Looking at the images on both these cards, I do not get the traditional message of financial hardship or physical want.  In fact on the Fey 5 of Pentacles I get a sense of keeping the wolf at bay.  The figures are snuggled inside a shelter with a golden, glowing orb hovering overhead while a large, dark, shadowy figure hovers outside.  On the Gendron 5 of Pentacles a nude woman and a shadowy nude woman seem to be worshipping 5 pentacles embedded in the trunk of a tree.  The pentacles seem vague and shadowy too, as though they do not truly exists.  Are these cards suggesting that the security and solidness I believe exists around me is in reality an illusion?

If I wanted to get all physical with the issue (meaning quantum physics), I suppose that could be true.  I’ve read about theories that propose that nothing is actually solid; that we are all vibrating particles that intersect at various points but do not hold concrete existence (or at least that was my understanding).  It reminds me of the puzzler about a tree falling in the woods – if no one is there to hear it does it make a sound.  My brain says ‘of course it makes a sound” but if in reality someone needs to be there to perceive the sound in order for it to manifest itself, then I’m not so sure.

So on some level this card is about manifesting the illusion or perception into reality.  If the illusion is one of poverty and want, then that is what we manifest.  If, however, the illusion is one of warmth, comfort and solidity then that is what is manifested for us.  A friend and I have been talking about scarcity mentality lately.  We both experienced childhoods that involved lots of down time on the fiscal front – lots of scrimping and saving and very little left for anything beyond the barest of essentials.  What we both have experienced is how we still react the same way now, even when that type of scarcity is unlikely.  I’ve heard the expression “shaking your security tree”, well anything that even remotely smacks of poverty or fiscal hard times sends me into a hoarding tizzy.  I feel like  squirrel storing up nuts against the hard times ahead.  It also makes it very difficult for me to share with folks.  I can sometimes experience bouts of generosity and give things away but more often I cling to them like Daffy Duck in an old Bugs Bunny cartoon shouting “mine, mine, mine”.  I love the sense I feel when I have given something to someone they will truly enjoy.  It makes me feel warm and fuzzy whereas clinging to it (when I no longer want or need it) makes me feel like a bloated tick.

Thinking about this card today I realize that although I am experiencing some fiscal challenges right now, we are not at a poverty crisis mode.  I may not be able to splurge but I can still allow myself the occasional treat.  And we are both (hubby and I) working towards improving the situation somewhat.  So how I handle this is up to me.  I can either allow myself to feel the golden glow and security that is available or I can focus all my energies on that shadowy figure in the window and worry about him getting me.  It’s my mindset that needs to change in order to improve the situation.