FREE Tarot Readings

The "Fives" in the Tarot Deck typically depict images of loss, sorrow, and misfortune. They stand in stark contrast to the secure structure conveyed by the Fours. One way to think of this is to imagine the fours as the body complete with its four limbs, but the Fives also include the head - together with awareness, concerns, hurt, and uncertainties. These take different forms for each of the four suits.
Fives can also represent some form of personal test.

The Five of Swords card illustrates conflict in a negative, destructive way. For example, in the Golden Dawn deck this card is titled "Lord of Defeat". However, according to many writers this card is much more complicated than that. It can convey the energies of cunning, competition, deceit, slyness, and manipulation. The Rider-Waite and Robin Wood Decks - both convey a scene in which there are several figures in different poses. This gives the reader/sitter scope to identify with any one of the characters and therefore have a different perspective on the situation.

Keywords summarising the possible meanings of this card include:

• Broken; humiliated
• Cowardice
• Defeat
• Failure
• Manipulation
• Winning - but only by the use of deception and unfair means.

Remember that all of the Swords cards in the Tarot Deck have some energies in common. These include, for example, the overall association of the suit of Swords with academic or philosophical thought, intellectual pursuits, truth, and clarity. For further information, also read about the Suit of Swords in general.

Some texts include meanings for "reversed cards", which apply when the cards are shuffled in both order and orientation. This doubles the number of possible "cards" in the deck from 78 to 156. (In terms of the probabilities of obtaining results by chance alone, it is not a simple doubling as once a card has been drawn it cannot be selected again in the opposite orientation in the same reading.)

Why doesn't this page include a picture of this Tarot Card ?