Card Meaning

Five of Pentacles upright

The Five of Pentacles is above all about material hardship. It points to a loss of money or position, worries over material things, want or poverty. It follows the Four, which set up stability, and it shakes that stability: material security becomes unsteady, a financial crisis is possible, and you have practical adjustments to make. This card describes a time of trouble that can last a long while.

You may be gripped by a fear of going without, feel like one of the have-nots, shut out or judged inadequate. You may worry about your physical well-being. You may also wonder whether you are caught in a situation you will never leave, whether you are overwhelmed, whether the course of events is going to crush you. The card combines strong tension with long inaction: you endure the situation without your own effort being able to change the essentials.

People in this card hold on and they survive. They walk past a church without seeing the refuge it offers. Because we get used to anything, you may stop seeing chances to change your situation, and even resist the end of your troubles. The card then shows pride and independence, sometimes to the point of foolishness when help is genuinely on offer. The church has no door: it can also stand for an institution that failed to comfort or heal. You may be in a situation where family, friends or institutions cannot help you, and where you have to face your difficulties alone. The card can also stand for voluntary simplicity: a life without luxury, chosen for higher values.

In love, the card can describe two people who hold together through a bad situation. The hardship can become one of the bonds between them, so that the end of their money troubles might weaken their union, or they fear it would and dread the change. The oldest meanings of the card speak of married love, affection and friendship, with faithfulness in poverty and illness. It is therefore also read as good for love but bad for money, or as a business loss tied to personal relationships. It can also point to caring for a sick person.

Your strengths

You hold on through difficulties, and you can earn money back after hard work.

What holds you back

You fear going without, and you feel shut out or inadequate.
You lack imagination, and you are hard, severe and stubborn.
You grow used to the hardship and no longer see chances to change your situation.
Your pride and independence make you refuse the help you are offered.
You find yourself alone with your problems when those around you cannot help.

What helps

Adapting in practical ways to the material situation as it is.
Putting your intelligence at the service of your work.

Five of Pentacles reversed

It indicates that you are holding on despite setbacks, that you are going back to work after a period without a job, or that you are coming out of debt. It marks the moment when you can change course in the face of your material or moral difficulties. The card says the bad trend can reverse and that you can take an interest in material matters again. In the image on the card, the snow has passed overhead, the darkness is receding and the window becomes a door to a shelter: you can look for refuge. Someone saw in it a hidden possibility that has become accessible.

In your emotional life, the card speaks of close ones and friends. If you are estranged from those close to you, you can overcome the disagreement and reconcile. It announces a period of amnesty, when those who had drifted away return or are accepted. A situation with a friend or relative judged unsuitable may evolve through a separation or through a stronger commitment on your part. One person saw in it organized religion as a source of difficulties, with a feeling of rejection and betrayal. The traditional meanings of the reversed card also speak of troubles in love, disorder and confusion.

Your strengths

You persevere through material difficulties.
You are able to reconcile with those you were estranged from.

What holds you back

You may lose money through disorder, misuse or waste of your resources.
You risk seeing others as dissolute and blaming them for their misfortunes as a lack of restraint or morals, or putting the wrongs of society on ordinary people.
You may on the contrary pity them as victims of society.
You may feel rejected and betrayed by an institution.

What helps

Looking for a shelter, a refuge or help when you need it.
Going back to your work and taking an interest in your material situation again.
Reconciling with those you are estranged from.
Working on your shadow areas, with deep psychological reflection.

Love

Troubles in love and misplaced passion are possible. If you were estranged from a loved one, a reconciliation is possible.

What the card shows

In the image, two beggars walk through a snowstorm and pass a lit window. The window belongs to an illuminated church, and the two figures stay outside in the cold. They are bent over and crippled, but they keep moving forward. They walk past the church without seeing it as a shelter. The church has no door: it can also stand for an institution that has left people outside.

The Five comes after the stability of the Four and overturns it. In the series of Pentacles, the card speaks of financial crisis, material instability and poverty. The word "beggars" refers to people who carry a flaw: the card therefore also touches on the feeling of being damaged, set aside, rejected. It can also show a chosen simplicity: a way of life without luxury, for values you place higher.

It can also speak of a material loss tied to a relationship, or of caring for a sick person. If the difficulty is what holds you together, seeing it disappear can weaken the bond, or you may fear that it will.

This version speaks of loss of money or position, hard labor, poverty, but also of care, kindness and a sense of practical things. It also sometimes speaks of money recovered after hard work. The character described is severe, determined and stubborn.

Your strengths

You can stay loyal to someone in a time of poverty or illness. You have a sense of practical things, patience and a taste for work. You can also choose a simple life in the name of what matters more than comfort.

What holds you back

You live in fear of going without and of not being among those who have enough.
You feel damaged, set aside or despised.
You wonder whether you are caught in a situation you will never get out of, and whether it will crush you.
You get used to the difficulty to the point of no longer seeing the chance to get out of it, and you may even resist its ending.
Your pride and independence may make you turn down help that is sincerely offered.
You may feel rejected by an institution, a community or a religion, and it hurts you.
You can become hard, severe and stubborn.

What helps

Looking around you: help or shelter is sometimes very close and you don't see it. When neither institutions, nor family, nor friends can help you, admitting that you must face the problem yourself.

Love

This card speaks of a bond that holds despite material difficulties. It is given as good for love and bad for money, or as a business loss caused by personal relationships.