V – Five of Pentacles♦

Five of Pentacles reveals hardship, financial loss, and the feelings of isolation that accompany adversity. Attributed to Mercury in Taurus, this card bears the title Material Trouble—the disruption of earthly security, the anxiety that arises when the foundations we depend upon begin to crumble.

The Five of Pentacles is the cold night outside the sanctuary, the challenge that tests your resilience. Two figures trudge through snow past a lighted church window, too absorbed in their suffering to notice the warmth and shelter that awaits if they would only look up and enter. One is injured, one is poor—yet they have each other, and help is closer than they know.

Corresponding to Geburah, Severity, in the earthy realm, this card embodies the harsh lessons that material life sometimes imposes. The Five of Pentacles teaches that support is available if you reach out and that difficult times are temporary. It reminds you that the deepest poverty is isolation, and that reaching out for help—or offering it to another in need—transforms the experience of hardship into one of connection.