Walking Through the Storm

5 of Pentacles from the Weiser Tarot deck

I was chatting with a friend who is really going through it. She recently experienced a health issue, is supporting a husband with health issues, and has a young child with a lot going on. On top of that, she's out of paid time off. Like many of us, she's living paycheck to paycheck. She can't take the time she needs to properly recover from her health issue. She can't take a day for herself to soothe her emotions. She feels like she can't stop. In fact, she told me she needs to find a way to break this cycle.

As I listened to her, it kept occurring to me that this isn't a cycle so much as a season. Then, as I was thinking about what to write about tonight, I was drawn to my Tarot cards. My intuition led me to pull a single card.

Out came the Five of Pentacles.

It fit perfectly.

This card depicts two figures in ragged clothing walking through a snowstorm. One uses crude crutches to keep weight off a clearly wounded leg. The female figure is barefoot, while the male figure has only scraps of cloth wrapped around his foot. They trudge through the snow, slowly putting one foot in front of the other.

Let's take a few moments to think about this card. It generally indicates poverty, whether literal or metaphorical. The lack of resources is unmistakable. These people are cold, struggling, and vulnerable. As part of the suit of Pentacles, the card often relates to finances and material concerns. Given that my friend's situation was on my mind before I sat down to write, I'm not surprised this was the card I pulled.

But let's take a deeper look.

We don't have to simply say, "Well, everything sucks," and leave it at that.

There is hope here if we take a moment to think about storms. Storms don't last forever. They are temporary. The sun eventually comes out. The seasons change. The weather warms, and the snow melts. Human beings are remarkably resilient and resourceful. We find shelter. We seek help. We survive difficult conditions.

This card is also a Five. In numerology, five is a number of change, often chaotic and uncomfortable change. So, when it feels like you could be one of the people depicted in this card, you're likely moving through a period of life that feels deeply unsettling. But if we pull back and look at the entire suit of Pentacles, it tells a larger story, one of growth, balance, accomplishment, and eventually thriving.

The Five is not the destination. It is a waypoint.

That's not meant to sugarcoat the reality of the storm or the serious consequences of having to walk through it. Some winters are harsh. Some losses cut deeply. Some struggles seem to last far longer than they should.

But I want to remind you that this is not your whole life.

It is a difficult chapter, not the entire story.

Do what you need to do to get through it. Scream at the clouds dumping snow on you. Shake your fist at God. Curse the frozen ground that gives you frostbite. Feel what you feel.

Just don't forget that this is not the end.

Keep putting one foot in front of the other.

The storm will not last forever.