A woman sits on a bench, her purse clutched to her chest with both hands. Across the street, another woman huddles under a doorway, hands empty, eyes fixed on the stained glass window of a church. The first is the Four of Pentacles. The second is the Five of Pentacles. One is the fear of losing what you have. The other is the experience of having nothing. The Four grips. The Five begs.
What the Four and Five of Pentacles Actually Mean
The Four of Pentacles shows a figure seated on a stool, holding one pentacle against his chest, one balanced on his head, two under his feet. He is the hoarder, the miser, the person who mistakes security for possession. The Five of Pentacles shows two figures walking past a lighted church window in the snow, one on crutches, one barefoot. They are the excluded, the impoverished, the ones who cannot reach the warmth inside. Both cards belong to the suit of Pentacles, which governs the material world: money, work, health, the body. But where the Four says “I will not let go”, the Five says “I have nothing left to hold.”
History of the Cards: The Rider-Waite-Smith Origins
The imagery we recognize today was drawn by Pamela Colman Smith in 1909 for the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) deck, under the direction of A. E. Waite. Waite’s instructions for the Four of Pentacles were specific: a figure holding two pentacles, two under his feet, one on his head. He wanted to show “the hoarder and the miser.” For the Five, he asked for “two mendicants in a snowstorm” outside a church window with five pentacles arranged in a rose window. The scene was a deliberate break from earlier decks.
Before 1909, tarot decks like the Tarot de Marseille (15th–17th centuries) showed the Four of Pentacles as four coins arranged in a square, and the Five as five coins in a pattern. No figures. No story. The Marseille cards were purely geometric, relying on the reader’s intuition. Smith and Waite turned the Minor Arcana into a narrative. The human consequence: readers could now see a character’s posture, their expression, the weather. The Four became a person. The Five became a drama.
Waite published his interpretations in 1910 in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. He wrote that the Four of Pentacles means “assured material possession” but also “suspense, holding fast.” The Five he called “the card of material trouble, of destitution.” He noted that the window in the Five represents “the house of light,” and the figures are “outside it.” That distance drives the entire comparison.
Symbolism and Meaning: Clutching vs. Freezing
The Four of Pentacles is a card of tension. The figure sits on a low stool, back straight, arms wrapped around his chest. The pentacle on his head looks like a crown, but it is not a crown; it is a coin he must balance. The two under his feet weigh him down. He cannot move. He cannot relax. The city behind him is visible but cut off by his posture. The Four represents the psychology of scarcity: the belief that if you release anything, you will lose everything. It can mean saving money, but also emotional stinginess, resistance to change, or a refusal to share.
The Five of Pentacles is a card of cold. The snow falls. The two figures walk slowly, one with a crutch, one barefoot. The church window glows with five pentacles, but the figures look away from it. They are not entering. The Five represents material loss, but also spiritual exile. It is the card of feeling left out, of being sick and unable to pay, of watching others feast while you starve. The snow is a sensory detail: you can feel the cold. The figures do not have coats. The crutch suggests injury or illness. The Five is not about hoarding; it is about depletion.
The difference: in the Four, the person has resources but is paralyzed by fear. In the Five, the person has no resources and is paralyzed by circumstance. One is a voluntary grip. The other is an involuntary fall.
How These Cards Behave in a Reading
When either card appears in a spread, we look at the position and the surrounding cards.
The Four of Pentacles often appears when a querent is holding onto something too tightly: a job, a relationship, a belief. In a financial reading, it can mean saving money or being stingy. In a relationship reading, it can mean possessiveness. Reversed, the Four suggests release. The person lets go of the pentacle they were clutching. They open their hands. That reversal can indicate generosity, but also sudden loss if the release was forced.
The Five of Pentacles appears during periods of hardship. It can be literal poverty, but it also appears when someone feels isolated or undervalued. In a health reading, it can indicate chronic illness or exhaustion. In a spiritual reading, it can mean a crisis of faith: the church window is right there, but the querent cannot enter. Reversed, the Five suggests recovery. The figures turn toward the door. The snow stops. The crutch is no longer needed.
When the Four and Five appear together in the same spread, the contrast is stark. The Four is holding onto what the Five lacks. The Five is the consequence of the Four’s refusal to share. In a narrative reading, they can be two sides of the same problem: the fear of loss and the actual loss that fear creates.
Common Misconceptions About Both Cards
Misconception: The Four of Pentacles always means greed.
It can mean greed, but it also means prudent saving or a need for stability. A person who is saving for a down payment on a house is not necessarily greedy. They are holding onto the pentacle because they need it. The card’s meaning depends on the context. The posture of the figure is defensive, not aggressive. He is not stealing; he is protecting.
Misconception: The Five of Pentacles always means homelessness.
The Five can mean literal homelessness, but it more often means a feeling of being left out. It can be the person who is poorly paid, the person who is sick and cannot work, the person who is excluded from a group. The church window is a symbol of community and spiritual nourishment. The figures are outside it. The Five is about separation, not just poverty.
Misconception: The Five of Pentacles is a “bad” card.
No card in tarot is purely bad. The Five warns of a situation, but it also points to the possibility of help. The window is there. The church is a symbol of charity. The Five often appears when someone needs to ask for help but is too proud or too ashamed. The card is a call to reach out, not a condemnation.
Misconception: The Four of Pentacles is a card of wealth.
The figure is not wealthy. He is hoarding a few coins. His stool is low. He is not at ease. True wealth in the Pentacles suit is the Ten of Pentacles, which shows a family in abundance. The Four is a poverty mentality, not actual riches.
FAQ
Can the Four of Pentacles represent positive qualities?
Yes. In certain contexts, it indicates financial discipline, boundary-setting, and the ability to protect what matters. The card is not inherently negative; its meaning depends on whether the grip serves survival or fear.
Why does the Five of Pentacles show a church if the figures cannot enter?
Waite deliberately placed the church window to symbolize spiritual resources that remain inaccessible. The figures are outside the “house of light” not because the door is locked, but because shame, pride, or exhaustion prevents them from knocking.
How do these cards relate to the other Pentacles?
The Four and Five occupy a crucial middle space between the Three of Pentacles (collaboration and skill-building) and the Six of Pentacles (charity and balance). Together they show what happens when resources stop flowing.
The Distance Between Two Hands
The Four of Pentacles and the Five of Pentacles are not opposites. They are neighbors on the same street. One is the hand that clenches. The other is the hand that is empty. The Four teaches us about the cost of fear. The Five teaches us about the cost of loss. Both are warnings about the scarcity mindset, but from different sides of the same wall. To understand the Pentacles suit fully, we have to see the whole picture: the grip, the release, and the space in between.
For a deeper look at the Pentacles suit, see our guide to the Minor Arcana. Explore the symbolism of the Pentacle itself. And read about the Ten of Pentacles, the card of inheritance and abundance.