Five of Swords
The Five of Swords depicts conflict and the costly nature of victory, showing a man clutching three swords while others walk away. It warns of selfishness, hollow victories, and hostility that harm relationships and integrity. Upright, it signals cheating to win, internal battles, and aggressive behavior; reversed, it points to disappointment, hard lessons learned, and avoidance of confrontation. The card urges reflection on whether a win is worth its moral or relational price and encourages learning from losses to change future behavior.
Keywords
Description
A dark-haired man wearing a jerkin holds three swords in his arms. Two swords lie at his feet, while two other men walk away with their backs exposed.
Keyword
Defeat
Correspondences
Air, Venus, Mars, Aquarius
Upright
Selfishness; hollow victory; cheat to win; battle inner demons; hostility.
Reversed
Disappointment; a hard lesson learned; avoid difficult situations.
Visual Description
A lone man stands on a gray shoreline holding three swords — two upright and one angled across his body — while a fourth lies on the sand at his feet. Two other figures walk away from him toward the distant water, backs turned, under a cloudy, wind-swept sky. The Roman numeral V appears at the top of the card and a parchment at the bottom bears Cyrillic text reading "Поражение" alongside small planetary/alchemical symbols.
Heaven and Earth tarot
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