Five of Pentacles Tarot Card

Card Name: Five of Pentacles, 5 of Coins

Category: Minor Arcana, Suit of Pentacles

Position: 5

Keywords: Poverty, Despair

Active element: Earth ⛰️

The Five of Pentacles is the most compassionate card in the Tarot system. She personifies poverty, which is not considered a vice. According to the Arcana, there are losses of material, intellectual values, as well as mental resources. At first glance, the heroes of the card are very sorry – no one helps the tramps. But when reversed, the Five of Pentacles changes its meaning. Now these beggars are turning into dangerous criminals. They can steal, kill, or deliberately infect with a serious illness. People themselves do not want to change their lives. The purpose of such individuals is to punish the innocent. The main message of the card is responsibility and relevance. Indeed, in life, there are situations that do not require anyone’s intervention.

Symbolism and Key Ideas of the Five of Pentacles

In the classic Rider-Waite Tarot card, the Five of Pentacles shows a sad scene – two tramps pass a rich house on a winter evening. Barefoot woman looks down. She wraps herself in an old fabric with patches. The man walks with crutches. It looks like his left leg is broken, and his right leg is also bare. The hero’s head is tied with a bandage, and a bell is visible on his neck. Heroes go through snowdrifts, and snow falls from the sky. In the background is a large stained-glass window. Five pentacles or coins are lined with colored glass. The colors used in the decoration of the window are in stark contrast to the hues of the hobos’ clothing.

There is an opinion that the walls of the church are shown on the Arcana of the Five of Pentacles. However, stained-glass windows could be just in wealthy houses. In any case, tramps go past the stronghold of peace and quiet, comfort. Their torn clothes indicate poverty, and their bare feet indicate cold and lack of necessities. The man is shown in bandages – this is a sign of illness. At the same time, a bell flaunts on his neck. In the 12th-14th centuries, this object was used to mark patients with leprosy. The unfortunate was considered a living dead and had no right to approach healthy people. Therefore, the heroes cannot count on outside help and are forced to eke out their miserable existence.

Meaning of the Upright Five of Pentacles Card

• Lack of energy, material or intellectual resources.
• Acute need, lack of assistance, or the presence of a disease.
• Hopelessness and loss of faith in the best and even one’s own strength.
• Detachment, forced measures, spiritual poverty, poorness.

In the upright position, the Five of Pentacles symbolizes crisis and dire need. It is always a lack of resources, a lack of energy. The numerical value of the Arcana represents a dual unstable situation. At the same time, the element of the Earth outlines the boundaries of the material. That is, the deficit is about money, what you can touch – physical things. Also, the fifth card of the suit of Coins shows the lack of the necessary information, basic skills to maintain a comfortable life. This is a real crisis, without any hope for a brighter future. The woman leads the cripple – he is a burden for her, but still the heroine does not leave the leper. This detail can show codependence, forced maintenance of relationships.

The Five of Pentacles also represents various contrasts. A rich building for the querent can mean his wealth. In this case, relatives or needy people will act as vagabonds. The questioning person will come into contact with the impartial side of life, will become a witness to someone else’s grief. The wall hints at the protection of one’s own interests, non-involvement. A window is shown, but not the door itself. If the questioner is in a difficult situation, then no one can or will not want to help him. Life tests for strength, lowering to the very bottom.

Love and Relationships (Upright)

• Dependent difficult relationships, fear of letting each other go.
• Degradation together, lack of development, happiness and joy.
• Querent is a magnet for all sorts of scammers and stuck.
• Loneliness, the problem of finding an equal lover.

In the love spread, the Five of Pentacles symbolizes suffering together, an unhappy fate. A couple can be together for a long time, but in this case, it’s only for the worse. People do not develop, but degrade, drag each other down. A situation is possible when, due to jealousy, a partner limits the other in behavior, clothing, and the manifestation of feelings. As a result, both the querent himself and his half are unhappy. Also, the Arcana shows co-dependent relationships, families in which one person is seriously ill or is in a destructive addiction.

For lonely people, the Five of Pentacles does not predict positive changes. The fortuneteller will remain in the current situation. But at the same time, antisocial characters can be attracted. They see a strong person in the questioner, and therefore they want a similar partner nearby. The desire to shift your problems onto another has nothing to do with love. In this case, they only want to use the querent as a vest for tears. For wealthy people, the Arcana also speaks of the danger of meeting a mercantile potential partner.

Career and Finance (Upright)

• Volunteering, more help points for refugees.
• Financial decline, dismissal, the beginning of a crisis or stagnation.
• Acute need and lack of money for the most necessary things.
• Huge responsibility for their own and other people’s problems and affairs.

In the work plan, the Five of Pentacles shows volunteer organizations, various aid funds. The bottom line is to provide for those in need. However, in the context of the characteristics of the situation, the 5 of Pentacles is revealed in the most negative way. The card represents dismissal, termination of activity. Now the querent himself needs help. There is a catastrophic lack of money, there are debts and obligations. Perhaps the questioner has become bankrupt. Sometimes the Arcana indicates a long salary delay.

