The Meaning of the Five of Wands in the Tarot Card System

Five of Wands (5)

General Meaning

Competition, and gaining prosperity or wealth through fighting for it. Rivalry, mutual struggle, a drive for leadership. An improved financial situation. Confrontation with others, conflict with colleagues. The need to stand up for your interests and fight for them. It can signify a battle with opponents who are your equals but whose views differ sharply from your own. If the question concerns a period of time, this will not be an easy one — you will face troubles and obstacles and will have to put in real effort. It is also a hint at healthy competition that lets you show what you are made of, reveal your inner potential, and demonstrate your talents. Be confident in yourself. The struggle will end with new information coming your way. In most cases the Five of Wands describes professional competition or sporting contests. You should show enthusiasm and treat what is happening as a challenge and a chance to test your strength. On the whole this is a favourable card. You will have enough strength, energy, and wisdom to handle the task. There is a strong likelihood of achieving remarkable success.

Meaning in Situations

To get what you desire, you will have to take part in something like a contest, or solve a very interesting problem. This is not the moment to be passive. Your persistent struggle through troubles and obstacles will be crowned with success. Your unwillingness to take another person's opinion into account may lead to disagreements. You may be trying to do several things at once, and to see them through you need to set priorities. You may be having problems with the law. You need to take control of the irritating small problems and annoyances around you. If this card has appeared in a question about love, it indicates that you will have to fight a rival for the feelings of the person you love. Right now you are bursting with energy. You should throw a party or take up martial arts. Sometimes this card is linked to domestic fights, so the peace and harmony of your family are under threat.

Competition, a fight (the kind where strength is measured); the need to defend your interests in open battle. Rivalry, struggle, a clash of people's interests with equal chances but differing views. Getting rid of unnecessary things (through separation — renewal, the beginning of something new). Tension in carrying out a task. A drawn-out conflict, a brawl.

Work

Conflict with colleagues or business partners. Disagreements over matters of principle (stormy conflicts with heated clearing of the air, where no one wants to back down). A crisis as a push toward a new cycle. Competition, and an attempt to introduce stricter rules to reduce rivalry.

Health

A fight for survival, a battle within the body, high fever. A worsening of illness, minor injuries, inflammatory processes.

Relationships

Clearing the air, a fight for leadership, rivalry. Conflict between spouses rooted in competition. Italian-style passions in a divorce. The breakup of a family. Leaving home. Moving into a new branch of the relationship. A constant battle over who is in charge. Growth through pain and conflict. Sometimes — playful sparring.

Personality Type

Inner struggle, conflict with oneself and the surrounding world, black-and-white thinking. A person who invites conflict; inner problems, unable to make peace with themselves, provoking endless conflict all around. Brazen, conceited, quarrelsome, loves to defend their point of view.

Advice and Warning

The advice is to actively defend your rights and not to fear your own surges of aggression. Allow open conflict to happen. It warns that you are too prone to conflict and may get burned. You will have to fight an equal.

Yes or No

"No." Variations depending on the nature of the question:

• external circumstances are putting up resistance.
• conflict is unavoidable; you will have to fight.
• to achieve what you want, you will have to make a scene.
• only a fight will decide the outcome.
• new conquests await you as the result of a struggle.

Reversed Meaning

The reversed Five of Wands has two aspects. The positive one is that the fight is over and nothing will stop you from continuing on your way. The negative one — you are surrounded by unhealthy competition, petty quarrels, and various obstacles. In some cases this card says that you are so consumed by your work duties that your health is to some extent at risk. Or else you will manage to turn the disputes around you to your advantage. Potential opportunities may prove impossible to realise. Restlessness. Dependence on something. An unwillingness to get to the bottom of things. Difficulties, delays, standstill, problems choosing your next steps.

Everything is the same as in the upright position, but much more weakly expressed or in hidden form. Worries, nervousness. A possible conflict that does not directly involve the querent. A conflict that has grown into a brawl, a crude clearing of the air. Hidden rivalry. Quarrels and disagreements that can be turned to your advantage. Insolence, a scandal resolved by force.

Reversed Meaning: Work

Fruitless teamwork (everyone does as they please, with no result). Problems that surface only once the work has begun: things not fully understood, not fully thought through, and so on. Very fierce competition, profit earned through very hard work.

Reversed Meaning: Health

The body fighting against itself. A long and hard-fought battle for recovery.

Reversed Meaning: Relationships

A hidden conflict that is not being resolved but is deepening. An ambiguous social position (seems to love you, seems to have just dropped in for tea; the uncertainty drags on and on). No one wants to give in; they cannot come to an agreement.

Reversed Meaning: Personality Type

Unmet demands, frustration. Excessive caution (fear of conflict situations — anything to keep something from happening). Concealed hostility masked by kindness. Rudeness as a defensive reaction.

Reversed Meaning: Advice and Warning

The advice is to avoid the fight and stay on the sidelines. Show toughness, even harshness. It warns you to abandon your position before things come to a fight. It is easier to walk away than to fight. Stop in time.

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