In this chapter of the tarot course we will see the Five of Pentacles and its meanings. What does the Five of Pentacles mean in the Tarot? What does the Five of Pentacles card mean in love, work, money or health? What is its spiritual meaning and what does it reveal to us? What does the Five of Pentacles card upside down or reversed mean?
The Five of Pentacles in the tarot
The Five of Pentacles is all about lack and poverty. The Five of Pentacles reveals a bleak image of two people, with little or no resources, walking in the cold of the outdoors.
Graphic description of the card

- The Five of Pentacles, like the five in the other suits of the deck, portrays a situation of adversity. In this card, a pair of homeless people walk through the snow, passing in front of what appears to be a church with a large lighted stained glass window.
- The church is symbolic of providing spiritual comfort, while helping those who cannot help themselves. The lighted stained glass window is the open, latent possibility of receiving help, warmth and shelter, thus symbolizing hope and material help.
- The man uses a crutch because of his crippled leg and the woman tries to cover herself with her tattered cloak. Both appear to be living in poverty and with little or no possessions.
What does the Five of Pentacles mean in the Tarot?
The Five of Pentacles right side up, General Meaning: The Five of Pentacles signals a time in life of much adversity, primarily related to the material and financial, although not surprisingly, this facet causes the spiritual and emotional life to falter as well.
This card indicates, depending on the time we analyze, past, present or future, a material ruin that you may have suffered, are currently going through or is on your way later.
Although it is related to money or material things, this situation of intense poverty can be in other areas, it could be an illness, a situation of job loss, emotional distress or loneliness.
Whatever the case, one of the central messages of the card is that help may be available, just as the church in the figure appears as a support for the helpless, you should know that in one way or another there may always be people willing to contain you and help you through the difficult moment.
It is very likely that the difficulties you are going through have a cause in yourself, in certain emotional states. Bad luck also exists, of course, but you should examine if at some point certain emotions of yours have not caused this situation.
Perhaps ambition got out of hand, turning into greed, the desire for possessions into avarice, and this added to a state of anxiety and nonconformity may have led you to bad decisions and mistakes that cemented the bad moment you are living.
In any facet of our life the spiritual must be present and should not be neglected, and perhaps an excessive focus on the material, neglecting the rest, has led to your ruin.
The lesson of the Five of Pentacles is to make you review your relationship with money. Of course it is important and we live in a material world that prioritizes having and that with money it can be a little easier, but this should not be the main axis of life.
If everything in your life falls apart because you don’t have money, or don’t earn enough or can never attain certain possessions, your life will be very impoverished, and this will generate loneliness, anguish and disconnection with others and their lives.
Your relationship with money and the emotions you generate towards it also determine whether money is more present or more absent in your life. If you live terrified by the idea of poverty, of losing a generous job, if you live considering money from the lack and lack, it is most likely that it is indeed missing in your life.
Money is an energy and as such, it will be sensitive to your emotions and moods, so how you feel is your monetary state.
One of the most important things associated with this ruin that the card proposes, is that in this situation your emotions, your esteem, your values, may plummet, but you should see it the other way around: All financial ruin is usually preceded by a spiritual or emotional ruin.
Hence, perhaps there is part of your responsibility in the situation you are living. Although we immediately point to an external cause, in reality there is a close relationship of our emotions and spirit, perhaps unconsciously, in provoking this situation and that is something you should review very well.
In another aspect, The Five of Pentacles can indicate a time of forced loneliness. You do not feel accepted, you feel the abandonment or rejection of someone or groups in particular, and while it is a discouraging situation, it will serve at some point to see who really loves you well and who are your friends or affections willing to help you.
What does the Five of Pentacles mean in love?
In the realm of love. The Five of Pentacles speaks of loneliness and sadness. It is very likely that if you are in a relationship you feel abandoned or that you are not being treated the way you should be or deserve to be.
You should know that when love is true, no one should be juggling to make it work, so if you feel this bad, evaluate very well who you are loving.
On another aspect, if you are lonely, maybe you have your eyes on someone who does not correspond to you and you should stop fantasizing about a relationship with that person.
It is very important not to let all your happiness depend on one person, because if this person leaves or stops loving you, the ruin of loneliness will devastate you.
What does the Five of Pentacles mean at work?
On the work level. The Five of Pentacles indicates that you may have lost your job or that you are about to lose it. Undoubtedly, it is a situation of loss and if you are going through it, surely despair is very present.
However, the card reminds you that once you have reached the bottom of the well you cannot go any lower, and the only way out is to go up again, so no matter how negative your situation is, help will come and the situation will be resolved positively. You should pay close attention to the help that may be available to you now.
