Five of Pentacles tarot card meaning
The Five of Pentacles is the fifth card of the suit of Pentacles, showing two poor figures in a snowstorm passing a lit church window. It means hardship, money trouble, poor health and feeling left out in the cold. Reversed, it means recovery, help arriving and a slow return to warmth and stability.
- Minor Arcanaan everyday card
- Suit of Pentacleswork and money
- Element: Earthbody, money and home
- Astrology: Mercury in Taurusthe planet and sign behind it
- Upright
- Hardship, insecurity, feeling left out
- Reversed
- Recovery, help arriving, renewal
- Yes or no
- No Yes when reversed
If you drew it today
If you feel left out in the cold, look for the lit window. Help is closer than it seems, so let yourself ask for it today.
On this page
What the Five of Pentacles means
Five gold pentacles shine in a church window while two people freeze below it, and that gap is what the Five of Pentacles means: hardship sitting right beside the help that could ease it. Pentacles, called Coins in many decks, are the suit of Earth, so the trouble is practical and physical. It shows up as rent, bills, health, a job or a roof. Fives bring the crisis in the middle of a suit, right after the Four of Pentacles held on tight. The real question is who could help.
Upright meaning
Money running out before the month does is a typical upright Five of Pentacles situation. Others are a layoff, an illness that keeps you from working, a rent increase or a winter of feeling left out while friends seem fine. The card names the hardship plainly. It also shows what people miss in a hard week, the lit window. Help often exists nearby, at a food bank, a clinic, a union office or a friend's kitchen table. Pride and exhaustion keep people walking past it. Make one call today.
Five of Pentacles reversed
The Five of Pentacles reversed describes a thaw, the point where help arrives and the worst of a hard stretch is ending. A new job comes through, a debt gets a payment plan, strength slowly returns or someone finally notices you and offers a hand. Accepting that help takes its own courage. The reversal can also mean you stop feeling left out and find your people again. Go gently, since recovery takes a season. The Six of Pentacles, the next card in the suit, shows that generosity arriving.
Five of Pentacles in love
In love, the Five of Pentacles usually means a relationship tested by money, illness or outside stress, or a single person who feels left out while everyone else pairs up. Couples may be fighting about bills, or one partner may be sick and the other worn thin. The picture offers a quiet hint, since the two figures cross the snow together. Hardship shared is lighter. Singles may feel unlovable after a hard year. That feeling is not a fact, so accept one invitation this month even if you'd rather hide.
Reversed in love
Reconciliation after hard times fits the Five of Pentacles reversed in love. A couple strained by money or illness starts working as a team again and stops blaming each other for the cold. Single, you may finally feel worth someone's time again. Say yes when a friend wants to set you up.
As feelings
Insecurity is what the Five of Pentacles shows as a feeling. The person may believe they have too little to offer you right now, in money, time or health, or they may feel left out by you. Pride can keep them quiet.
Reversed as feelings
Their sense of not being enough is fading. They may be back on their feet and ready to reach out, or ready to accept the help you once offered.
How they see you and what they will do
- How they see you
- Worn down and short on support is the picture they may have of you, especially if they know money or health has been hard. Or the roles flip, and they feel you left them out in the cold.
- What they will do
- They may hold back, out of pride or because they have little to give. If they do reach out, expect practical help, a meal, a ride, a hand with a bill, more than big words.
Work and money
A layoff, cut hours, an unpaid invoice or a debt that keeps growing are the work and money worries of the Five of Pentacles. The card describes a lean season, not a verdict on your worth. Write down what comes in and what goes out, then call whoever you owe before the bill is late. Lenders sometimes offer a hardship plan, usually to people who ask. Look into unemployment benefits, local job programs or a nonprofit credit counselor. Unlike the figures on the card, stop at the window.
Reversed at work
Recovery with work and money follows the Five of Pentacles reversed, such as a new job after a layoff, a payment plan that fits or a client who finally pays. Keep the habits that got you through the lean months, a written budget and a small cushion. Take the referral or program that's offered.
