The Five of Pentacles as Feelings: Left Out, Struggling and Not Feeling Welcome

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Five of Pentacles shows two figures in the snow passing a lit window. Here is what I would read when it appears as someone's feelings, and why the window matters.

If you want the short answer, I would read the Five of Pentacles as feelings of exclusion and lack. In a feelings position the card suggests the person feels left out, unworthy or in the cold where you are concerned: they want in and do not feel welcome, or they feel they have nothing to offer, or they feel abandoned by you. It does not tell you the exclusion is real. The lit window in the picture is right there.

This is a sad card about someone's feelings and a specific one. The person feels outside. Whether anyone shut them out is a separate question.

The Five of Pentacles upright as feelings

Tina Gong's the Five of Pentacles guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with need, poverty, insecurity and isolation. When the card lands in a position that asks how someone feels about you, I read those meanings as the shape of the feeling rather than as a verdict on the person.

Upright, I read the Five of Pentacles as a person who feels poor in relation to you: not good enough, not welcome enough, not able to give what they think you want. The feeling may be love wearing shame. It may be a sense of real rejection. In either case the person is walking past the window rather than knocking.

What I would not read into it is indifference. The figures in the snow are not walking away from the church because they do not want warmth. They do not believe the door is for them.

What the card does not tell you

The card does not confirm that you have excluded the person, that their sense of lack is accurate, or that opening the door would be enough to bring them in. No card lets a reader check a real person's private feelings. What a card can do is give you an honest picture of the feeling you are hoping for or fearing, and a prompt to compare it with how the person actually behaves.

The Five of Pentacles reversed as feelings

Reversed, the Five of Pentacles is often read as recovery, help accepted, or the end of a hard period. As feelings, I read the reversal as a person starting to believe the window is for them, coming in from the cold toward you, or as someone whose sense of exclusion has hardened into bitterness.

In your own question, ask which fits. Has the person recently let themselves be helped or welcomed? Or have they turned their sense of being left out into resentment of you? A reversed card is a prompt to notice which of those is true from what you can see, not a diagnosis of the other person.

The Five of Pentacles as an ex's feelings

Asked about an ex, the Five of Pentacles can suggest that they feel cast out, abandoned, left in the cold by the ending, and may feel they are not worthy of coming back even if they want to. That is painful to read and it is not a return. People in the snow rarely knock. If you want them in, the door has to be opened from inside, and that is your decision, not the card's. My guide to asking a psychic whether an ex will come back explains what a reading can and cannot say about that question.

The Five of Pentacles as a new person's feelings

For someone new, this card describes someone who likes you and feels they do not deserve to, or that you are out of reach. Warmth and plainness help. Being impressive does not; it makes the window look higher.

What to watch for in their behaviour

Look for self-deprecation and hanging back: they do not ask for things, they assume they are a burden, they seem surprised by kindness. A Five of Pentacles feeling looks like someone standing in the cold who wants in. Opening the door does not mean carrying them through it.

What to record before drawing again

Keep three short notes: the question you asked, the ways the person has shown they feel outside or unworthy, and whether you have, without meaning to, left the door closed. The third note is worth looking at honestly. Another draw will mostly reflect the same snow.

For comparison, the Nine of Swords as feelings and the Six of Pentacles as feelings describe different feelings. The the Five of Pentacles card meaning page covers the card outside feelings questions, and the general card meanings at Biddy Tarot are a useful second reference. You can practise a single-card reflection with the free daily tarot tool. For a personal interpretation, my guide to a love psychic reading online explains how I work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.