What does the Five of Pentacles mean for money and finances?
In terms of money. The Five of Pentacles speaks of a very delicate situation, possibly one of ruin and poverty. This is temporary, however. Help always appears, either from the environment or from you, from within you.
Therefore, it is important not to fall into despair, in the false ideas that you are a failure or a complete uselessness. Mistakes we all make, financial failures happen to everyone and are a risk for those who have much as for those who have nothing or little.
Analyze what depends on you, what can be your responsibility but do not punish yourself unnecessarily. The situation will pass, as everything in life does.
What does the Card of the Five of Pentacles mean for health?
Regarding health. The Five of Pentacles is evidence of a situation of great stress and anguish, because certainly poverty, failure, job loss and lack of money generate anxiety, anguish and depression.
Physically you surely have nothing, but the emotional breakdown is transferred to the body, it somatizes, so you should try to mitigate the emotional impact and work your emotional health mainly to feel better.
What does the Five of Pentacles mean spiritually?
If we talk about spirituality. The Five of Pentacles is firm in reminding you that everything passes, that nothing lasts forever, no matter how difficult the situation you are living.
You must strengthen your spirit now with positive thoughts, knowing that help will come somehow as it always does. Meditation and relaxation is the key to improving your health. Meditate even if all you can try is 30 seconds at a time.
What does the upside down or reversed Five of Pentacles card mean?
The Five of Pentacles reversed, General meaning: The Five of Pentacles, like all number 5 cards in the deck, offer their more positive side when they come out upside down than when they appear right side up, it is a particular characteristic of the 5.

Here, the reversal of the card clearly signals that difficult times and times are over or very close to being over.
The reversed Five of Pentacles is the way out of ruin, poverty, helplessness or loneliness. If you have lost your job, gone bankrupt financially, been dumped or come from a period of great loneliness, the card now tells you that this is over.
New job possibilities, extra money, a windfall, a raise, a salary increase, someone’s full and helpful help. In addition, there is a profound change in your emotions: you once again feel joy, optimism, a zest for life, your self-esteem, faith and confidence restored.
Solutions appear, ideas that suddenly burst forth, that perhaps were there but in your state you could not see them, much less put them into practice.
But also from now on, The Five of Gros can show a negative facet, which is that even though you are overcoming obstacles and difficulties, there still remains within you an inner poverty, an impoverished spirit in which you feel alone, isolated from others, even if around you there are a lot of people. You are not on axis, you are not in tune, you are out of place.
You should put everything in perspective again and check if you have not been giving too much importance and dedication to the material part of life, to the detriment of the spiritual and the emotional, which may be the cause now of your feeling of loneliness and disconnection.
The bad times are over, so reconnect with yourself and everything around you.
What does the reversed Five of Pentacles mean in love?
In the realm of love. The Five of Pentacles announces that all loneliness is over. You may be in a relationship but even then you may have felt lonely and abandoned. This is reversed and as if by magic, everything gets better for you and the relationship.
If you are looking for a relationship, keeping an open and optimistic stance, it will appear and make up for all the dark time you have lived through so far.
What does the reversed Five of Pentacles mean at work?
On the work level. The reversed Five of Pentacles reveals new possibilities on the horizon, be it a positive job change, a salary increase, the end of a bad period at work. It’s time to regain confidence and push forward.
If you are looking for a job after a long period without work, the solution appears and your life is rearranged.
What does the Five of Pentacles card reversed mean in money and finances?
In money and finances. The Five of Pentacles, it is possible that through external help, even unexpected, your financial situation will change and improve. Opportunities that were hindered begin to emerge. The time of poverty and failures ends, scarcity is replaced by welfare.
It is advisable to invest and gamble again. Your emotional attitude and spiral goes hand in hand with the financial, so if you are positive everything will go that way.
What does the Five of Pentacles card reversed mean in health?
In terms of health. The Five of Pentacles means that your serious stress and worries that had been transferred to your physical body, making you feel sick, disappear.
The anguish and depression is replaced by a new confidence and optimistic attitude, which has a direct impact on your body. You will know that many ailments you thought you were suffering from were not such, but only a mirror of your emotional state.
What does the Five of Pentacles card reversed mean spiritually?
In spirituality. The Five of Pentacles tells you that as you now see a general improvement in life, you will begin to feel more trust in the universe and the “powers that be” again.
Give thanks for all the good things and good people in your life, those who in ruin have not abandoned you and those who have been helpful to you in getting ahead.
Expand the feeling of gratitude. Share with others what you have learned and the lessons of these hard times you have gone through.