LS Secret Tarot - Five of Pentacles (is torturing me!)

Sorry to start a new thread so soon but I am being stalked by the 5 of Pentacles. I do not understand the card and I keep on choosing it in my daily draw. I teach photography so it fits that it is on my mind especially as I am preparing my students' final exam - but I know that there is more to it.
I am quite fond of the RW's version. I like the fact the miserable people are outside resting on a church. So close to comfort yet there is no door for them. I do not understand how it correlates to the traditional meaning. I guess it doesn't have to. I see a conceited woman who is surrounded by green (money,jealously of other's belongings). I also see a guy doing his job. He must do Ok because he is portly. The LWB says unreliable wishes, excessive ambitions. So what do you guys think about this card?

This is one of those cards I was glad to see when I got this deck. I like a deck that wants to retain some ties to the RWS imagery, but isn't afraid to branch out. This card in particular caught my eye because it is SO different than the RWS, unlike alot of cards in this deck.

Like anything else, my reaction to the meaning would hinge on where it showed up in a reading and what other cards are around it. My initial reaction is one of "vanity" when you concentrate on the woman, but then it switches to a mild form of "depravity" when considering the man. This is almost a minor's version of the devil for me.

I have learned to ignore the LS LWB. Even though I look at it for sake of interest, the LS decks work better for me if I use my imagination.

Dan

for some reason I always imagine this woman is a movie start of some sort, having her portrait taken. I try and think of this card coming between the four of stability/stagnation and the six of wealth/generosity. Even then, it confuses me. I think some writers say that since four is stability, adding one more and making it five destabalizes things?

I still can't figure this card out!

I see this card in contrast to the 9 of Pentacles RWS woman. The 9 of Pentacles woman has tamed her baser instincts (the falcon tamed to her hand) and can thus enjoy the finer material things that surround her- I always think that Mozart is playing somewhere inside the house and can faintly be heard in the garden. I see the Secret 5 of Pentacles as rather the opposite of this (not unlike Contrascarpe seeing it as a minor Devil). Here is someone who is as materially and spiritually bankrupt as the RWS 5 of Pentacle folks, only in a subtler way. She has not tamed her baser instincts and may very well be in debt for all her excesses- maxed out credit cards, etc. Also, rather than being able to enjoy her finer things for their intrinsic value, and thus by herself, she enjoys them on the lower level of showing off; needing to be photographed among her "stuff", maybe needing the attention of the male photographer besides whoever else will be viewing the photos. She needs to do some spiritual work and to get her relationship to material items and to other people in balance- then she can move forward to 6 of Pentacles energy.

I see the card as creating or visualizing a world o beauty that you cannot touch (which calls to mind the peasants from the RWS deck). He will never be able to touch the woman or another like her but he can create visions of beauty and fantasy. I did a reading for a friend who threw large parties all of the time and this image came up and I realized he had these beautiful people over all of the time because he couldn't have them on his own so he created these situations wheer he would be surrounded by them.

Shade said:

I see the card as creating or visualizing a world o beauty that you cannot touch (which calls to mind the peasants from the RWS deck). He will never be able to touch the woman or another like her but he can create visions of beauty and fantasy.

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I really like that take.

Perhaps both the photographer and the model are engaged in a game of make-believe. Perhaps the model is in reality similar to the miserable souls depicted in the RW card. Just letting my mind wander here... I imagine that perhaps he has met her on the street, as a homeless person, and has persuaded her to model for him: to pose as rich and content, in direct opposite of what her living reality actually is.

I am sooo glad someone else mentioned this! I see it as sort of the flip side of the RWS card. In RWS, to me, the people think there is nowhere to turn for help but the illuminated church window is right behind them. I see the people in the Secret card thinking they have it made when really they have nothing. The RWS card presents the perception of having nothing, while the Secret card shows the illusion of having everything.

janomalee said:

The RWS card presents the perception of having nothing, while the Secret card shows the illusion of having everything.

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oooh, the ILLUSION of having everything, but actually being emotionally, spiritually bankrupt... I like that idea...

Yes, elegantly stated janomalee. That sentence is going in my tarot journal.

I liek your take on it very much, the people in either deck don't really understand what they have or know what they really want.