5 of pentacles - positive meanings?

[Sophie]

I see you are using the Vision Tarot, which is based on the Tarot de Marseille and older Italian decks. In the Marseille deck, the 5 of Coins is not the bleak card it is in the RWS. The 5 coins shows an evolution from the stability of the fours - but also it is about risk-taking and small investments, especially financially or in other resources. We don't know if the investments will pay off at this stage.


Kabbalistically, 5s are the test of Severity - the test that forges and refines our characters: in the case of the 5 of Coins, the test concerns our ressources. But it only really works if it's associated with its partner - 4s, which are the gift of Mercy and Compassion: we can face the test, and pass it and grow from it, if we receive and give compassion (to ourselves and others).

That is hinted in the classic RWS imagery, which shows two people struggling together in the snow. But as far as I can make out, this image was not the one chosen for the Vision Tarot, whose creator specifically looked back to the pre-RWS era for his imagery and interpretations, reinterpreting them in modern context.

 

[Aurelious]

The first things that come to mind when I see the 5 of Pents is "turning a corner." Things look rough and you may feel barren, barely clinging on to the material but the light shining through the window reveals hope. And who knows what's hiding around the corner of this illuminated building...

 

[Stargirl]

Wow, thank you all - these are such great responses. Not having the Rider-Waite, I didn't connect it to a pair of people.

Fudugazi, that's true -- the Vision deck minors are pretty basic; the 5 of pentacles is a picture of 5 coins on a simply designed background.

The 5 appeared at the end of what were mainly positive cards, and in my context I can see how it may mean that it will have been how I feel at the end of a long, stressful-yet-strengthening journey.

 

[MantraTarot]

Marriage (from the Ettellia meaning) (my favorite, and how I usually interpret this card)

Two people sticking it out--together ("us" against the world).

A couple; a joined force, in tandem (New Orleans Voodoo Tarot)

T.

i like that positive interpretation. this card was depressing to me when i first started to learn about it. good thing i read this thread.

 

[Morwenna]

Since most of my cards are RWS-descendents, my take on the image already described often has the sense of _feeling_ left out and abandoned, whether it is in fact so or not. The bleak picture is often a temporary thing, depending on how soon the querent looks through that window, seeks out the door, etc.

 

[Teheuti]

The Etteilla meanings for the Five of Coins are:
"Lovers, spouse, marrieds, mistress. To like, cherish, adore. Friend. Agreement. Suitability, propriety."

Papus saw it as the "Opposition to the Opposition," that is:
"A success coming which will balance the loss."


The old playing card meanings are similar:
"Unexpected news, generally of a good kind."

A blending of the new and old meanings says:
"Good for love but not for money."

Personally, I think the old wedding vows are appropriate:
"For better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health . . ."

 

[fire queen]

5 pents came just before I broke up with my bf and that was how I felt. It was so pictorial for me. I was standing outside the sports center he was training in. The lights, music and people training including him could be seen/heard from outside and I was aching outside in the cold (both cold and heartwise). I was broke with no pentacles in my pocket also. I had the urge to go in and make up with him but my pride did not allow me to do so. I thought better be poor in the heart and lick my wounds and ache rather than go in and beg for his love (his coins of love maybe). So there is a pride factor associated with this card also which I liked at that time because it helped me to feel better for some reason I did not know. You just feel that you can not go into that door and building to ask for help because of your pride however it made me respect myself and think highly of myself because I was no beggar and I did not give in in his whims.

 

[Teheuti]

I was standing outside the sports center he was training in. The lights, music and people training including him could be seen/heard from outside and I was aching outside in the cold (both cold and heartwise).

I know someone else who had almost the same experience. She stood outside the local community center during a Christmas dance, watching, through a window, her ex-bf inside dancing with his new girl friend, and knowing she couldn't go in. It made her feel like such an outsider.

I love it when the cards are so absolutely literal !

 

[FaireMaiden]

In working with the downtrodden, I have had this card come up almost exclusively when someone is quitting something that they used to strongly identify themselves thru... such as, drugs, smoking, drinking, bad love, gambling, shopping, denial of joy, the whole victimization thang, blah, blah, blah...

They feel bereft without their ______ (fill in the blank), and yet, letting go is so very liberating for them. They are in Process (which is what this card actually means to me)... the process of re-creating their 'idea' of themselves. And that is the positive note. Such aspiration is not without its sacrifice, its struggle, but it portends an absolute air of living and being more authentically who we actually are and want to believe ourselves to be.

So, it's a great card of Hope, of Promise, and of 'this too shall pass'... but, in the reading, these things are not spoken of until the pain of the process is sincerely acknowledged... and dwelt upon for a bit... for there is a certain 'pride in overcoming' the pain of change that goes very far in extending the necessary compassion, that leads to trust, between a querent and reader.

 

[Seafra]

A blending of the new and old meanings says:
"Good for love but not for money."

Oh, this phrase is a keeper for this card. Got a reading in my journal that needed these exact 7 words badly. Thank you, thank you!!