Five of Wands — Strife is a card of the Minor Arcana, suit of Wands in the Thoth Tarot. In a reading it speaks of strife, conflict, effort and competition. In the Golden Dawn system it corresponds to the sephirah Geburah, the element Fire and Saturn in Leo in astrology.
strife · conflict · effort · competition · obstacle
What does Five of Wands mean?
The situation is conflictual: face the challenge openly and loyally, turning tension into strength.
Everyday meaning
Conflicts, rivalries, difficulties that demand effort. It points to struggles, disputes and obstacles, but also to the strength needed to overcome them.
Psychological meaning
Tension between the wish to expand and the limits imposed; a frustration that can become a stimulus if it does not degenerate into resentment.
Initiatic meaning
Fire in Geburah, Severity, with Saturn in Leo in the first decan: Saturnine weight pressed onto solar energy. Strife is fire wrestling with form, the will meeting the resistance of matter.
The shadow side
Ill-dignified, it signals aggression, sterile quarrels, cruelty, energy wasted in contrasts.
Five of Wands 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:
Suppressed conflict that wears you down from within; or a quarrel that degenerates beyond what is needed.
Five of Wands in love, work and spirit
In love
Arguments, tensions, jealousies; confrontation can clarify things if it stays loyal.
At work and career
Competition, fierce rivals, bureaucratic or hierarchical obstacles.
In spiritual practice
Conflict as a forge in which the will is tempered.
Kabbalah, astrology and the Hebrew letter of Five of Wands
Geburah · Fire · Saturn in Leo
Crowley on Five of Wands
The wand of the Chief Adept, crowned by the winged globe, dominates and crosses those of the lesser adepts with phoenix and lotus: energy fights against the gravity of Saturn.
Frequently asked questions
What does Five of Wands mean in the Thoth Tarot?
The situation is conflictual: face the challenge openly and loyally, turning tension into strength.
What does Five of Wands mean in love?
Arguments, tensions, jealousies; confrontation can clarify things if it stays loyal.
What does Five of Wands mean for work and career?
Competition, fierce rivals, bureaucratic or hierarchical obstacles.
What does Five of Wands 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: Suppressed conflict that wears you down from within; or a quarrel that degenerates beyond what is needed.
What are the Kabbalah and astrology correspondences of Five of Wands?
In the Golden Dawn system Five of Wands corresponds to the sephirah Geburah, the element Fire and Saturn in Leo in astrology.
