Five of Swords — Defeat is a card of the Minor Arcana, suit of Swords in the Thoth Tarot. In a reading it speaks of defeat, humiliation, loss and weakness. In the Golden Dawn system it corresponds to the sephirah Geburah, the element Air and Venus in Aquarius in astrology.
defeat · humiliation · loss · weakness · rout
What does Five of Swords mean?
Acknowledge the defeat without making it an identity: learn the lesson and withdraw with dignity.
Everyday meaning
Defeat, loss, humiliation, the failure of a plan. It points to situations in which strength or intelligence are not enough and a conflict ends badly.
Psychological meaning
The mind weakened by sensitivity: the fear of conflict, or the tendency to yield for a quiet life, which leads to the very defeat you feared.
Initiatic meaning
Air in Geburah, Severity, with Venus in Aquarius in the first decan: Venusian sweetness, in a cold sign, weakens the sword. Defeat is the intellect broken up by its own mildness, peace bought at the price of truth.
The shadow side
Ill-dignified, it signals cruelty, pettiness, victories won by deceit, bitterness and a wish for revenge.
Five of Swords reversed
The Thoth Tarot is traditionally read without reversed cards: the reader judges from the cards around it whether a card is well or ill dignified. This is its ill-dignified or blocked reading:
Defeat denied or brooded over; resentment, a desire for revenge, or a first step toward redemption.
Five of Swords in love, work and spirit
In love
Arguments lost, wounded pride, a relationship weakened by mistrust.
At work and career
A failed project, conflicts that close at a loss; a need to change strategy.
In spiritual practice
Humility as the fruit of the ego's defeat.
Kabbalah, astrology and the Hebrew letter of Five of Swords
Geburah · Air · Venus in Aquarius
Crowley on Five of Swords
In the Thoth deck five swords with differing, bent hilts form an inverted pentagram while the petals of the rose fall to the ground: the mental order broken up.
Frequently asked questions
What does Five of Swords mean in the Thoth Tarot?
Acknowledge the defeat without making it an identity: learn the lesson and withdraw with dignity.
What does Five of Swords mean in love?
Arguments lost, wounded pride, a relationship weakened by mistrust.
What does Five of Swords mean for work and career?
A failed project, conflicts that close at a loss; a need to change strategy.
What does Five of Swords mean reversed?
The Thoth Tarot is traditionally read without reversed cards: the reader judges from the cards around it whether a card is well or ill dignified. This is its ill-dignified or blocked reading: Defeat denied or brooded over; resentment, a desire for revenge, or a first step toward redemption.
What are the Kabbalah and astrology correspondences of Five of Swords?
In the Golden Dawn system Five of Swords corresponds to the sephirah Geburah, the element Air and Venus in Aquarius in astrology.
