5 of Pentacles Reversed

Laurelle

I keep getting the 5/P reversed. I keep putting it back in the deck upright, but it came up twice reversed (for me).

I don't normally read too many reversals, but I've started to add it into my daily practice, so I'm not proficient in reading them as I would like.

I don't want to get into the main question and placement of where the 5 of P RX came up, but I just want to highlight that it was surrounding similar issues.

I use to see the 5 of Pentacles reversed as coming in from the dark into the light, so basically just the opposite of the upright, but again, since i don't normally read reversals on a daily basis this meaning was a little shallow because I had not been meditating on it.

I also, apparently (according to my notes) read it as a couple who had to stay together, but shouldn't stay together. I'm pretty sure this was from a reading for my mom and I was probably biased as they stay together because of cultural reasons dictating that they "cannot divorce, etc."

In my instance, this is not the case. I have the 6 of Cups.

I use RWS and waite wrote for the reversal, "disorder, chaos, ruin, discord, profligacy. Troubles in love."

I interpret the 5 of Pentacles reversed combined (not clarified) with the 6 of Cups as having to repeat a situation you are familiar with, but that was not pleasant.

What other interpretations have people had with the 5 of Pentacles Reversed?

Thanks in advance.
 

Thirteen

Meekly going into the church; conceding to all demands

I see reversals as blocking the energy of the card. Which means (IMHO) that the best way to see the effect of a reversed card is to understand what is flowing out of the upright card. What that upright energy is doing, and why blocking it would be (usually) a not-good thing.

All 5's are about loss and dealing with loss. Pents are about earthly losses: loss of comforts, money, employment, luck and health. Also about losing traditions, culture, and social norms--including being part of the tribe. Everything that makes you feel safe. So there may be a loss of that in the upright 5/Pents. Thus, the two outside the church may be "outside the norm" and not going inside because (1) they're not welcome or (2) they either refuse to conform which would make them welcome or (3) refuse to ask for help from those who would help them, but still disapprove of them.

What this means is that the 5/Pents often teaches us an important lesson about who are real friends are, who we can rely on. But also about how we deal with the loss of earthly things/health/luck/our society. How important are those earthly things to us? And how much are we willing to change to get them back? Or, maybe, do we now realize that they are not for us and we need to find ourselves in some other suit (as it were). In Cups (those who love us no matter what) or in Wands (the passionate individual or doesn't care what others think and leads revolutions) rather than in being part of the tribe and having earthly things?

The upshot of all this is: if you turn the card upside down, you block all that. And I think that's why your notes about "can't divorce" may ring true. Because if you turn this upside down...I think those two meekly go into the church and bend to its will. They break up, (or don't divorce) so that they can keep all those things. Surrender all they thought mattered to them, who they really are even, to have normalcy restored. But normalcy isn't ever going to be restored. That's true "ruin" to me. They'll never feel safe again. They'll always feel that it all could be taken away, again.

Loss of money, health, employment, and society...dealing with these takes courage. And it doesn't mean you should be proud and defiant and not deal at all (6/Pents--harmony is restored if there is give and take on both sides! You may have to bend some). But if you surrender your position outside completely and utterly and meekly give into all demands...you will never get a chance to be all you are. Who you really are. And for all that those things have been restored to you, you'll never feel they're really yours, or that you're honestly safe.
 

Ruby Jewel

I see reversals as blocking the energy of the card. Which means (IMHO) that the best way to see the effect of a reversed card is to understand what is flowing out of the upright card. What that upright energy is doing, and why blocking it would be (usually) a not-good thing.

All 5's are about loss and dealing with loss. Pents are about earthly losses: loss of comforts, money, employment, luck and health. Also about losing traditions, culture, and social norms--including being part of the tribe. Everything that makes you feel safe. So there may be a loss of that in the upright 5/Pents. Thus, the two outside the church may be "outside the norm" and not going inside because (1) they're not welcome or (2) they either refuse to conform which would make them welcome or (3) refuse to ask for help from those who would help them, but still disapprove of them.

What this means is that the 5/Pents often teaches us an important lesson about who are real friends are, who we can rely on. But also about how we deal with the loss of earthly things/health/luck/our society. How important are those earthly things to us? And how much are we willing to change to get them back? Or, maybe, do we now realize that they are not for us and we need to find ourselves in some other suit (as it were). In Cups (those who love us no matter what) or in Wands (the passionate individual or doesn't care what others think and leads revolutions) rather than in being part of the tribe and having earthly things?

