Five of Swords Tarot Card

Card Name: Five of Swords, 5 of Blades

Category: Minor Arcana, Suit of Swords

Position: 5

Keywords: Defeat, Retreat

Active element: Air 💨

The Five of Swords is a very complex and controversial tarot card. It symbolizes both victory and defeat at the same time. This is a game in which no one will hit the coveted jackpot. Even if the imaginary winner manages to get a prize, then his gold will turn into clay. The reward will not bring satisfaction. Rather, she will even be able to take something important. Therefore, it is still unknown who lost and who gained. The appearance of this Arcana is like a wake-up call, notifying the querent of danger. After all, sometimes a vision on the horizon of a brilliant opportunity is actually a mirage. The position of the card will tell about the attitude of the questioner to the situation – is he ready to retreat, or will he continue the senseless struggle like Don Quixote of La Mancha.

Symbolism and Key Ideas of the Five of Swords

In the Waite Tarot deck, the Five of Swords card depicts a scene of defeat. In the foreground is a young blonde man. In his left hand he holds a pair of blades, in his right – just one. Two more swords are scattered in front of the hero. In the distance, the silhouette of a walking man is visible, who carries a red cloth or cape. A little further stands the third hero – he covers his face with his hands. It looks like the guy is crying. In the background are a pond and rocks. The sky is gray-blue, the clouds are cirrus, torn. At the same time, the clothes of the heroes are designed in bright colors, contrasting with the faded shades of the environment.

The numerical designation of the Arcana Five of Swords speaks of the middle stage, some kind of struggle, uncertainty. But the element Air gives the card completeness – interest is lost, the battle will not bring the necessary results. The situation is twofold – someone is given the right to win, and someone does not have it. It is also a prime example of the saying that you can win one battle but lose the war. In this case, the Five of Swords card means defeat, the end of any period is not in favor of the querent. At the same time, the main character in the foreground smiles – perhaps he is glad of the opponents’ miss. For him, the stage of liberation, calmness begins. Indirectly, the Arcana indicates relief. The fight is over, so you can collect captured weapons and return home.

Meaning of the Upright Five of Swords Card

• Victory after a fierce struggle, self-satisfaction, triumph.
• Mockery over enemies, deprivation of the most important thing – strength and faith.
• Relief after the end of the stage, still a variable success.
• Refusal to defend the position, quick surrender, defeat.

In the upright position, the Five of Swords symbolizes a certain denouement negatively, receiving a refusal. From any project, business, you will have to retreat – the querent is unable to make a breakthrough. Most often, several people are involved in such situations at once. In any area of life, the card predicts loss. This is a Pyrrhic victory. That is, even if the questioner can achieve something, realize his plan, all the same, spending and investments will not pay off. In the future, this will not bring joy, satisfaction. As a result, the 5 of Blades pass actions to their own detriment. Also, these are dubious schemes, dishonest behavior.

In the context of the situation, the Five of Swords speaks of a clash of interests. At the same time, in order to achieve victory, the questioning person will have to take risks, openly show aggression. However, this triumph will bring bitterness with it, because someone will be hurt. The swords on the card symbolize the acquisition of trophies from their rivals. It is believed that in this way, the winner takes power from the enemies. He takes away from them the most important thing – faith in themselves, their own capabilities. In this regard, the hero acts as a kind of despot. But this is a battle – there is no place for sensual natures. That is why the third man is standing closer to the water – it looks like he is really crying.

Love and Relationships (Upright)

• Difficult relationships, inability to find a common language.
• Uncompromising, ruthless, also rude behavior.
• Awareness of the meaninglessness of love and unwillingness to look for someone.
• Past grievances affecting the unbearable nature of the querent.

In a love spread, the Five of Swords shows relationship problems. The couple often quarrel – the partners try to hurt each other, offend. Everyone drags the blanket over himself, forgetting about the common happiness. The Arcana of the suit of Blades speaks of disunity, lack of understanding and mutual support. In such relationships, someone will always be humiliated, and someone will take the role of an insensitive manipulator. Also, the appearance of the card indicates interference from the outside. Partners can involve third parties in their own quarrels and problems.

For lonely people, the Five of Swords promises a difficult period. The querent is not capable of deep feelings; it is difficult for him to understand the subtle nature of the opposite sex. Therefore, the questioner always remains alone, out of work. Most likely, the problem lasts a very long time. The fortuneteller himself can already notice the share of sarcasm and rigidity in his character. Over time, the ability to love, to understand others is lost. The questioner’s orientation changes. Now it is more important for him to satisfy the needs of the ego.

Career and Finance (Upright)

• Work as a collector or in the field of confiscation of property.
• Promotion due to inciting a colleague, slander.
• Dishonest earnings, unstable financial situation.
• Variable success, snatches of money and lack of plans.

In the context of the significator of work, the Five of Swords speaks of an activity strongly associated with someone’s loss. This may be the sale of confiscated property, deprivation of rights, revocation of licenses. Simply put, the querent takes something from others. Such work always leaves a certain imprint on the character of the worker – coldness, impartiality, indifference. In terms of characterizing the situation, the Five of the Air shows the transition to the place of a just fired employee. It’s a bittersweet victory.

