Five of Wands
Five of WandsMinor ArcanaSuit of Wands
- Element
- Fire
- Astrology
- Saturn in Leo
- Numerology
- Five: conflict, disruption and the test of the suit
- Yes or no
- No
Upright
- competition
- conflict
- rivalry
- disagreement
- creative tension
Reversed
- conflict avoidance
- resolution
- inner conflict
- cooperation
- release of tension
Everyone swinging at once. The Five of Wands is competition, clashing egos and the chaos of energy with no shared direction.
On the card
Five young men in tunics of different colours brandish wands at one another in a tangle of raised staffs. No one is hurt and no blow seems to land; it looks as much like sport as battle. The ground is bare and the sky is a clear blue. Each figure is pushing in his own direction, and the result is a great deal of movement with nothing accomplished.
Upright
General
You are in the middle of a struggle where everyone wants something different. The Five of Wands describes competition, arguments, rivalry and the friction of strong personalities in a small space. It is rarely destructive, but it is exhausting and unproductive until someone proposes a shared aim.
Love & relationships
Bickering, competing needs, or rivals for the same person. Conflict may be a sign of passion, but it needs channelling before it wears the relationship down.
Career & money
Competition for a role or a contract, a team that argues more than it produces, or disagreement about direction. Compete fairly and look for the shared goal beneath the noise.
Reversed
General
The fight subsides, or it goes underground. Reversed, the Five of Wands can mark a resolution, a truce, or the choice to cooperate rather than compete. It can also describe conflict avoidance, where disagreements are swallowed rather than aired, or an inner conflict that has taken the place of the outer one.
Love & relationships
A truce after a period of arguing, or tension that is being suppressed rather than resolved. Say the thing rather than sulking.
Career & money
A team finding common ground, competition giving way to collaboration, or the decision to walk away from a pointless rivalry. Alternatively, resentment that nobody is voicing.
Advice
Find the shared goal and point everyone at it. Energy is not the problem here; direction is.