Health and well-being
Illness, injury and exhaustion are traditional themes of the Five of Pentacles, where a man limps on crutches with a bandaged head. If a health worry keeps nagging, book a doctor's visit instead of waiting it out alone. If cost is the obstacle, look for a community clinic. Reversed, strength may be returning.
Spiritual meaning
Shut out of comfort, faith or belonging is how the Five of Pentacles can feel on a spiritual level, with a church window glowing just above the travelers. The light is close, yet they keep walking. Reaching for it can be small, a prayer, a meeting, one honest phone call. And the two walk together, which is already a kind of grace.
As advice
Ask for one specific kind of help this week. Call the lender about a payment plan, book the doctor's visit you keep postponing or tell one friend how hard things really are. Then accept what they offer.
Is the Five of Pentacles a yes or no card?
Snow and crutches make the upright Five of Pentacles a no, since the plan lacks the money, health or support it needs right now. Reversed, the answer is yes, because help is arriving and the situation is starting to thaw.
Past, present and future
- Past
- A lean season with money, work or health that still makes you brace for the worst.
- Present
- Hardship now, with help closer than it looks from out in the snow.
- Future
- Things can thaw once you stop walking past the lit window and ask.
Common combinations
- Six of Pentacles: hardship meeting generosity, help asked for and given by someone with more to spare.
- The Tower: a sudden loss of income or home that knocks the ground out from under you.
- The Hierophant: help through an institution, such as a church, a charity, a counselor or an official program.
What the card shows
Snow falls over the two figures and the black wall behind them. A man on two wooden crutches limps through it, a bandage around his head and a small bell hanging at his chest. Ahead of him a woman bends under an orange shawl, and her feet look bare. Above them glows a stained-glass window with five gold pentacles among green leaves and red flowers. Neither of them turns toward it. Warmth is right there, and they walk past.
- The stained-glass window: help, faith or community that is close but feels shut off.
- Five gold pentacles in the glass: security on display, behind glass and out of reach for now.
- The man on crutches: illness, injury or a body that needs care and rest.
- The bell at his chest: a sign of need or sickness that others notice first.
- The falling snow: a hard and exposed season, though seasons pass.
- Two figures walking together: company in hardship, and the old reading of the card as lovers.
What Waite wrote in 1911
“Two mendicants in a snow-storm pass a lighted casement.”
A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911
Waite saw “material trouble above all”, poverty in the plain form the picture shows. Then he noted that for some card readers “it is a card of love and lovers”, and admitted “These alternatives cannot be harmonized”. Look again and the two readings meet, since the figures face the storm together. His reversed meanings were harsh, “Disorder, chaos, ruin, discord, profligacy”, while most readers today see recovery. His additional meanings even offer “Conquest of fortune by reason.”
Astrology and numerology
Lord of Material Trouble is the Golden Dawn title of the Five of Pentacles, linked to Mercury in Taurus. That decan covers the first ten degrees of Taurus, which the Sun crosses from about April 20 to April 30. Taurus wants solid ground and a body at ease. Mercury is the planet of thought and talk, so worry about the basics runs on a loop. The same Mercury makes the phone call that helps. Five is also the number of The Hierophant, card V, the church figure, and a church window glows above these travelers.
Questions people ask
Does the Five of Pentacles mean bankruptcy or losing everything?
No, the Five of Pentacles rarely predicts total ruin and usually describes a lean stretch, such as worry about bills, a cut in income or an unexpected expense. Next to The Tower or the Ten of Swords the loss is sharper. Either way, a plan and advice from a nonprofit credit counselor help more than dread.
Can the Five of Pentacles mean a couple stays together through hard times?
Yes, the Five of Pentacles can show two people facing hardship side by side, and some readers in Waite's day called it a card of lovers. The figures cross the snow together. In a love reading, it often points to a bond tested by money or illness that holds when both keep talking.
Why is the Five of Pentacles linked to Taurus?
The Five of Pentacles belongs to Mercury in Taurus, the first decan of Taurus from about April 20 to April 30, called the Lord of Material Trouble. Taurus is the sign of money, comfort and the body, the exact things this card shows going short.
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