Tarot: The Symbolism of the Five of Pentacles

The Five of Pentacles is the card of the Minor Arcana that represents the orphan, the crippled, the unemployed and the financial and spiritual destitute.

Description:

In the Rider/Waite deck, the Five of Pentacles is represented by a poor woman and a man with crutches walking in the snow outside a building with a bright stained glass window.

In the esoteric Tarot deck of the Golden Dawn, the Five of Pentacles is represented by a hand, emerging from a cloud, holding a rose bush with four roses and five pentacles on it; the roses are all losing their petals.

Kabbalistic Association:

The Five of Pentacles is associated with the sephirah Geburah in the World of Assiah, and the first decan (first to tenth degrees) of zodiac sign of Taurus which is subruled by the planet Mercury.

Esoteric Title (Keyword): Lord of Material Trouble

Interpretation:

When well-aspected, the Five of Pentacles can indicate a hardship that leads to spiritual growth.

When ill-aspected, the Five of Pentacles generally indicates material hardship and worry.

When neutral-aspected, general opposition to one's goals (either though a person or circumstance) is the typical message of the Five of Pentacles.

Symbolism:

A.E. Waite tells us that this card "foretells material trouble above all"; he also says that "For some cartomancists, it is a card of love and lovers"; Waite adds that these two meanings can not be reconciled with one another.

To understand how two such completely different meanings can be applied to the same card, one must know something of the history of the modern-day Tarot. Before 1910, only one Tarot deck had full illustrations with human and animal images representing the Minor Arcana, and that fifteenth century Tarot deck (Sola-Busca Tarocchi) was little known among fortune tellers and students of the occult of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Therefore, every esoteric society, teacher of the occult, and fortune teller had merely the image of five pentacles (disks/coins) and their own home-grown method for interpreting the cards. This free-for-all method started to give way when European occultists started to associate the twenty-two Major Arcana with the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, and the Minor Arcana with the Four Kabbalistic Worlds. Furthermore the Minor Arcana were connected to the decans of the zodiac by European occultists.

The idea that this was the true pattern to interpret the cards made its way into the esoteric Order known today as the Golden Dawn; it is the designs and teachings of the Golden Dawn Tarot that A.E. Waite and Pamela "Pixie" Smith secretly based the Rider/Waite deck upon. Inside the cards of the Rider/Waite Tarot deck are hints about how the initiate of Golden Dawn reads the cards.

From the Golden Dawn viewpoint, the esoteric title of the Five of Pentacles sums up its meaning: Lord of Material Trouble. While there is a flow of spiritual energy present, it is not enough to maintain the material needs of the querent; this is represented in the Golden Dawn version by the falling rose petals and in the Rider/Waite version by the two crippled beggars.

In a reading, this is a hard card to receive for it represents material troubles. Unemployment, medical bills, foreclosures, investment losses, natural disasters are all possible meanings of this card. The only positive note of this card is that it indicates that the loss of material things can aid one in the pursuit of the spiritual; many people find spiritual comfort and growth in their church, coven or lodge during material crisis.The esoteric title of the Five of Pentacles sums up its meaning: Lord of Material Trouble.Five of Pentacles is associated with the sephirah Geburah in the World of Assiah.Also the first decan of zodiac sign of Taurus which is subruled by the planet Mercury.The only positive note of this card is that it indicates that the loss of material things can aid one in the pursuit of the spiritual.