What is the meaning of symbols in Five of Pentacles Tarot Card?

The Five of Pentacles symbolizes people (or a person) who have become accustomed to their position and do not even think that it can be changed. Their perception is so limited that they pass by a house, perhaps a temple, where they would find shelter, food, and a kind word. “They keep their eyes on the ground in the hope of finding a pittance in the mud,” as one book says, or they follow an illusion once planted in their heads.
In the picture, we see a pair of lightly dressed beggars wandering through the wind and snow. One of them is with a broken leg. In the background is a stained-glass window, presumably of a church, depicting five pentacles. The card conveys well the atmosphere and the main meaning of Five of Pentacles – poverty, loss of strength, depression, health problems. But at the same time – salvation is near (the church), it is enough just to find the entrance, and everything will be fine.

Card Symbolism

Church or Castle
The solid stone wall behind the artwork on this card could be from a church, castle, or wealthy dwelling. There is light and warmth inside, where we can imagine all the good things in life. However, all that separates this abundance from the hardships on the outside is one window. The circumstances can change quickly, no matter how strong the walls we are trying to build against adversity are.

Beggars Pass By
This can mean spiritual devastation.

Temple’s Window
A hint of the possibility of getting help.

Light in the Window
It is a symbol of warmth and well-being.

Pentacles
Pentacles often refer to the material world, physical issues, practical issues, and the earth element. This is the last suit in many decks, indicating that this is the last stage in the development process.

Beggars
The man and woman on this card definitely indicate sickness, poverty, absence and misery, but they can also have more complex meanings. For example, they may represent a disregard for the material world and physical condition, very much attention to their intellectual life or spiritual issues can lead to a shaky material foundation.
Traditionally, the figure of a beggar symbolizes the connection between this world and the other world, which allows us to interpret this symbol as a reminder of the temporality of life. The reminder of death makes us remember our true values, in order to then determine the mission in life and have time to realize it.

Blindness and Lameness
It may mean that perhaps you need to cope with your needs, and get what you need, and not be silent.
Also the meaning of this element is in cooperation and acceptance of differences between people.

Bell on Men’s Neck
An interesting detail: such bells were worn by lepers. Lepers were perceived as the living dead, and it was almost impossible for them to count on help. The bandages on his leg also indicate that it is a leper on the card.

Crutches
They can mean that you can always find a way out of a difficult situation, or that help will be provided. It can also be a symbol of delay.

Snow
The falling snow adds another element to the already poignant scene. Even during the coldest times of the year, storms can continue, and similarly situations where people are already struggling can be unnecessarily exacerbated by violence, denial of care and neglect.

Snow on Earth
Signifying cleansing, in this case, spiritual. However, snow also means that we have no foundation and soil under our feet – only water. This lack of foundation is a symbol of a lack of faith and awareness of one’s basic values. It can also mean that there is something that needs to be cleared, healed or restored.

Number Five
Each of the fives in the minor arcana is associated with struggle, frustration, and challenge in some way. In Tarot, five is the number of transitions and growth, something that is rarely simple.

The Five of Pentacles is a card of crisis, hardship and anxiety. This is a decline, a failure in business, when we feel miserable, unhappy, abandoned, and sometimes in fact we are in constrained circumstances. At the same time, the Five of Pentacles rarely portends truly serious losses, sorrows or ruin, but only indicates the uncertainty of the situation and our subjective feeling of fear of losing the ground under our feet. Such periods of decline are characteristic of any growth crisis, when a person leaves a certain sphere that has become familiar, stable, and moves into a new, still unfamiliar, and possibly dangerous.

Discover the symbolism of other Minor Arcana: