Material loss.
Financial hardship.
Loss of job.
Being totally fucking fucked in a real and tangible way.
Welcome to the Five of Coins!
Look far and wide, but any interpretation you find will point to this central idea. The card of being down on your luck, The Lord of Material Troubles, there is a clear and present message being sent here. It’s just not a good situation.
But then there’s the church–you have to consider the church. This beggar and leper are exactly the kind of people the church would help so why are they leaving?
I used to get this card very often. It was many years ago and I was dirt poor back then, so I never could interpret it as a material loss. I had nothing there to lose. The only interpretation that made sense at the time was to consider why these people are out in the cold in the first place. Something was going on beneath the surface, and the picture was not telling the whole story.
Not too shabby of an interpretation for an 18 year old! In fact as I continued to see that card, while I did find it irritating, it offered me an opportunity to consider whether I myself had decided to walk barefoot in the snow, and if I had, why I had decided that.
Cycles come and cycles go, and that card in particular made fewer and fewer appearances as they passed. Now, 20 years later, seeing the 5 of pentacles take center stage as the card of the day brought on immediate nostalgia, no hint of loss detected.
This card is simple, yes. But material loss? That’s up for debate.
It is about the value of friendship. Unfortunately, like the value of friendship itself, this card has lost touch with this, its true meaning. There’s no greater shame than losing grip on the value of friendship.
When we think about relationships, most people immediately think of romantic ones, and as a secondary thought will consider their family. Friends have become superfluous, representing selfishness in one way or another. They rank low on our accepted societal standard of priorities.
Blood is thicker than water, they say.
Perhaps they do not know the full phrase is
The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.
Your friendships are the relationships you should prioritize. Yes, over your family.
To bring in another cliche,
A friend in need is a friend indeed
can be very misleading and make friendship sound taxing.
But consider the scene in the 5 of pentacles.
When you are in need, publicly shamed, ill, poor, without even your most basic needs met, misunderstood, mocked, cast out, and punished, there are few who will look upon you with the level of love and understanding and compassion of a true friend.
A true friend is someone you have chosen, and they have chosen you. True friendships are not maintained out of external necessity. Those relationships are that of acquaintances, not friends. Friendship is a connection between two people who have both the ability and desire to see each other in their truest forms.
Friends are not warm bodies to share an Uber with or meet up with at a bar. Friends are not just some people you’ve known since elementary school so you keep in touch and get dinner once a month. Friends are not people you owe something to. Friends are not a burden. Friends are not just another thing to keep up with in an already busy life.
As a point of advice, if you do feel there’s an obligation in your friendship in any capacity, you don’t have a friendship with that person.
Friendship is about a continuing desire to connect with another individual. That desire itself is the key, because in a true friendship that desire will burn regardless of any external force. It is that desire that creates the scene in the 5 of pentacles.
Look at this beggar woman, rushing out into the cold, no time or need to worry about shoes. The leper is hopeless and lost, yet he follows her lead. He trusts her when he can trust no one else, not even himself. He called her for exactly that reason, wise enough to remember their bond. She knows him, she understands him, and she wants him to live the best life he can. Her obligation to help him does not exist, but she is not void of intent. She wants nothing more than to provide him the help he needs right now, help that only a friend, only she, can provide. No one else he knows can walk into the scene so confidently, (despite being a scene of their own accord), and take the charge necessary to rescue this man, whatever that may be. Either way, she’s taking her friend where he belongs, and she’s not leaving his side until he tells her that he’s ok.
More than anything, this card begs you to look at your friendships. In the moment it was happening, it was a shit scene that no one wanted to be in. Looking back on it however is a thing of beauty. It’s a snapshot of something that seemed like the end of the world at the time, that really could have been the end of the world, if not for the absolute fucking blessing that is friendship. The blessing that is your friend.
That would be quite enough. That is an impactful and powerful soul feeding relationship. Friends really are the best. But that’s not the end of it.
No, no. This is friendship. Much like the tarot itself, friendship creates a mysterious aura, wrought with hidden meanings, that intrigues those who exist outside its confines. That snapshot of mushy friendship love–
You mean the Barefoot Squall of ‘23? You mean The Lost Year? Chingarora? Or maybe the Voldemort of situations? It is The Worst Walk Ever. It is The Matthew Days. The Summer of Nightmares. Only the two of you will really get it.
Just call your bestie, ok? Clearly you need each other.
And do not let me catch this one coming up reversed for you either. You do not want that talking-to.
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