In love, it is a time when you cannot look after each other, not because feelings cooled but because your reserves have run dry. Tight finances mean fewer dates, and out of guilt it becomes hard to reach out first. After a breakup, it can also mean a winter-like time of holding out alone.
Two travellers on a snowy road
Five of Pentacles: Card Meaning
Five of Pentacles: Card Meaning
Reading It Upright and Reversed
Five of Pentacles · Minor Arcana · Pentacles · Five
The Five of Pentacles is the card of two people passing beneath a brightly lit church window on a snowstormy night; upright, it means enduring and passing through, for a while, a cold time when something is practically lacking and you seem far from anywhere to lean on.
It is a pitch-dark night with heavy snow pouring down. One leaning on crutches and one with no shoes and only a thin shawl trudge through the piled snow. Above their heads, a stained glass window carved with five pentacles shines brightly, and inside there are surely warm lights and people.
Yet neither of them lifts their head toward the window. Without even looking for the entrance, they pass right by. That is why this card deals with isolation as well as poverty. It is not a night with no helping hand at all, but one where help was right beside them yet never reached them.
I drew the Five of Pentacles. Will my circumstances improve again?
This card depicts a passage you go through. The two travellers do not sit down in the snow either but keep moving. But if you only wait for things to improve by themselves, this time grows longer. When this card appears, the trigger that turns the situation usually comes from outside. From the moment someone learns of your circumstances, from the very day you file a single document, the numbers begin to change.
Five of Pentacles: Love
Upright
Reversed
Warmth returns between the two of you. You reconnect with someone you had lost touch with for a while, or after getting through a crisis together, things become even closer. Even if you cannot afford to do anything for them, simply staying by their side is plenty. Do not put off meeting by saying let us see each other when things improve.
Five of Pentacles: Money
Upright
In money, it is a time when money is actually short. Unexpected expenses pile up at once or money owed to you is delayed. What to be most careful about now is trying to solve it alone and pulling in emergency money on bad terms. First look into support you can apply for and payments that can be deferred.
Reversed
Breathing room opens little by little. Overdue payments come in or one branch of outgoing money is sorted, so the accounts begin to add up. If you got over the crisis with others’ help, write down a repayment schedule this time too. What lets you hold out if the cold snap comes again is the emergency fund you set aside bit by bit now.
Five of Pentacles: Work
Upright
In work, it is a situation where you have lost your job, or have a position but are not treated properly. The feeling that only you do not hear the news among colleagues is included here too. Rather than throwing in a resignation first, record the present situation as fact, and first look for places you can ask for help.
Reversed
A new job appears or you return to your original team. Even short-term work, once started, leads to the next chance from there. Senses dulled during the break revive quickly, so there is no need to hurry to reach your old speed from the start.
| Card | Five of Pentacles — Minor Arcana · Pentacles · Five |
|---|---|
| Suit | Pentacles — Element: Earth. Reality and wealth — it looks at the body, the household and what you can hold in your hands. |
| Rank | Five — Five — the place where friction and conflict cut in. |
| Upright Keywords | Lack · exclusion · a cold season |
| Reversed Keywords | Recovery · joining hands · a place regained |
Five of Pentacles Upright
Lack · exclusion · a cold season
The upright Five of Pentacles does not speak in roundabout ways. It points out, just as it is, the reality of being short of money, being ill, or losing a place to stay. It points to a time when work has dried up but monthly outgoings remain the same so the balance heads for zero, or when illness or an accident made you put down the work you always did. The card first acknowledges that the present hardship is not a matter of attitude but your actual situation.
Loneliness comes along too. The feeling that everyone is in a warm room and only you stand outside the door is the core of this card. So you cannot speak up even to those who know your situation. But the light in the window does not go out; it stays on. This time is not the end but a passage you go through, and the way out lies in knocking on the door toward the inside.
Five of Pentacles Reversed
Recovery · joining hands · a place regained
The reversed card is usually read as a flow where this long night is lifting. Stopped earnings resume, long-aching places heal, and you return to a place you had left. It is closer to a quiet recovery your body notices first than a dramatic reversal. Change starts with sleeping deeply and your appetite returning.
Scenes of someone reaching out a hand also come from this place. Someone starts asking after you first, you belatedly discover a support program you qualify for, or this time you ask for help from someone you once helped. But someone who has stayed outside a long time takes time even to cross the threshold. The recovery this card speaks of extends to growing used to receiving help again.
Something to Try the Day This Card Appears
Today, actually look for one helping hand to lean on. Confiding your situation in one sentence to someone close is good, and searching for support programs you qualify for is good too. What the travellers in the picture missed was not help itself, but the tiny gesture of looking up at the window once.
Cards from Other Groups
Pentacles: 14 Cards
Ace of Pentacles
Two of Pentacles
Three of Pentacles
Four of Pentacles
Five of Pentacles
Six of Pentacles
Seven of Pentacles
Eight of Pentacles
Nine of Pentacles
Ten of Pentacles
Page of Pentacles
Knight of Pentacles
Queen of Pentacles
King of Pentacles
A card read on its own means something slightly different from one placed beside other cards. If something is on your mind these days, pick four cards to read on, and if you are curious about your inborn nature, open a Saju reading as well.