The financial situation is extremely unfavorable. The Five of Pentacles in divination falls into dire need. The querent will urgently need funds, but there will be nowhere to get them from. Help may be refused by those closest to you. All problems will fall on the shoulders of the questioner. The business will not work, only bring new debts. Incomes will fall sharply or even stop. In the near future, the fortuneteller will face a personal financial crisis. However, the upright position still gives a chance to survive and go through a difficult stage.

Health and Spirit (Upright)

• Diseases of the poor – pediculosis, scabies, ulcers, or fungi.
• Serious condition, refusal of treatment, expensive medicines.
• Being immersed in a problem or refusing to process the trauma.
• Degradation of personality, destruction of the psyche, brain and body.

In the context of health, the Five of Pentacles refers to chronic, severe illnesses. The card also shows the unavailability of the recommended treatment. Necessary medicines are expensive, and therefore a person cannot help himself. Sometimes, the Five of Pentacles generally speaks of neglected ailments. Treatment has not yet been invented, or the fortuneteller himself refuses the intervention of doctors. As a result, health deteriorates. All of the above may refer to relatives or friends of the questioner. In any case, someone else’s illness will somehow affect the querent.

The mental state is unstable. The Five of Pentacles shows a kind of "freezing", stuck in some kind of problem. A person has been injured and cannot cope with it. Often the card falls on recent negative events. The experience is too intense. Sometimes they can cause addiction – alcoholism, drug addiction, substance abuse. The querent does not ask for help, and this becomes a fatal mistake.

Situations and Questions (Upright)

• Closing eyes to current problems and a difficult period.
• Immorality and forced actions and deeds.
• Escape from yourself and hope for pipe dreams, crisis.
• "Empty" life, following the wrong destination.

Even in terms of spirituality, the Five of Pentacles shows poverty. In this sense, a person is faced with the fact that his previous knowledge no longer works. He can understand a lot, but at the same time remain in poverty. Or the questioner is very wealthy, but unable to accept himself. There is a gap in this design somewhere. However, gold has always been around. However, it is not so easy to take your own treasures. The former attitudes of society make a fortuneteller just an obedient cog in a huge system.

The Five of Pentacles asks questions: “What am I missing?” and “What do I hope for?”. It may be that the querent cherishes the dream of a brighter future while walking through the snowdrifts barefoot. In this distant moment, there is a place for self-realization and development. But now you have to run away from the present moment, not accepting it as the only reality. The card invites you to stop and soberly assess your own capabilities. Sometimes, awareness of the current negative scenario has the power to influence a brighter future.

Meaning of the Reversed Five of Pentacles Tarot

• Damage to poverty, loss of real estate, capital, resources.
• Critical lack of livelihood, black bar.
• Violation of the flow of energy and refusal to help from others.
• A black streak, a string of troubles, a bad end to life.

In the reversed position, the meaning of the Five of Pentacles becomes even more sinister. Someone had a hand in the querent’s plight. Also, the reversed card speaks of a complete collapse, an endless streak of trouble. Man embarked on the path of self-destruction, its outcome is already written in the book of fate. Perhaps the fortuneteller himself does not understand what position he is in. The man – the main character of the card, looks like a blind man. His eyes are covered with a whitish veil. If you turn the Arcana, then it is the man who becomes the leader. In the upright position, the role of the guide was taken by a woman. Now the hero becomes an eloquent example of a quotation from the Bible that the blind lead the sighted.

In the opposite form, the Five of Pentacles personifies extreme need, the absence of any prospects. They are homeless people begging for alms. On the fate of the questioner lay the shadow of fate. At the same time, if in the upright position the Five of Coins card spoke of duality, now everything is predetermined. Poverty will affect the fortuneteller. Perhaps, once a person was greedy, did not lend a helping hand. In this case, everything that happens is a mystical echo of the past, real karma. Often this is the presence of a magical effect.

Love and Relationships (Reversed)

• Psychologically immature partner or drug addict, alcoholic.
• Servicing the dependencies of the other half is infantile.
• Fear of being alone, lack of independence, strength.
• Willingness to enter into any relationship without analysis.

In the context of love, the reversed Five of Pentacles shows a very difficult relationship. The partner "devours" the resource of the second half. His needs turn into a bottomless space hole. Next to such a person, a beloved may begin to get sick, grow old, and feel bad. Co-dependence appears, the individuality of each disappears. In this case, the couple only worsens each other’s life. There is no positive dynamics, no real help. Together, people live even worse than they could alone.

For those who do not have a partner, the Five of Pentacles in the opposite sense promises mental suffering. The querent himself is not in the resource, he cannot give anything to the second half. He is looking for support, a strong shoulder. But this is a losing strategy. People around are afraid to approach the fortuneteller, as if he is a leper. The fear of being alone pushes the questioner into an abusive relationship, or short romances. All this is due to the querent’s own infantilism.