The financial position of the Five of Swords is unstable. The querent has to compete for his money. At the same time, funds are never enough, there is always a certain tension. Finances, that is, they are systematically absent. When a person receives the amount due, he begins to behave arrogantly. Sometimes, during the onset of a black streak, he has to borrow, beg his relatives for help. There are no stable results of labor, no stability.

Health and Spirit (Upright)

• Complex operations that do not give the desired result.
• The need to take supportive medications.
• Lack of empathy, sympathy for others, loved ones.
• Defiant behavior, attempts to hurt, tears.

In terms of health, the Five of Swords has a correspondence with sophisticated treatments. An example is a situation where a person constantly has to take maintenance therapy. Of course, the drugs will have a bad effect on other organs. This is an attempt to find a compromise, to choose one thing and refuse the other. Such treatment is often painful or exacerbates the course of concomitant diseases. At the moment, the querent becomes easier, but in the future it is important to monitor the general well-being, the whole body.

The mental state according to the Five of Swords is tense. A person may react inappropriately to ongoing events. Most likely, the person has previously experienced some kind of negative experience that greatly influenced the formation of the ego. Now the questioner has become callous and rude, not oriented towards the manifestation of feelings. But he really likes to receive emotions from other people. It becomes a kind of substitution, an attempt to fill the inner void. And, most likely, the person achieves only a negative response, tries to suppress, make him feel bad.

Situations and Questions (Upright)

• Observation of other people’s suffering, problems, pain.
• Acceptance of the negative side of life, dark manifestations.
• The search for the true root cause, the root of all adversity in oneself.
• Detachment, non-involvement in the games of the mind, consciousness.

In the context of spirituality, the Five of Swords denotes the acceptance of negative manifestations. The person accepts the situation. Pain and suffering become commonplace. The querent becomes a stronger spirit, can endure difficulties with an open visor. Moreover, in order to advance on their own path of knowledge, the questioner should often pass through such emotions through himself. It will temper, bring the necessary lessons. Spirituality always goes hand in hand with worldly concerns. And people who have managed to understand both poles of the universe become real gods, enlightened ones.

The Five of Swords asks questions: "What is the true cause of suffering?" and “How to lose this root cause?”. If you remove the source of problems from your mind, like a malicious computer virus, then you can become a truly happy person. Life is unpredictable, it is not an eternal equation that has to be solved. The Five of Swords here means collecting other people’s patterns of behavior that lead to negative well-being. In fact, people create barriers for themselves and then suffer. The seeker is invited to become an observer from the outside in order not to make the same mistakes.

Meaning of the Reversed Five of Swords Tarot

• Refusal to participate in the struggle, to fight for your better life.
• Imminent defeat, fatigue from the need to prove.
• The goal is too tough or a departure from the originally planned.
• Hidden blessing, avoiding mistakes in the future, pain.

If you turn over the Five of Swords card, then the pond and the crying figure will move down, closer to the viewer, and the grinning hero will move up. This is a direct indication of changing roles. Now the querent becomes completely defeated, and his enemies chuckle evilly. All negative boomerang returns to the operator. In the context of the situation, the reversed Five of Swords card symbolizes complete surrender, defeat. The querent is now unable to cope with anything. Therefore, it is necessary to deviate from the implementation of the plan. At the same time, the position of the Arcana hints at great losses, a wasted resource in the form of time and effort.

On the one hand, the meaning of the Five of Swords reversed can be positive. The man broke his teeth about something and decided to give up new attempts forever. The situation teaches to be more rational and not to play with fate. Sometimes defeat is a blessing in disguise, separating people from events they don’t need. In this case, the position of the card reads as a necessary loss that could not have been prevented. And what the questioner left behind him would not make him happy. Often this can be a refusal to participate in a fierce struggle, a war for one’s own interests.

Love and Relationships (Reversed)

• Constant quarrels, scandals that provoke a departure from a partner.
• Temporary gap, inability to fundamentally correct the situation.
• Unhappy personal life or bad luck in terms of finding love.
• Psychological patterns of behavior that attract danger.

The reversed Five of Swords Tarot gives the opposite meaning to the love spread. Now all the negativity falls on that partner who once tried to suppress, bend under him. Everything that is done comes back a hundredfold. However, this relationship only worsens. The position of the card sometimes speaks of a temporary departure, a break. It is hard for people to be together, a pause is required, a rethinking of behavior. But the second figure on the card in this case means an attempt to return everything back. The aggressor will want to establish a relationship, just will not give up. Most often, abusive relationships pass through the Arcana in the opposite form.

For lonely people, the reversed Five of Swords promises to be stuck in the past. The querent is psychologically unable to let go of a pattern of behavior. He seems to attract potential partners who are not interested in a long-term love affair. Also indirectly, the position of the card indicates sacrifice, the habit of suffering, and enduring a lot. Such a person often enters into alliances that are doomed to break in advance. It can be relationships with dependent people – drug addicts, alcoholics, gamers. As a result, the fortuneteller always remains alone.

