The Images of the Tarot Oracle in Psychic Readings

The Five of Pentacles

The image of Five Pentacles, like the image of Five Cups, is among the darkest of all the images contained in the Tarot Oracle. It is the emblem of rejection, alienation, isolation, exclusion, poverty, want, ill-health, and all kinds of hardship. And, living as we do in an age of scientific optimism, far from the medieval faith in suffering as an essential aspect of Divine Grace, we moderns would almost like to ban it from the oracle once and for all. But, are rejection and isolation always and ever a bad thing - say, for example, when they result from our commitment to a point of moral rectitude? And, does a period of material need have to be so terribly unwelcome, if at least it reminds us to be more compassionate for the great bulk of humanity that languishes in desperate poverty? However we answer these questions, when this image appears, it is always helpful to remember the words of William Faulkner, in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize: "I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail."

In illustration of one of the points made above, we may cite the case of one of our clients who came to us for advice concerning her situation at work. She had uncovered unethical behavior on the part of her immediate superior, and felt duty-bound to let upper management in the firm know all about it. How pleased we would have been to tell her that she could expect to be rewarded for her close adherence to propriety. However, with the appearance of Five Pentacles, we could see that her action would result only in her own isolation, and probably ultimately in her dismissal from the firm. It was at least helpful for her to approach the situation with eyes wide open. We reminded her that the rewards for right action are not always clearly visible and immediate. And a good conscience is its own reward.