Five of Pentacles

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 07 Jan 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Kaylee Marie	07 Jan 2005
Hi All, I've had the five of pentacles come up as the outcome card in two recent spreads that were otherwise happy and full of good news. I'm having a hard time figuring out how such a lonely and miserable outcome can come after such good cards (in one spread, The World literally preceded 5/pent). Am I interpreting this card too narrowly by thinking only of a negative context? I always thought I had a good handle on this card until now. In both readings, I advised the querant that although things are going well, they should still keep an eye out for opportunities they may be missing or friendships/family members they may be neglecting. That still doesn't sit quite right with me, though, since the rest of the reading made no mention of these issues. Any thoughts on this? A bit of background info: The two spreads were conducted several weeks apart on two different decks (RWS and Herbal Tarot) for two best friends. The friends did not ask about each other, and did not appear in each other's spreads. One woman's spread was about coming home after an 18-month backpacking trip abroad, and the other woman asked what was the best attitude to cultivate as she entered a new career this year. Totally unrelated questions. My question: could there be a future rift in their friendship that the Tarot is trying to tell me about? Even though the spreads were unrelated, perhaps this issue just had to peek out into the light? I am good friends with both and would hate to see their 15-year friendship torn apart. Maybe they are just moving in different directions and leaving each other out in the cold? Another possibility: Neither woman is exactly well off. Perhaps they will each run into unrelated money woes soon? Has anyone else had the five of pentacles crop up in such a manner? Any advice would be appreciated... Thanks, Kaylee

contradiction	07 Jan 2005
i agree with all of your assumptions. the 5/pents, does not necessiarly have to be negative. it can definately mean "guard what you have." "take time for yourself", "pay attention to the important things", and any and all variations of such. if the rest of the readings were positive, i would say it was probably a warning not to get complacient, or something similiar. or it could be saying "you are doing a good job of being careful" that is the beauty of tarot, sometimes it makes you think about what it is saying, so in a way it can cause you to notice several things you would not if it just said this or that.

Thirteen	07 Jan 2005
I think the problem isn't in HOW you're interpeting the card, but in how you're interpeting "outcome." Outcome is not fated. It's not absolute. In this case, I think it's a mild warning...though appearing twice....I'll get back to that. Kaylee Marie wrote: A bit of background info: The two spreads were conducted several weeks apart on two different decks (RWS and Herbal Tarot) for two best friends. The friends did not ask about each other, and did not appear in each other's spreads. One woman's spread was about coming home after an 18-month backpacking trip abroad, and the other woman asked what was the best attitude to cultivate as she entered a new career this year. Totally unrelated questions. In the first case, you might well have said to the Backpacker that while her trip is going to be wonderful, it will leave her depleated in cash--a lot of unexpected things can come up on any trip; things break and need repacing, you find you don't have what you need, etc. Or--hey, the wallet gets stolen. But none of these are absolute. The card could have been a warning--"make sure you've paid off the credit card bills so your credit card isn't refused if you need to use it." And/or "don't buy the expensive stuff for this trip. You'll pay out a lot and not have much when you get back!" In the second, once again, you could warn the career woman to watch how much she pays out for this new career. You get a new job and you buy a new wardrobe to fit in--and then you find yourself short of cash later. OR you get a new salary and suddenly you're spending away...and then when your car breaks down you find yourself short of cash and going into debt. With the second, I would guess that the warning is more "save that extra money for a rainy day....a rainy day is coming, and you'll need it." In both cases, you should have urged your friends to be frugal, not just with money, but with themselves. The backpacker should watch that she doesn't hurt herself (pentacles is the physical body, right?)--and the career woman should watch that she doesn't work too hard at this new career. When we're riding high, it's far too easy to depleate our resources, financial or physical. LAST POINT: There is one last possiblity--and I'd do a seperate reading just in case. Put down the 5 pentacles, shuffle the cards, and ask them who this message is for and what it's about. Having come up twice, it's possible that it might have been a message for you...not them. And/or it could be a message about the deck itself...it might be tired and need re-charging ;)

witchywomyn	07 Jan 2005
I have come to know the 5's as 'loss'. But loss isn't always a bad thing; sometimes we need to loose an old behavior, or an old thought process so we can make way for the new; in order for the something to happen we sometimes need to loose that which no longer serves us; perhaps we've outgrown it, or have been further enlightened...whatever the case