Career and Finance (Reversed)

• Lack of even the simplest job or employment.
• Begging, hunger and cold or inhuman conditions.
• Vagrancy, or loss of property and car.
• Life on alms and irresponsible behavior.

The reversed Five of Pentacles Tarot gives the career spread the most negative meaning. Now the card indicates the absence of any skills and socialization. A person can become a real bum, begging for alms at a church or train station. At the same time, he does not want to change anything, develop, get a job. The position of the Arcana speaks of the chosen path and predestination. Sometimes the characteristic falls on the problematic relative of the querent. In this case, the person spoils the reputation of the questioner, interferes in many matters.

The financial situation is very bad. The reversed Five of Pentacles symbolizes the loss of the last property, wandering in search of food and shelter. The querent is forced to visit relatives and friends, asking for help. However, the scale of the problems that have piled up is not taken into account. Even if desired, those around are not able to reach out to the questioner. Sometimes the position of the card may indicate imprisonment, crime.

Health and Spirit (Reversed)

• Fourth-degree cancer, rabies, advanced tuberculosis.
• The desire to save yourself from torment, to die faster.
• Tendency to harm others, or maniac.
• The destruction of their human nature, animal grin.

In the context of health, the reversed Five of Pentacles shows incurable diseases. The processes are already running, and it is impossible to help a person. Often the position of the card characterizes hospices, nursing homes. The questioner knows his outcome, and therefore does not attempt to heal. In the opposite sense, the Five of Coins speaks of unwillingness to fight, resignation to the situation. A person dreams of a speedy deliverance, so as not to suffer himself and not torturing relatives.

The state of mind is extremely unfavorable. The querent put a cross on himself. The Five of Pentacles in the opposite form falls on the criminal elements. Now the questioner himself can hurt others. Inside, he morally decomposed, died as a man. Such individuals do not feel pity and compassion for others. The concept of ethics is completely erased from their soul, mind. In the past, there was some kind of trauma, which affected the scrapping of the psyche. Now there is no turning back – the sins have already been committed.

Situations and Questions (Reversed)

• Low vibrations and going through hard life experiences.
• Painful living and being at the very bottom of society.
• Denial of spirituality or loss of human appearance.
• Low social responsibility, rejection of goals, ideas.

Spiritually, the reversed Five of Pentacles shows immorality and the fall of personality. Man denies intangible values. He does not believe in life after death, rebirth. All this pushes to all sorts of crimes, misdemeanors. If there is no punishment from above, then you can do anything. An example is the tramp from the movie Viridiana. The main character believed that she could help them. But in the end, those to whom the hand was extended treated their benefactress very badly.

The Five of Pentacles in the opposite form asks questions: “What is there beyond?” and “What is the meaning of the whole life path?”. Until a person realizes his whole life, its main idea, he will go through the same problems over and over again. Even on the scale of the current incarnation, similar situations may appear. Personality should expand the boundaries of knowledge, accept both life and death. In order not to hope for deliverance from above, it is better to take on your own destiny.

Five of Pentacles: Combination with other Tarot Cards

Advice and Warning of the Five of Pentacles Card

When the Five of Pentacles fell out upright, then the card advises to save resources and not count on anything. A person will have a difficult period, you need to mentally prepare for it. Perhaps the querent should take responsibility for sick relatives. It is worth gathering your courage, getting used to the new state of affairs. Also, the Five of Pentacles card warns that someone is dependent on the questioner. Nearby is a person in need of help. He needs psychological support, or material. However, he is unable to ask for it directly. Therefore, the querent needs to look both ways and monitor the situation on his own.

If the card lay upside down, then the Five of Pentacles advises to let everything take its course. You should not help anyone. People must be held accountable for their actions or inaction on their own. It’s kind of a hard lesson. If the querent tries to do something, he may find himself at the bottom. The Five of Pentacles reversed warns of danger. Those who need help are able to drag the questioner along with them. In this situation, the fortuneteller will act to his detriment. You should not take on the burden of a superhero who can change the whole world.

Five of Pentacles: Daily Card Meaning

As a card of the day, the Five of Pentacles upright line shows a difficult day. Today, the querent will have to face various segments of the population. Perhaps a person will go on a trip. There he will see rich, beautiful buildings around which beggars roam. A classic example is New York or Paris. In these cities, there are many homeless people sleeping right on the squares or in the parks. Also today, the fortuneteller will face some financial problems. He will have to save a lot, count every penny. The questioner will feel a shortage of both material resources and mental resources. He does not want to get involved in other people’s problems, trying to help someone.

The reversed Five of Pentacles shows a bad day. On this day, the querent will lose something important and valuable. It will feel like it has been robbed. There may be a dismissal or even theft of a wallet. In any case, the questioner will remain stranded. Also, the position of the card speaks of psychological exhaustion, fatigue. There will be no power to change anything. Rather, the person will give up and take the situation for granted. Today you can not hope for help from outside. All problems will fall solely on the shoulders of the fortuneteller.

Suit of Pentacles