Five of Swords

A win that costs more than it is worth.

The picture

A young man with red hair stands in the foreground holding three swords, two resting over his shoulder and a third with its point on the ground. Two more swords lie at his feet. Behind him, two figures walk away towards the water, and he is turned to watch them go. Ragged clouds streak across the sky.

Upright

Five is the number of disruption, conflict and loss. The Five of Swords is the argument somebody won. The question the card asks is who won it, and at what price.

He has gathered up the swords. The other two are leaving. He has the victory, and he is standing on the shore on his own with it.

This card turns up around conflict at work, family fallouts, a comment thread that got out of hand, and the kind of point scoring that wins the round and loses the friendship. You may be the one holding the swords. You may be one of the two walking away. Both places are in this picture, and both have something to teach.

Sometimes walking away is the wise move. Some fights are simply not worth the swords, and the person who leaves the field often keeps something the winner has lost.

Reversed

Reversed, I read this as blocked or turned inward. Blocked is the fight that has officially finished while the air never cleared, resentment still hanging about the house like stale smoke. Turned inward is the argument that now lives only in your head, where you replay it, rewrite it, and win it every time in the car on the way to work.

To tell which, ask whether anyone else is still arguing. If the other person has moved on and you have not, it has turned inward, and the only sword left to put down is yours. If you are both still circling, it is blocked, and somebody will need to lower a sword first. It might as well be you.

When it turns up

What would you lose by letting this one go?

If you would like the cards read against your own chart, my readings are here.

Related pages
The Number 5