Five of Pentacles

✦ Keywords

Hardship, scarcity, exile, disenfranchisement, a test of faith.

✦ Meaning

✦ Challenge in the material realm

There's no getting around it: the 5 of Pentacles is a tough card. Like all fives, it represents a challenge in its suit, which in Pentacles is the material realm of our bodies, our work, our security. This is money problems, scarcity, hunger, health struggles. It's feeling exiled from our communities, disenfranchised by society, out of place in our bodies. It's blighted crops and harsh winters. It's the times when nothing grows.

✦ Hope, faith, and community

And yet, winter is natural. Struggle and instability are part of being alive. In order to survive these periods, the most important thing we can do is not lose hope. That's what the 5 of Pentacles tells us in a reading: to not give up, to have faith, to keep on hiking through the snow because warmth and solace and help are out there. This card reminds us that we are not alone. As those who have existed in the society's margins well know, there is always a community of outsiders. There are people like us, who have experienced the same things, who are ready to help us, to witness us, to bolster our strength through the struggle. This card asks that we look for them, and that we be humble and brave enough to ask for help.

✦ Imagery

Our card shows a cairn, a pile of stones used to mark a grave or a path, both a symbol of hardship and of hope and guidance. A fresh loaf of bread is left as an offering, and a second cairn is visible in the snowy distance, marking the way forward on the road to somewhere better. It's cold here, so cold, but as the marker shows, we're on the path.

✦ Trailing Punctuation

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