Five of Wands

Meanings according to Rider-Waite:

ASTROLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Mars in the 5th House as a symbol of athletic competition and play.

FIVE OF WANDS The Five of Wands is a challenge thrown down before us, an invitation to test our strength, to compete, a trial: do we have enough mettle? This has nothing to do with enmity or a battle to the death. We are being offered a chance to try our strength — perhaps in some genuine contest or dispute, or perhaps in some endeavour new to us. We have the strength for it, and we are simply being given a chance to apply it, so there is no reason to fear serious defeat or harm, except under a whole range of unfavourable circumstances. The chances offered by this card should not be missed, because they give us the opportunity to be assured of our abilities and to become conscious of them.

From the book: Hajo Banzhaf. THE TAROT HANDBOOK. Translated from the German by E. Kolesov. Publisher: Centre for Astrological Research, 1999.

FIVE OF WANDS Strife. The first decan of Leo, from 23 July to 2 August. Astrological equivalents — Saturn in the air signs. If Aries activates the sources of energy, Leo carries them outward. The first decan of Leo shows the individual self-disclosure of the personality. A person, becoming aware of his own distinctiveness, learns to govern himself, economising his efforts and developing a strategy of behaviour, so as not to be led by circumstances. He takes his fate into his own hands — and this decan, by the European tradition, is ruled by Saturn. But the life-goals and inner truth of one person may not coincide with the intentions and outlook of others: excessive individualism and the pursuit of one's own goals alone restrict the possibilities of realisation and lead to obstacles and conflicts. The FIVE breaks through the stability of the FOUR. This is struggle: outer, inner, an impulse, a striving. The clash reveals the principal factors contending within you for supremacy, both outer and inner. There is no compromise, nor can there be; only struggle will decide the matter. "The best is the enemy of the good." Combat, contest (rivalry), a clash of principle, the struggle of different aspirations. The trap — avoiding the struggle, abandoning one's position before the fight has begun.

UPRIGHT POSITION In the upright position, the card means: in terms of acquiring life-experience — the living-through of lessons and situations through which you obtain this experience. The FIVE OF SCEPTRES will demand of you strength of will and clarity of thought. The card may also serve as an indicator that you are paying excessive attention to one or another sphere of your activity. On the social plane, this card may bring liberation from everything unnecessary, excessive, and superfluous. The FIVE OF STAVES symbolises emergence from the customary social context and the attempt to find oneself in a different one. The card may signify a severance of ties, a leaving of home, the break-up of a family. At the same time, the FIVE OF SCEPTRES may also open new horizons, or at the very least afford new opportunities in one or another particular field of activity. Strife is also unfulfilled desire, the struggle against illusions, at times exhausting labour, conflicts, and the overcoming of obstacles.

REVERSED POSITION In the reversed position, the card may mean injustice, a cold and rigid mind, the inability and unwillingness to draw benefit from life's lessons; maximalism, the division of everything into black and white, regardless of the logic of events; the consideration of events apart from the context that contains them. In the sphere of social activity, this may also sound like fraud, contradiction, opposition, entanglement of relations, ambiguity of social standing, involvement in this or that process against your wishes, excessive caution. The FIVE OF SCEPTRES may also indicate a hidden enmity, which at times may be masked under a guise of heightened civility. Sometimes it indicates that in the near future you risk becoming the victim of an intrigue. Saturn draws attention to matters of career and lends them weight. Therefore, it is not unlikely that the action of the FIVE will unfold chiefly in your work. As a symbol of the destruction of the comfort of the fourfold scheme, the FIVE may signify the beginning of an unstable, asocial period, the loss of employment, of one or another social guarantee, and so forth. This card may signal certain difficulties connected with your dwelling. The FIVE OF WANDS is one of the cards that represent additional factors to which attention should be paid when there is talk of a possible divorce. Yet another interpretation of the card is as the rebellion of a lone individual.