Wands · Five
Five of Wands
- Upright
- disagreement · competition · strife · tension · conflict
- Reversed
- conflict avoidance · diversity · agreeing to disagree
In short
Five young men swing their wands at once in the Five of Wands, and nobody seems to be winning. It is the noise of many wills in one space: “disagreement”, “competition”, “strife”, “tension” and “conflict”. Reversed, the fight cools into “conflict avoidance”, or into a healthier “agreeing to disagree” that makes room for “diversity”.
Upright
Five figures, five wands, and the Four’s garland nowhere in sight. Whatever had settled has been broken up, and loudly. Each young man swings a wand, none clearly aiming at anyone in particular. Is this a fight, a contest or a practice session? Nobody can quite tell, and that uncertainty is the card’s real subject.
Its everyday forms are “disagreement” and “competition”: the group project with five ideas of what it should be, the sports trial, the market crowded with rivals, the family deciding where to spend the holidays. The atmosphere is one of “tension” and “strife”, the tiredness of constant friction. Plain “conflict” is the general name for all of it.
Not all of this is bad. This suit thrives on challenge, and competition can sharpen skill and bring out ideas nobody would have reached alone. The difference between a useful contest and a pointless one is usually whether anyone is listening.
Reversed
What happens when the wands are lowered depends on why. What needs watching is “conflict avoidance”. The argument is never had, resentments go underground, and a team or household looks calm while nothing difficult is ever said. Avoiding every fight can become its own kind of strife, slower and quieter.
The other two meanings are more hopeful. What “disagreement” can become, once people stop needing to win, is “agreeing to disagree”: a settled respect for a difference that will not be resolved. And “diversity” turns “competition” on its head, so that the same five people, each in their own colours with their own wand, read as a group made stronger by its differences.
Which of these a reading means usually shows in how it feels. Peace that leaves people relaxed is probably the genuine article. Peace that leaves someone rehearsing what they did not say is probably avoidance, and the fight is still on, only indoors.
Symbolism
Five young men stand on rough, uneven ground under a clear blue sky, each holding a long wand. The wands cross at every angle above their heads: some raised high, one held level, others slanting across bodies.
They are dressed differently, in tunics of yellow, red, dark chequered cloth, green, and white with blue spots, the last figure turned with his back to us. One wears a brimmed hat. Their faces show effort and concentration, but no one is wounded and no blow is clearly landing.
The mismatched clothes suggest five distinct people instead of a uniformed army. The crossing wands look like combat, though nobody is struck, and the scene could as easily be sport. The open sky and empty land keep it small and contained: a scuffle, not a war.
In love and relationships
In relationships the Five can show bickering, competing priorities, or a couple who argue more than they used to, sometimes over small things that stand in for larger ones. It can also be the rivalry of dating, several people interested in the same person, or friends with strong opinions about a partner. Some couples argue well and are closer for it. Where the reversal applies, the danger is a relationship where nobody raises anything, and the alternative is learning to live with a difference instead of fighting it every week.
In work and money
Competitive workplaces live here: pitches against other firms, colleagues jostling for promotion, brainstorms where every voice is loud, a crowded market. It names the friction and leaves open both who wins and whether the struggle is useful. A team that can argue about ideas without attacking each other has turned this card into an asset. Competition between firms can push quality up for everyone; competition inside a team more often burns time. The card holds both, and admits that from the middle of the scrum they look much the same.
In a reading
Contest or quarrel? That is the first thing the Five wants worked out. As advice, it backs engaging honestly with a difference instead of pretending there is none. In the past, it shows a period of friction that taught something; now, a crowded or contentious situation; ahead, competition that might be gathering. As a challenge, it is energy spent on fighting that could go into the work itself.
In the deck
Five: Disruption. The settled thing is tested: conflict, loss, strife, the necessary trouble.
Suit of Wands: fire — spiritual sphere; primal energy, spirituality, inspiration, determination, strength, intuition, creativity, ambition, expansion, original thought, seeds of life; personalities, egos, enthusiasms, self-concepts, personal energy
Questions
What does the Five of Wands mean in a relationship?
Friction: frequent arguments, competing needs, or tension from outside, such as rivals or opinionated friends. Plenty of couples argue and stay close. The card asks whether the arguments are leading anywhere or simply going round.
Why is “diversity” given as a reversed meaning of the Five of Wands here?
Some readers find a variety of views in the upright Five, as the creative side of its clash. The flashcards this site teaches from place it in the reversal instead: once the contest stops, the same five people with five different wands read as a group strengthened by its differences, not divided by them.