FURTHER EXPLORATION OF THE FIVE OF PENTACLES

[If you're curious about my previous post on the Five of Pentacles, click here.]

The Five of Pentacles (5P) is one of those cards that elicits a strong response from Tarot innocents. In this case, "Oh, how sad" pretty much covers it. Here's the Rider/Waite/Smith deck version of the 5P in which one can clearly see why this might be so:

And, very generally speaking the 5P in other decks provokes similar reactions. Yet, for me, I sometimes wonder why the figures on this card don't just go into that church, either for shelter or to seek help. That said, though, what drew me to post on the 5P today was a blue mood I've recently left behind. I'd been feeling outside of every good thing. In the cold and impoverished in any way that really seemed to matter. And not able to avail myself of any warm lighted space I might stumble by, to walk into for comfort or aid.

This next 5P is from the "Sacred Circle Tarot", a lovely deck that evokes mythic feelings, which I studied and read with a great deal when I first got it many years ago:

And this version is from The Pathfinder's Tarot (the link is to the site of the artist Sylvie Daigneault, as I can find nothing on the publisher online; BTW her work -- both Tarot and otherwise -- is delightful). The 5P in this deck is intriguing in that one can see those pentacles as either heading up into freedom and growth in the light, or marching themselves deeper into the cold stony dark:

And this last 5P for today is from another very old deck of mine, that I studied and read with way back when, and rather extensively, The Xultun Tarot". One flag word for the 5P in general is "worry" and the figure in the top right of this one certainly looks worried about the jaguar stalking him. Despite how well-armed he appears to be:

I've already mentioned above why I chose to expand on the 5P for today's post. I'll simply add that one tack I take with a deep mood of alienation is to look at it as a lesson. What can I learn from this? The issue of lessons, BTW, is something I often see in the fives in the Tarot. I seem to recall that this is said to be an aspect of the number 5 in numerology. And, if so, it certainly fits with the Tarot fives. Omigosh, I may not be as far from the grasp of that blue mood as I'd thought. I just re-read these notes and thought that they seem to be at a bit of a remove from this card. I hope my notes on the 5P below (or my previous post linked to at the top of this post) will bring at least a few of its wealth of aspects more clearly into view.

MEANINGS/INSIGHTS/READINGS FOR THE FIVE OF PENTACLES (5p), SOME LESS COMMON OR EVEN QUIRKY -- Please note: The below is not intended to be an exhaustive exploration of this card; a quick Google will produce a wider variety of takes should you not be familiar with it. (Given my heavy reliance on projection of my feelings and experiences onto the cards, I recognize that I may very well reveal more about myself here than I do about any particular card. However, this is exactly my point: I use the cards as a path to self-discovery and healing. I hope what I post here that comes out of that process will be useful in some way to other seekers.):

-- Monkey wrenches. All fives can have this quality, which can be seen to fit with the number 5 being one of lessons. I.e., what can we learn from that monkey wrench just tossed into the works. Might it even be used in a positive way.

-- This card can highlight a strong strain of self-pity.

-- There's a difference between moving on and running away. Your urge right now to pass all this by is based in assumptions of having been excluded from it. Whether you have been or not is beside the point. Get over indulging in "poor me." Then you can freely choose to move on, or not.

-- Are you letting material concerns drain and impoverish your spirit, in a damaging and/or debilitating way?

-- Stubborn thinking that leads to trying to hold on to things, in spite of change that's beginning to shine through.

-- You'll be shut out of that option or decision for some unrelated reason. The upshot is that the time is just not right to move ahead on it.

-- You may feel out of it soon; disconnected, even from yourself. Be patient. You'll feel connected again soon. Use this "disconnect" as a time to catch your breath, to relax.

-- They don't appear to even notice the church within which they could inquire for help. This may indicate it's inner resources that are needed at present. Try meditating or journaling or asking your dreams for help.

-- Attachments (e.g., to people, money, situations, beliefs, goals, etc.) that one gives up or that have been taken away, can free one. Letting in fresh takes on everything. Not necessarily a fun or quick process. Bu it can have a very positive and concrete outcome eventually.

-- What are you holding almost deliberately outside your awareness? It may cost nothing to let it in and may even enrich things.

-- An introvert whose community is aspects of her inner life. This may seem lonely to others but it's not. It's necessary and natural ... for this particular person.

-- Own the decisions you made to bring you to being so outside of things. It's OK to need/want a vacation from social involvement. It can be a time of renewal. And everyone will manage OK without you for the duration.

-- Can indicate that you are being unfairly pressured ("guilted") into doing something.

-- Outsiders are often the bearers of what is new or long forgotten, and therefore unfamiliar, even frightening. But nonetheless valuable.

-- Don't let pity for others blind you to the lesson you personally need to learn from this situation.

-- Step outside your usual warm fuzzy, comfort zone. There's a lot more world to be learned about and experienced beyond your habitual and familiar boundaries.

-- The stresses in your life right now are beginning to impact your physical health. Small, even five minute breathing breaks in your day would be very salutary. Especially if you think about all you have to be grateful for.

-- Out of touch with important aspects of self or of one's life in general.

-- Finding comfort within one's self at a time when all external supports seem to have failed and/or fallen away.

-- You may feel impoverished in all ways right now. But it's at times like these that the riches of spirit are most available. Even letting this possibility settle into your thinking can have a profoundly helpful effect.

-- Delicacy that needs not only acknowledgement but protection.

-- Can sometimes indicate a return to a sort of innocence, a time of not knowing what to do, or where to turn. Or that one is more innocent in this particular situation than one realizes. Therefore, both the beauty and vulnerability of innocence are in play, and need to be acknowledged.

I'll end with the feeling expressed by that comment immediately above. Only adding that I was surprised when it surfaced for this card. That, and the delicacy referenced just prior to that. Though I suppose after all these years I should not be surprised at the layers and depths that a Tarot image offers. Then again, maybe the lesson here is to be grateful that I am still being surprised.

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N.B. A small thing, but just in case: some of the extra reference links offered at the very end of my oldest (years old) posts no longer work. As there are so many posts here to go through I am choosing not to find and change all of those links that are "dead." If you are interested, you can try Googling for the name of the site or article referenced. I've found that some are still around in new locations or incarnations, some not.

'til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot, in whatever ways it comes to you in your life,





[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under "View my complete profile")**** SEE ALSO: United Haiku and Tanka Society (UHTS) (charter member); Roswila's Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry; Roswila's Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka); Trying to Hold A Box of Light for digital photos only.