Career and Finance (Reversed)

• Unreached goal, ended career, dismissal.
• The ruin of a business, a resounding failure, the victory of competitors.
• Lowered hands and inability to earn finances.
• Mourning for loss, devastation, or dashed hopes.

In the context of the work, the Five of Swords in the opposite form personifies fraud, major financial blunders. The querent himself takes on the role of the victim of the situation. He does not cope with his duties, cannot break through the "glass ceiling" in income. The current situation is simply too tough for him. Colleagues or partners, competitors are ahead in important indicators. The fortuneteller may feel like a loser, written off. A black streak begins, which can even lead to dismissal.

The financial position of the Five of Swords reversed is very poor. The querent has invested in the wrong enterprise, has already spent the entire resource on a hopeless business. The money box is empty, and with it the hope for a better future. Now the questioner must deal with the piled-up cases, try to somehow improve the current situation. The position of the card shows the decline of a career, the collapse of a business. A person can lose everything that he has invested in for so long.

Health and Spirit (Reversed)

• Treatment of the disease to the detriment of the entire body of the querent.
• The occurrence of side effects from taking medications.
• Feelings about the loss of relationships, work, business.
• Severe pain and longing from the inability to return the past.

In terms of health, the reversed Five of Swords represents the side effects of treatment. In this case, the fight against the underlying ailment leads to significant complications. Concomitant diseases may appear, as well as new ones begin. Also, the reversed position indicates a temporary period of remission. Further, the querent will still have to continue to fight for his life. Sometimes the position of the Arcana does indicate a meaningless treatment that does not give positive dynamics of recovery.

The mental state of the reversed Five of Swords is unstable. The personality has recently experienced some kind of loss. This may be the termination of relations with a partner, dismissal from work, closing a business. This fact negatively affected the state of the querent. Now the questioner is at the very peak of his feelings, he cannot accept defeat. There is some kind of stuck in the past. The questioner is prone to self-flagellation, although he understands that nothing can be done.

Situations and Questions (Reversed)

• Denial of the dark side of life, destructive manifestations.
• Fear of spiritual death, rebirth of the ego, merging with life.
• Childish approach to the concepts of good and evil, lack of understanding.
• The eternal inner dilemma of how to live and feel.

If in the upright position the Five of Swords card personified the acceptance of negativity, then here everything is exactly the opposite. The reversed Arcana symbolizes the unwillingness to come to terms with reality. A person struggles with windmills and therefore only loses strength and time. In the context of spirituality, this can be a denial of intimacy, manifestations of anger, aggression. Often a person stops eating meat, becomes a vegan. The root of this behavior lies in the rejection of their dark side. However, this is just life – some things cannot be avoided.

The Five of Swords, in the opposite sense, asks questions: “What am I denying?” and “What is the reason for this behavior?”. Any, even destructive manifestation of personality, carries a benefit for the person himself. Perhaps it is convenient for him to be white and fluffy in order to have the right to insult people with other views. However, the mere presence of a secondary benefit already shows a person in a negative light. And the more a person struggles with himself, the further he goes from the truth.

Five of Swords: Combination with other Tarot Cards

Advice and Warning of the Five of Swords Card

As advice, the Five of Swords speaks of the importance of getting away from what was planned in time. Achieving the goal will not make the querent happy. Rather, on the contrary – on this path he may lose the respect of loved ones. It’s not worth it, so the best way out is to retreat. In the future, the questioner will still lose what he recently gained with great difficulty. Also, the Five of Swords direct warns of pitfalls. Whether it is buying real estate, entering a prestigious job, unexpected problems await the querent everywhere. However, they are fatal. Chances are high that the questioner will not handle them properly. And then the acquisition will become a shackle, a burden.

If the Five of Swords fell upside down, then the position of the card advises to leave everything as it is. Defeat must be accepted and never fought for anything. Even if the enemies took the most valuable thing, it is still worth forgetting about it. The querent must go forward and never look back. The reversed Five of Swords as a warning also indicates the danger of asserting one’s rights. The position of the querent is noble and justified, but ill-wishers will not play by the rules. If you continue to fight, you can lose even more.

Five of Swords: Daily Card Meaning

As a card of the day, the Five of Swords speaks of an emotionally difficult event. The querent will be refused, or something will be lost. Invested money, energy, time will not pay off. The questioner will feel helpless. Changing the situation is difficult or even impossible. Therefore, the day will pass in an attempt to come to terms, to let go of negative experiences. But in addition to losses, there are also gains. Sometimes, they are not obvious, but still present. Refusal at work opens up new opportunities, gives free time and resources. Breaking up with a difficult partner gives freedom and a chance to find a more suitable person. Experiences will pass, and then you can look at the situation from a different angle.

If the card lay upside down, then the value becomes more negative. The Five of Swords in the opposite form symbolizes the refusal to come to terms with the current state of affairs. Today the querent will think about how to outplay the enemies, try to take revenge. However, all plans will be meaningless. In an attempt to return everything as it was, the questioner blocks his way to a brighter future. He clings to his own pain with all his might, he cannot even imagine life without suffering. This day will only highlight the inner experiences that make the questioner a hostage to the situation.

Suit of Swords