Fudugazi	07 Jan 2005
I also think of it as - you know who your friends are in times of stress or financial hardship, or any kind of material expansion (including one that will yield much in the long run, such as a company buying another, and all the reorganisation that can go with the operation!). In the case of the friend who has been travelling, she might not find a job immediately, so will be - to some extent (not necessarily financially, but it could be) - dependent on the kindness of friends and strangers. In the case of the friend starting a new career, there will be stress and she might feel depleted after the inital euphoria (as well as challenged), so she will need the care of friends. There is another aspect: 5s are cards of passage, of expansion after the stability of the four - this can translate into stress, physical stress - and I see the coins very much as symbolic of the physical world, including our bodies. Both your friends are going through transitions, and while exciting and challenging, they could suffer, temporarily, from stress (including all sorts of symptoms- lack of sleep, nervousness, headaches, etc.). But 5 is also a kind of completion and union - half-way up to 10, made up of 2 (the number of woman) and 3 (the number of man) - so although uncomfortable, it is immensely promising too, once past the stress. Sometimes, in relation to this card (in the RW system, that is) I think of the phrase "misery likes company" - though I am not sure it is appropriate to these readings.

contradiction	07 Jan 2005
thirteen, witcheywoman, helvetica, i like the way you have explained the card. i feel the same as the three of you. i will have to remember the ways in which you have expounded on the card. contradiction

Kaylee Marie	07 Jan 2005
I love how active this board is! So many wonderful responses in so little time! :) It's really hard not to put my own knowledge of my friends into the readings, and just let the cards tell me what they will. You all gave me some great new perspectives on 5/pent that I wouldn't have thought of on my own. Helvetica, your message about the Backpacker having to depend on the kindness of friends and strangers especially rings true. My friend will be moving in with me next week b/c her mom is berating her and threatening to charge rent b/c she hasn't found a job yet. (She JUST got home, and who hires a full-time position the week b/t Xmas & New Year's? Finding a decent job takes time...) Of course, this situation had not yet developed when we did the reading the day after she got home. My other friend is finishing up her Masters degree in teaching ESL in a few months and will do her student teaching assignment this spring. New teachers in the US are notoriously underpaid and poor, since they have to buy most of their own classroom supplies on little more than minimum wage (which hasn't been raised in over 10 years to adjust for inflation... :mad: ). Once a person has been teaching a few years and has acquired supplies and receieved annual raises, it's not so bad, but the first year teaching is HELL. She most likely will be financially strapped and physically stressed over the next year. So I guess that although thing were going smoothly at the time of the readings, they each need to watch out for bumpy times ahead. I'm also going to take Thirteen's advice and do another reading to ask 5/pent what it is trying to tell me. The fact that this happened with two different decks seems to mean that there is also an intended meaning for me. I and 5/pent were the only common element in the two readings, so there must be some kind of connection there. Thanks for all your help!!! :) Kaylee

HudsonGray	07 Jan 2005
The 5 of Pents is also about going it alone, so both may not have the support structure in place to back them up at the moment. I'd look at it as a caution but not a completely negative thing.

ros	12 Jan 2005
I never thought of this before but maybe this makes sense also for this card. We need to look after what we have. " it's not what we have, it's what we do with what we got!" Understanding what we have to work with & making things work with what we have. Some people can go to a dollar store and make a gift up that looks like it came from a popular gift store. They have spent less than half the money than at the gift store. The gift looks just as good. The other person goes straight to the gift store to buy a gift. Both gifts look great, but one goes to the cheaper store and uses their creativity instead of money. Money sometimes blocks our creativity because it is available and handy.

The Five of Pentacles thread was originally posted on 07 Jan 2005 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.