The scene on this card is obviously not an optimistic one. These two people have gone through some kind of material loss. But before every material loss there is some kind of spiritual loss; they are not here without reason. There is a church window decorated with pentacles, symbolising the help these two figures could receive, but they are totally unaware of it. They seem too absorbed in the situation they are in, and they are just passing by the window. Their situation is truly dire, further emphasised by the state of their bodies. They are suffering serious physical hardship. The two figures are together on the card, but there seems to be no visible connection between them; they are not acting as a group but rather as individuals, so perhaps there is also a theme of rejection and solitude here. The bell around the man's neck shows that the issue presented by this card can't be ignored. There is no running away from this situation. Although the situation is a disappointing one, the window shows that there is always some hope and help. It is important to remember that problems have their roots in non-material existence: inspect your emotions, attachments and thinking.
On the card
Two figures walk through deep snow at night. One is a man on crutches, his head bandaged and his clothes ragged. Beside him walks a woman wrapped in a thin shawl, barefoot, hunched against the cold. Snow is falling around them, and the ground is white.
They pass beneath a lit stained glass window set into a stone wall. The window shows five pentacles arranged in a pattern like branches of a tree. Behind the window is warmth and light, presumably a church, but the two figures do not look up at it. They keep walking with their heads down, absorbed in their own misery.
The scene is one of cold, hunger, illness and exclusion. The pair are together, yet each seems alone in their suffering.
The lit window is the key to the card. Help and shelter are close by, but they are not noticed, either because the travellers are too focused on their hardship or because they feel they would not be welcome. The card speaks of poverty, loss and isolation, and also of the need to look up and recognise the support that is often nearer than we think.
Upright
Financial and material trouble, unemployment, poverty, hard times, focusing on the problems while ignoring the solution.
Reversed
Financial and material trouble, unemployment, poverty, hard times, focusing on the problems while ignoring the solution.