Five of Pentacles
Two ragged figures struggle through a snowstorm past a lit stained-glass window: hardship, exclusion, and the feeling of being left out in the cold.
Pentacles, V
Upright keywords
- hardship
- financial loss
- scarcity
- isolation
- exclusion
- worry
Meaning when upright
The Five of Pentacles shows two ragged figures, one on crutches, trudging through a snowstorm beneath a glowing stained-glass window. It is the card of hard times: job loss, money trouble, ill health, or any season when you feel shut out from warmth and support. Waite named it plainly as "material trouble above all" and "destitution." The painful irony of the image is that help may be close at hand, yet shame, pride, or exhaustion keeps the pair walking past the light. It also speaks of companionship in adversity, since they are poor but not entirely alone.
On the card
- two ragged figures walking through snow
- Poverty, exposure, and the bleakness of material hardship shared by companions in misfortune.
- man on crutches with bandaged leg
- Illness, injury, or a reduced capacity to work; vulnerability in body and livelihood.
- bell hanging from his neck
- The mark of the beggar or outcast, a sign of social exclusion.
- barefoot woman huddled in a thin shawl
- Lack of basic comforts, and shame that turns the face away from help.
- snow falling against a black night
- A cold, dark season of scarcity and isolation.
- lit stained-glass window with five pentacles
- Sanctuary, charity, and spiritual aid close at hand but unnoticed or unapproached.
- green vines and red roses within the glass
- Life and abundance on the inside, contrasting with the barren cold outside.
In Waite’s words
Two mendicants in a snow-storm pass a lighted casement.
- Divinatory meaning
The card foretells material trouble above all, whether in the form illustrated—that is, destitution—or otherwise. For some cartomancists, it is a card of love and lovers—wife, husband, friend, mistress; also concordance, affinities. These alternatives cannot be harmonized.
- Reversed
Disorder, chaos, ruin, discord, profligacy.
- Additional meaning
Conquest of fortune by reason. Reversed: Troubles in love.
Correspondences
- Element
- Earth
- Astrology
- Mercury in Taurus
- Sephira
- Geburah (5)
- Golden Dawn title
- Lord of Material Trouble
- Decan
- Apr 21 – Apr 30
- Number
- Five is disruption and conflict; in the earthy suit it strikes at material security, health, and belonging.
To reflect on
- Where am I walking past help that is already available to me?
- What story about my worthiness keeps me out in the cold?
- Who is walking through this hardship beside me, and how can we support each other?
In your readings
Hasn’t appeared in your readings yet.
Ask about this card
Marguerite, the traditionalist, answers from Waite’s text, what is drawn on the card and its correspondences. You can choose another reader in settings.