Five of Swords

My first impression when looking at the Five of Swords is turning your back on your community, feeling isolated and alone, carrying all the weight, when researching the meaning I also found; conflict, disagreements, competition, feeling defeated and the true cost of winning.

The man in the right card (Rider-Waite-Smith Coleman deck) glances over his shoulder at the defeated opponent. The swords on the floor show relics of the lost battle and has an overwhelming sense of grief. Just because we win doesn’t mean we feel good. In fact it can make use feel even more isolated. In the deck pictured to the left, a woman cowers under the overwhelming placement of venus. From this perspective we can see the true face of nature and there is a realization of our placement in the universe. Perspective.

This card is associated with frustrations and and calls in our awareness to our our energy in terms of masculine vs feminine.

When we receive this card we might find ourselves overwhelmed with too many responsibilities and this is an invitation to choose our battles wisely, because even if we didn’t lose the battle we strain our alliances and our resources.

I also read this card with an emphasis on our intentions; are we competing or collaborating? Because competition with others instead of building community can creative jealousy, envy and insecurities. (Competition and scarcity mindset is toxic masculine energy)

This card can be read as an invitation to apologize for our actions or our intentions. Without forgiveness (even towards ourselves) it’s challenging to move forward.

Key meanings to remember; painful intellect, sorrow, misfortune, struggle, foreboding, overwhelm, negative

Swords symbolize the masculine and the element; air. five is numerically associated with chaos.