Five of Pentacles tarot card meaning: upright, reversed and symbols

The Five of Pentacles shows two people struggling through a snowstorm, one on crutches and both in rags, as they pass a lit church window with five pentacles in the glass.

It is a card of hardship, worry about money and feeling left out in the cold. This page covers what the Five of Pentacles means upright and reversed, the symbols in the 1909 card and a gentle spread for hard times.

Here is the Five of Pentacles at a glance.

Book T calls the Five of Pentacles the Lord of Material Trouble and gives it Mercury in Taurus, the first decan of the sign, on Geburah. Mercury’s restlessness in the slow, comfort-loving sign suits a card about loss of security. The lit church window in Smith’s picture shows help is close at hand.

Later tradition The Golden Dawn also gave each decan two of the 72 Goetic spirits, one for the day and one for the night. For the first decan of Taurus, and so for the Five of Pentacles, they are Samigina (spirit 4, day) and Raum (spirit 40, night). Their pages read the old entries as history; see the spirit directory for all 72.

The card: what Pamela Colman Smith drew

Waite described it in one line: “Two mendicants in a snowstorm pass a lighted casement.” Mendicants are beggars. A casement is a window.

The snow. The cold is real. The card does not pretend that hardship is a lesson in disguise.

The crutches. One figure is injured. Hardship often comes with health problems, and both make each other worse.

The lit window. They walk past a warm, lit window. Help may be close, though they do not look up.

Upright meaning

Upright, the Five of Pentacles is hardship. Two people struggle through a snowstorm, one on crutches and both in rags, as they pass a lit church window with five pentacles in the glass. The card speaks of financial loss, illness, poverty or feeling left out in the cold.

It is a hard card, but it holds a quiet message: help is near. The window is lit, which means shelter is close by. The two people are together, which means they are not alone.

The Five of Pentacles asks you to look for support, and to accept it if it is offered. Hardship is easier to survive when you do not try to do it alone.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, the Five of Pentacles shows recovery: finding help, improving finances, or coming in from the cold. It can also show hardship that continues because help is refused.

Ask whether you are open to receiving support. Pride can keep you out in the snow longer than you need to be.

The reversed Five can also describe someone who has recovered materially but still feels like an outsider. If that is you, remember that the window in the picture is lit for you too. You are allowed inside now, even if part of you still feels like you are standing in the snow.

In love, work and spirituality

In love. Upright: Feeling left out, or going through hard times together. Reversed: Reconnecting, or finding support after loneliness.

At work. Upright: Job loss, financial struggle, or feeling excluded. Reversed: Recovery, or a new opportunity after hardship.

With money. Upright: Financial loss or difficulty. Reversed: Recovery and improvement.

In spiritual practice. Upright: Finding faith in hard times. Reversed: Feeling outside a spiritual community.

As feelings. Insecure, lonely, or struggling.

As a person. Someone going through hardship.

As advice. Look for the lit window, and ask for help.

Reading the Five of Pentacles: positions and yes or no

In the past position: A hard time shaped you. In the present position: Things are hard. Look for help.

In the future position: A difficult stretch may come, and help will be near. As advice: Ask for help.

In modern yes or no readings, the Five of Pentacles leans no. Hardship points to no for now.

What the Five means, and the history behind the card

Five disrupts the stability of Four, and in Pentacles the disruption is material loss. The Golden Dawn’s Lord of Material Trouble names it frankly.

Here is how the Five looks across the four suits:

• Five of Wands: conflict, competition, tension
• Five of Cups: regret, loss, sorrow
• Five of Swords: conflict, defeat, betrayal
• Five of Pentacles (this card): financial loss, poverty, insecurity

The church window in this card is one of the few places in the deck where stained glass appears, along with the Four of Swords. Smith did not draw a door, only a window, and the two figures are already walking past it.

Many readers take that as the heart of the card: help may exist nearby, but hardship makes it hard to see or to reach. A useful way to read this card is as a prompt to name practical help, such as a food bank, a debt advice service or a friend, and not only as a mood.

When A. E. Waite published The Pictorial Key to the Tarot in 1910, he listed these divinatory meanings for the Five of Pentacles: “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, he gave: “Disorder, chaos, ruin, discord, profligacy.”

Common questions

Is the Five of Pentacles a yes or no card? It leans no. It shows hardship.

What does the Five of Pentacles mean for money? Financial strain. If you are struggling, look for local advice services as well as personal support.

What does the Five of Pentacles mean reversed? Recovery and improvement.

Try this

Use this gentle spread when money or health is hard.

Affirmation: I deserve care and support while I face difficult circumstances.

Reversed affirmation: I recognize available support and take recovery at my own pace.

If you keep a tarot journal, take one of these questions to it: Where is my lit window? Who could I ask for help? Who could I help?

What next

Cards that sit close to this one are Five of Cups (grief in the water suit), Six of Pentacles (help arriving) and The Tower (the Major Arcana card of sudden upheaval).

The Five of Pentacles is part of the lesson Pentacles in my free Tarot for Beginners course. To see the whole suit on one page, go to the suit of Pentacles. To keep walking the suit, read the card before it, Four of Pentacles or the card after it, Six of Pentacles, or go back to all the card meanings.

For the suits and numbers in one place, see The Minor Arcana: suits and numbers made simple. For every card with keywords, affirmations and examples, see my book The Novice’s Guide to Tarot. If you would like a printable cheat sheet for all 78 cards, my 45-page Tarot Workbook is on Etsy.

Sources

• A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1910), Part III, sections 1 and 2.
• Pamela Colman Smith and A. E. Waite, the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot (London: Rider, 1909).
• Nicolas Conver, Tarot de Marseille (Marseille, 1760).
• Lauri Mukkala, The Novice’s Guide to Tarot, entry for the Five of Pentacles.
• Aleister Crowley, 777 (London: Walter Scott, 1909), columns of the decans, the Minor Arcana and the court cards.
• Israel Regardie, ed., The Golden Dawn (Chicago: Aries Press, 1937 to 1940), “Book T”, titles and attributions of the small cards and the court.