Five of Pentacles
Minor Arcana · Pentacles · number 5 · Cinque di Denari
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The Five of Pentacles is two beggars in the snow passing beneath a lit window: material trouble above all, says Waite, down to destitution. If these days money is short, a job lost, an unexpected expense, it is no accident and nothing to be ashamed of. But the card has a second face: for some cartomancists it is a card of love and lovers, wife, husband, friend, mistress, of concordance and true affinities, of companions united through the trial. Waite admits the two readings cannot be harmonized: it is up to you to recognise which of them speaks of your situation. The lit window is there: knock. The practical advice: do not isolate yourself out of pride. Ask those who care for you, find out what support you are entitled to, and cut the expenses that do not keep you warm.
Source: Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) · read the original passage
Reversed
Reversed, the Five of Pentacles plunges: disorder, chaos, ruin, discord, profligacy. The trouble is no longer just a lack, but bad management: money thrown away, arguments over who pays, a house where nobody knows where anything is anymore. If these days your finances are slipping out of your hands and the family fights over every cent, it is no accident. Beware of spending to console yourself and of loans taken to cover other loans. It is not a sentence, but it is time to stop. The practical advice: write this month’s income and expenses on a sheet, all of them, and show it to whoever shares the account with you.