05 Five of Wands
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Number: 5
Card Title: Five of Wands
Esoteric Title: Lord of Strife
Numerical Keywords: 5: Discipline, Clarification, Might
Numerical Attributions: Mars, Red, World, North
Intelligence: Radical Intelligence
Element: Fire (hot, dry)
Elemental Keywords: Energy, Action, Inception
Elemental Attributions: South, Summer, Noon
Astrological Attribution: Saturn in Leo
Dates & Timing: July 22 to August 1
Qabalistic World: Geburah in Atziluth
Translation of World: The Severity of Nobility
Suit Color: Wands-Red
Keywords: Ambition, activity, dangerous games, desire, power struggles, rush of action, clash of will, boldness
Ill-Dignified: Cruelty, violence, lust & desire, lawsuits, contradictions.
Interpretation: Test of strength. Fairly benign, nothing terrible will happen. Situation starts in conflict but has a happy ending. Unstable situation. Someone might loose their temper.
Reversed Interpretation: Frustration with current situation. Situation gets Nasty. Major disputes and arguments. Things are not going your way. Need to apply effort and change plans.
Rider-Waite Imagery
5 young people clash wands in an uneven field. If they would work together they could form a pentacle with their wands.
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite (1911)
A posse of youths, who are brandishing staves, as if in sport or strife. It is mimic warfare, and hereto correspond the Divinatory Meanings: Imitation, as, for example, sham fight, but also the strenuous competition and struggle of the search after riches and fortune. In this sense it connects with the battle of life. Hence some attributions say that it is a card of gold, gain, opulence. Reversed: Litigation, disputes, trickery, contradiction.
4 Some Additional Meanings of the Lesser Arcana
Five.Success in financial speculation. Reversed: Quarrels may be turned to advantage.
The Recurrence of Cards in Dealing
In the Natural Position: 4 Fives = regularity; 3 Fives = determination; 2 Fives = vigils.
Reversed: 4 Fives = order; 3 Fives = hesitation; 2 Fives = reverse.
The Tarot of the Bohemians by Papus; tr. A. P Morton, [1896]
Signification of the Four Series of Minor Arcana in the Divining Tarot
SCEPTRES: Creation. Enterprise. Agriculture.
FIVE. Opposition to the obstacles. Victory after surmounting them.
The Tarot by S.L. MacGregor Mathers [1888]
Meanings of the Cards
31. Five of Sceptres.–Gold, Opulence, Gain, Heritage, Riches, Fortune, Money; R. Legal proceedings, Judgment, Law, Lawyer, Tribunal.
Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Henry Cornelius Agrippa
A man riding on a Lion; it signifieth boldness, violence, cruelty, wickedness, lust and labours to be sustained.
Picatrix the Goal of the Wise by Ghayat Al-akim
Book "T" The Tarot
XXI. The Lord of Strife – Five of Wands
TWO White Radiant Angelic Hands issuant per nubes dexter and sinister. They are clasped together in the grip of the First Order, "i.e." the four fingers of each right hand crooked into each other, the thumbs meeting above; and they hold, at the same time, by their centres, five wands or torches which are similar unto the wands of a Zelator Adeptus Minor. One wand is upright in the middle; the others cross each other. Flames leap from the point of junction. Above the middle wand is the sign Saturn, and below is that of Leo: thus representing the Decante. Violent strife and boldness, rashness, cruelty, violence, lust, desire, prodigality and generosity; depending on whether the card is well or ill dignified.
Geburah of HB:Y (Quarrelling and fighting).
This Decan hath its beginning from the Royal Star of Leo: and unto it are allotted the two great Angels of the Schemhamphorash HB:VHVYH and HB:YLYAL.
Often the General signification of the Majority of a particular suit and of the particular signification of the either 3 of 4 cards of a sort in a reading:
- A Majority of Wands Energy, opposition, quarrel.
- 4 Fives Order, regularity.
- 3 Fives Quarrels, fights.
