Pearls of Wisdom - Five of Pentacles

Rede Seeker

Central to this card is a couple - it's difficult to tell if they are male or female, both have long blonde hair, one wears a pearl earring and offers a daisy to the other.

The one with the earring and daisy wears a blue, button-down shirt, and stands partially behind the other person. The daisy is in his/her left hand; his/her right hand is hidden behind the other person. Its easy to imagine that hand resting on the heart chakra on the other person's back - an act of comforting someone in sorrow.

The other person appears to be sitting. She/he wears a pink shirt with ruffled cuffs. Both elbows are propped on the table she/he sits at and her/his hands are up near her/his eyes in a gesture of sorrow or woe. Her/his eyes are downcast. I can't tell if she/he sees the daisy that is being offered.

There is a table with a blue cover in front of the two people. On the table is a bowl witn one pear, a candle stick with a stub of candle still burning, a vase decorated with five stars, an opened pouch with pentacle-shaped coins, and a broken strand of pearls. There are two flowers in the vase, one is a daisy in full bloom; the other is wilting and losing petals. Four coins have fallen out of the pouch, but two coins remain inside.

A blackbird is seen on the seated person's shoulder. The bird holds a pearl in it's beak. The bird is seen, still holding the pearl, at the window, then flying out across a waning moon. The background of the room is in shadow. There is light from the waning moon coloring the window sill and a bit of glow coming from the candle stub. It seems to me that the daisies provide more light to the room than either the moon or candle.

At the upper corners are pots of dead plants. In the foreground is the pot with one blooming daisy and one wilted one, the coin pouch, scattered coins, the broken strand of pearls and the lone pear.

The rune Gebo appears on the left-hand side; Kenaz on the right. Gebo represents generosity; Kenaz represents dissolution, breaking down of something. If one reads from right to left, then there is a covert message of reversal as we move from Gebo, the seventh Rune of the First Aettir, to Kanaz, the sixth Rune of the First Aettir.

It would be easy to read this card as sorrow and loss. It could also be read as the next moment after sorrow and loss - recognition of the good will and bounty that remains - scattered, to be sure, but still 'on the table'. There is also someone behind you offering support. You aren't alone in this. This Five of Pentacles could be read as the turning point on some downward journey if the person in mourning opens her/his eyes and sees what is available and what is being offered. The lone pear could indicate that the situation isn't the result of malice, but of Justice, something happened and a rebalancing of resources is in progress.

The blackbird flying across the waning moon with a pearl could represent a pay-off, a last bit of ransom before letting go of what ever the sorrow is. Blackbirds tend to nest in marshlands and thus are tied to the water element. They are also very territorial, so the grieving person sitting at the table may have crossed a line somewhere and the blackbird it taking payment for the transgression. (ref. 'Animal-Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small" by Ted Andrews).
 

Marli

Some additional thoughts...

RS,

Some additional things that struck me about this card were:

The Pear as well as the candle were possibly indications of hope, and the daisies representing simplicity. Combined together I get the feeling that the solution to the problems are simple and that this is not a permanent state.

Where the blackbirds are concerned, rather than seeing them as the same bird, I saw them as examples of different bad decisions made in the past, that have perhaps led them to the current predicament, one in particular (the one on her shoulder) that she is still holding onto.

As for the person behind, I am positive, that she does not notice the flower or even acknowledge the fact that there is even another person there.

As for the dead plants in the corners, to me they symbolise the end of something, be it a cycle/situation/emotion.

What also strikes me as intersting is the tear in the sachel of money. Was she blissfully unaware that her money was slowly slipping away, as she made her journey.... until now?! (by the way, there were indeed only 5 coins on the table - the "sixth" coin is infact "painted" or some sort of decoration on the bag).

The last thing that struck me was the lady's hands, one hand - her right, seems to bear short nails, and her left hand seems to have long nails - it makes me instantly think imbalance, which seems again to point to the reason why she's in the current state of affairs.

Any additional thoughts?
 

Rede Seeker

The purse has a hole in it

Thanks, Marli, I see that now. There are five coins on the table and one coin as a decoragion on the purse.

I hadn't noticed the difference in her fingernails. Good catch.

I wonder if the ruffled cuffs on the red shirt are ruffles or ragged cuffs - another indication of the hard times and bad luck of the person sitting at the table.