← Encyclopedia of Tarot · lesson 27/121
Five of Wands
The Five of Wands breaks the calm of the Four. Several people with energy and opinions are all pushing at once, and nobody yet has the upper hand. It is the card of competition, rivalry and lively disagreement — sometimes real conflict, often just the noise of many people trying to be heard.
The image
Five young men brandish staves at one another, each holding his own at a different angle, so that no one is clearly attacking or defending. Their clothes are of different colours. Waite calls it "mimic warfare", a sham fight, and the scene is usually read as struggle that is more chaotic than dangerous — a contest, a practice bout, a brainstorm that has turned into an argument.
Upright
It tends to describe competition and friction: rival bids, a crowded field, clashing ideas, a team that has not yet found its rhythm. Waite reads it as "the strenuous competition and struggle" of seeking fortune — the battle of life — and notes that some saw in it gain and opulence. Handled well, this friction can sharpen everyone involved.
Reversed
Reversed, it is often read as conflict avoided or smoothed over, tension that goes underground, or an end to a quarrel. Waite's reversed meanings are harder: "litigation, disputes, trickery, contradiction". Readers who do not use reversals keep the upright sense.
Correspondences
A pip of the Wands, element Fire. In the Golden Dawn system, which most English-language decks follow, it is Saturn in the first decan of Leo, 0°–10°, and sits in Geburah, severity, on the Tree of Life. Its Golden Dawn title is the Lord of Strife.
In a reading
In the past it can show a period of rivalry that shaped someone; as an obstacle, too many competing voices; as advice, to find the common aim or to compete fairly. With the Seven of Wands it is often read as having to defend a position against challengers.
In astrology
The Golden Dawn's correspondences, which most English-language decks follow (French, Marseille-based tradition differs for some Major Arcana).
Element: Fire — the element of Aries, Leo and Sagittarius
Mode: Fixed — Leo is a fixed sign