Pentacles · minor arcana · Earth
The Five of Pentacles tarot card meaning: upright, hardship, financial strain or feeling left out in the cold; reversed, recovery from hardship, accepting help or finding a way back in. Its Rider–Waite picture shows five pentacles.
Waite, Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911; Golden Dawn, Book T.
Hardship, financial strain or feeling left out in the cold. Help may be closer than it seems.
The Five of Pentacles is hardship: financial loss, illness or feeling left out in the cold, often while help is nearby but unnoticed. Two figures walk past a lit church window: support exists, but pride or exhaustion keeps them outside.
Recovery from hardship, accepting help or finding a way back in.
Reversed, recovery: accepting help, improving finances and coming in from the cold. A job, a loan or a friend can turn the situation round.
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Primary source
“The card foretells material trouble above all, whether in the form illustrated—that is, destitution—or otherwise. For some cartomancists, it is a card of love and lovers—wife, husband, friend, mistress; also concordance, affinities. These alternatives cannot be harmonized.”
“Disorder, chaos, ruin, discord, profligacy.”
The Five of Pentacles sits where the Fives row crosses the Pentacles column; its cell shows Mercury in Taurus, the Book T decan.
How this card is built
Golden Dawn correspondences
In Book T (1888) the Five of Pentacles is Mercury in Taurus: the first decan of Taurus, 0°–10°. In 2026 the Sun passes through it from Apr 20 to Apr 30, (UTC).
| Book T decan | Mercury in Taurus |
|---|---|
| Zodiac span | 0°–10° Taurus decan 1 of 3 |
| Sun in this decan, 2026 | Apr 20 – Apr 30, 2026 UTC |
| Sign | Taurus Sun there Apr 20 – May 21, 2026 |
| Other decans of Taurus | Six of Pentacles Moon, 10°–20° Seven of Pentacles Saturn, 20°–30° |
| Major arcana card of Taurus | The Hierophant |
The Taurus page lists the modern decan rulers (Venus, Mercury, Saturn); Book T keeps the older Chaldean order — Mercury, Moon, Saturn.
Data, not interpretation
The Five of Pentacles is drawn on January 13, May 22 and August 7, once reversed. With three draws it ranks joint 51st of 78, level with 11 other cards. The longer of its two gaps runs from January 13 to May 22, 129 days. Not one lands during its decan.
The image
Two poor figures, one on crutches, trudge through falling snow past a church window lit with five coins. They do not look up at the warm light.
Upright, feeling isolated or going through hard times together. Reversed, finding support.
They feel insecure or left out, and may need reassurance.
Job loss, money worries or a period of insecurity. Financial difficulty; look for help and support.
No. It reads as a no whichever way up it lands. No other card among the Pentacles gives that answer — it is the only no of the 14. Among the other Fives, the Five of Wands says maybe, while the other two agree.
Health: like every card of Pentacles, it points to the body itself, routine and material conditions. The suit of Pentacles →
If you drew it today
Look up and ask for help; support is often just around the corner.
How neighboring cards change the reading of the Five of Pentacles →
Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.
AstroHot. “Five of Pentacles Tarot Card Meaning: Upright and Reversed.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/tarot/cards/five-of-pentacles/
{{cite web |title=Five of Pentacles Tarot Card Meaning: Upright and Reversed |url=https://astrohot.com/tarot/cards/five-of-pentacles/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}
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