I won’t lie — the Five of Pentacles is one of my least favorite cards to see in a reading.  It is depressing for multiple reasons, not the least of which is the Church in the background, arrayed in stained glass finery, glowing warmly while two poor and desolate souls walk in the snow outside.

Taken in cultural context, stained glass (in older times) was as valuable a commodity as big screens in the mega-churches today.  To quote a friend, “If an institution can afford that much money to spend on sprucing itself up, there had better not be a homeless, hungry soul within 20 square miles of that place.”  Pardon the phrase, but AMEN!

So, the Five of Pentacles card, to me, speaks of excesses and failures to ensure that those who need the help most receive it.  This is not a morality play, folks.  This is becoming more and more of a reality.

We live in an era of big government that spawns even bigger social programs.  These social programs are there, supposedly, to assist citizens in times of need.  You’ve probably heard of a few of these programs:  Food Stamps, Section 8, Medicaid/Medicare, Social Security.  Do these programs work?

I suppose that depends on how you choose to measure success here.  Is success keeping people from starving?  Keeping people sheltered?  Making sure that people have money to live on?  These are all certainly results of these programs but are they the higher aim?  In other words, while these programs may bring these two weary souls in from the cold and give them shelter and food and medical care, do these programs change the bottom line for those who are unfortunate?  Once the program goes away, will these two be back out in the cold, seeking another warm place, another saving grace?

Governments providing such large scale support to broad swathes of the population is a relatively new concept.  In the United States, we have millions of older Americans drawing Social Security which they have dutifully (as if you can avoid it!) paid into over their working years.  We also have the poor — a section of the population rapidly growing as illegal immigration escalates and the gap between the Haves and the Have-Nots widens to the point of eclipsing the Middle Class entirely.  In far too many cases, individuals in both of these groups are COMPLETELY dependent upon the government for their very survival.  And sadly, there are all too many of these cases where people are perfectly content to have it be so.

Let me say this now — the institutions that control the physical sphere control you.  If you are on a drug, you are dependent upon the maker and distributor of that drug for your continued way of life.  If you are on that drug for something you could possibly control yourself but you’re taking the drug because it’s easier, then you have consented to this control over your health.  If you have no job and are reliant on a check from the government to keep you, then the government controls you with its money (after all, would you vote for a person who was running that wanted to cut off your checks?  Probably not… and they know this).  And I know of too many churches that provide “food and shelter” but the caveat for participating in these programs is that you must attend counseling.  Not a bad thing, but if you’re pagan?  Would you want Christian counseling?  Likely not.  Would you sit through it if it meant the difference between your child sleeping in the cold and your child sleeping in a warm bed?  Of course you would.

Health, Food, Shelter, the Ability to Earn Money and Provide For One’s Self… these are vital Earth sphere tasks.  As long as you can provide these for yourself, you have also provided your freedom in a large measure because you aren’t dependent on another for your basic survival.  Anytime you are reliant on another for your survival, you run the risk of the Five of Pentacles.  Oh, the system is there.  The wealth is there.  The warmth is there.  But tell me — where is the door?  How do you get to it?  How do you access what is being offered?  You must come inside.  You must utilize the system.  It can be hard to get off the system when you are dependent upon the system.  It’s like wanting to let go of the only rope holding you up.  It’s counter-intuitive.

Self-provision is something every person needs to learn.  Your ability to handle your own Earth-sphere needs is a basic key to your own freedom.

However, everyone has times when they are truly in need.  Sometimes we are like the woman in the red shawl, and we trudge along, walking right past the opportunity for help.  Maybe we are just too stubborn and determined.  Sometimes we are like the injured man, looking up, hoping.  You might notice the man is wearing a bell.  Is he hoping someone will hear him?  On the one hand, we have one individual who is capable yet won’t ask for help.  On the other hand, we have someone who truly needs help and won’t ask; rather, he is passively hoping that someone will reach out to him.  Neither method gets needs met.  Neither method “finds the door to the sanctuary”.

If you ARE truly in need, find the door.  Find the words to ask for the help you need.  Don’t stalk past obvious assistance and stay out in the cold, and especially not if someone else is dependent upon you.  Don’t “wear a bell” and expect someone to hear you and come rushing to your aid either.  If you have a need, it is nothing of which to be ashamed (and the man is truly in need).

Finally, this is a card of motion.  The Fives represent change, movement, transformation.  There may not be a door in the picture, but there’s nothing saying it’s not just ahead.  These two poor souls aren’t curled up beneath the beautiful window, just waiting for help to arrive.  They are actively moving.  Be sure that if you get in a situation that threatens your physical sphere that you don’t just “curl up and die”.  Actively move!  Do something to help yourself.

There are two paths here:  “working the system”, and utilizing “a system that works”.  People who work the system are comfortable giving up their control and living on “life-support”, basically having everything to SUPPORT life but not to really thrive.  A system that works does everything it can to put control back into the hands of the individual and get him off “life-support” as soon as possible so he can be free to achieve all he can.  Only one of these paths is proper for the Witch.

Hint:  it’s not the first one.

Lessons From The Five: Self-reliance equals freedom, dependence diminishes freedom, systems that serve to keep people on the system do not serve — they master, if you are truly in need you should take the steps to meet the need as quickly and as thoroughly as possible and without shame so you may restore yourself to self-reliance as soon as possible.

Read about the Six of Pentacles…

Photo of Five of Pentacles card, art by Pamela Colman Smith under direction of A.E. Waite, originally published by the Rider Company, 1909.