The upshot of all this is: if you turn the card upside down, you block all that. And I think that's why your notes about "can't divorce" may ring true. Because if you turn this upside down...I think those two meekly go into the church and bend to its will. They break up, (or don't divorce) so that they can keep all those things. Surrender all they thought mattered to them, who they really are even, to have normalcy restored. But normalcy isn't ever going to be restored. That's true "ruin" to me. They'll never feel safe again. They'll always feel that it all could be taken away, again.

Loss of money, health, employment, and society...dealing with these takes courage. And it doesn't mean you should be proud and defiant and not deal at all (6/Pents--harmony is restored if there is give and take on both sides! You may have to bend some). But if you surrender your position outside completely and utterly and meekly give into all demands...you will never get a chance to be all you are. Who you really are. And for all that those things have been restored to you, you'll never feel they're really yours, or that you're honestly safe.

This is truly amazing, Thirteen.....gracias.
 

danieljuk

I see the 5's reversed as slightly more positive than the upright usually. But this card can go two ways. It can be more negative and crushing than the upright because what happens if you are homeless in the snow or sick and you have no support? The upright has that lit church window. Sometimes people won't seek help or charity or what happens if the church won't help them (say LGBT people and churches who won't help them, so they are isolated). I was reading up a while ago and sadly this card often represented the gay community members with AIDS during the 80's, the reversal of this card as being shunned from charities and churches but it can also be the person's choice to not seek support.

Also I have a really old tarot book of meanings that I love and the author currently escapes me but I always loved their take on the reversed 5 of P. Things are going better than the upright, and end or improvement to material poverty but at the expense of spiritual poverty. This is almost "selling out" like Thirteen suggested in her great interpretation.
 

Laurelle

Daniel and Thirteen,

A lot of what you said resonates. The situation is personal and I'm not sure of how to express the accuracy of your input.

Yes, the situation wants to go back to "normalcy", but in this instance it is NOT a good thing. It involves dis-ease and addictions (not mine), but the person who is involved in the situation. When I gave him a personal reading this card came up upright (along with some seriously negative cards). I read this as he feels like he's on the outside trying to get in and doesn't really know how. He's also foreign, so it's like having to start all over again not just culturally, but build a new life from the ground up. I viewed myself as the church, willing to help, but in the end the card gets blocked and he doesn't want my help. Luckily this person is seeing a psychotherapist, so I hope she can help him deal with some of his issues. I was only trying to help him as a business consultant and just trying to be a good friend. I am not qualified to help him with mental issues.

I thought about this card a lot last night and to me it's like a relief to be done with the situation. So in the second context it maybe referring to me feeling like I am relieved I don't have to weather it out with this person, who I don't want to be involved with. And it fell next to the 6 of Cups, which maybe the opposite of what I thought before. It may mean "I am so, so happy to have this blocked in my life, so I can focus on all my own inner happiness, because the person was bringing me down to his 5 of Pentacles state-of-mind." Sometimes "Misery likes company." And the 6 of Cups is shining it's sun on the situation illuminating it for me.

From his perspective, he can go back to "whatever it was he was doing before he met me." I don't restrict his reckless lifestyle with my structured, family oriented lifestyle.
 

Thirteen

And it fell next to the 6 of Cups, which maybe the opposite of what I thought before. It may mean "I am so, so happy to have this blocked in my life, so I can focus on all my own inner happiness, because the person was bringing me down to his 5 of Pentacles state-of-mind."
The 6/Cups certainly allows you to return to your comfort zone, rather than staying out in the cold with someone who, maybe, refuses to admit things and try to work them out (thus leading to the 6/Pents where he finally understands how to give and get). Rx cards can mean not learning the lesson of the card (accepting loss in most of the 5's) and so not being able to move on.
 

Laurelle

Rx cards can mean not learning the lesson of the card (accepting loss in most of the 5's) and so not being able to move on.


Not learning the lesson seems to me another way to say it's "blocked." It suddenly struck me as making a lot of sense. Funny how different phrases meaning the same thing can hit us in different ways, yet all arriving at the same solution.