Five of Wands tarot card meaning: upright, reversed and symbols

The Five of Wands shows five young men swinging staves at each other. Nobody is hurt, and nobody seems to be winning. It looks more like rough play than a real battle. The card is about competition, conflict and the noise of too many people pushing at once. This page covers what the Five of Wands means upright and reversed, the symbols in the 1909 card and how to read it in love and work.

At a glance

• Upright keywords: conflict, competition, tension
• Reversed keywords: avoidance, lack of cooperation, inner conflict
• Number: 5 in the suit of Wands
• Suit and element: Wands, Fire Later tradition
• Astrology: Saturn in Leo Later tradition
• Yes or no: No Modern

The element and the planet in a sign (one of the 36 ten-degree slices of the zodiac called decans) come from the Golden Dawn system of the 1880s and 1890s, not from the first tarot decks. The yes or no lean is a modern reading habit. Use these layers if they help you remember the card, and skip them if they get in the way.

The card: what Pamela Colman Smith drew

Waite described “a posse of youths, who are brandishing staves, as if in sport or strife. It is mimic warfare.” Each young man wears different clothes, and their staves cross in every direction. There is no pattern and no leader, just energy colliding.

Mock fighting

The fight is “mimic warfare”, a game or a practice bout. That matters. The Five of Wands is usually a contest of egos and ideas, not a disaster. It can sharpen skills as much as it wastes energy.

Five different outfits

Every figure is dressed differently. They are five people with five agendas. The card often turns up when a group has not agreed on its goal or its rules.

Crossed staves

The wands cross in a messy tangle above their heads. If you look closely, nobody is actually hitting anyone. A lot of the conflict in this card is noise.

Upright meaning

Upright, the Five of Wands is messy competition: egos, ideas and elbows in the same small arena. Competition can sharpen skill or waste energy, depending on whether anyone agrees on the rules. The tension is visible and often loud.

Decide whether this fight is useful practice or a pointless scrap. If it is useful, clarify the goals and the rules of fair play. If it is a scrap, step out or change the game. The card asks you to take part without turning every disagreement into a battle over who you are.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, the Five of Wands can mean avoiding a conflict that needs to happen, refusing to cooperate, or tension turned inward. The staves may drop, or the fight may move inside your head.

Choose the cleaner option: a structured conversation, a mediated process or an honest exit. Inner conflict deserves the same clarity. Name the wants that are competing in you instead of only feeling worn out by them.

Reversals are optional. Many readers never use them and read every card upright, and that is a complete way to read. If you do use them, decide before you shuffle what a reversed card will mean for you, and keep to that choice for the whole reading.

In love, work and spirituality

Love

Upright, clashing styles and squabbles that need negotiation, not scorekeeping. Reversed, swallowing anger until it turns into distance.

Work and money

Competitive teams, brainstorms that feel like combat, rivals for the same role. Reversed, silent noncooperation after a public argument.

Spirituality

Debates and study groups that sharpen your understanding. Reversed, treating every difference as proof that you do not belong.

As feelings

As someone’s feelings, the Five of Wands shows frustration, restlessness and a wish to compete or prove something. There may be friction, but also energy.

The Five of Wands as past, present, future and advice

• Past: A period of rivalry or arguments shaped the situation.
• Present: There is friction around you. Decide which contests are worth your energy.
• Future: Competition or a lively disagreement is coming. Prepare your position.
• Advice: Agree on the rules first, then compete fairly.

A Minor Arcana card usually describes the everyday texture of a situation: a mood, a conversation, a task or a step. If the Five of Wands appears next to a Major Arcana card, let the Major name the big theme and let this card show how it is playing out in drive and the other things Wands rule. If it keeps coming back over several days, write down what was happening each time.

Is the Five of Wands a yes or a no?

In modern yes or no readings, the Five of Wands leans no. It points to friction and competition, so the answer is not clear yet. Tarot is better at showing the shape of a situation than at handing down verdicts, so if the question really matters, turn it into an open question such as “What do I need to know about this?” and draw again.

Affirmation and journal prompts

Affirmation: I meet competition with clear rules and proportional energy.

Reversed affirmation: I stop dodging needed conflict and stop battling myself by default.

Journal prompts:

• Is this conflict teaching me something or only draining me?
• What are the actual rules everyone is playing by?
• Which of my own wants are fighting each other?

What the Five means in tarot

Five is the unstable middle: conflict, loss, contest and disruption. After the steady Four, something shakes. The Fives are the hardest cards of each suit for many beginners, but they are also where the story starts to move again.

Here is how the Five looks across the four suits:

• Five of Wands (this card): conflict, competition, tension
• Five of Cups: regret, loss, sorrow
• Five of Swords: conflict, defeat, betrayal
• Five of Pentacles: financial loss, poverty, insecurity

Learning a rank across the suits is one of the fastest ways to learn the Minor Arcana: the number or court rank gives you the shape, and the suit gives you the setting.

The history and art behind the card

In most decks before 1909, the number cards showed only a pattern of suit symbols, the way a playing card does. The Sola Busca deck from late 1400s Italy is the famous exception. Pamela Colman Smith gave every Minor Arcana card a scene with people in it, and that choice is a big reason the Rider-Waite-Smith deck is still the easiest deck for beginners. In Italian decks the suit is Bastoni (batons) and in the Tarot de Marseille it is Bâtons, plain cudgels or clubs. Smith drew every staff in leaf. Waite explained that the wands are “always in leaf, as it is a suit of life and animation”, and that small detail is a good memory key for the whole suit.

When A. E. Waite published The Pictorial Key to the Tarot in 1910, he listed these divinatory meanings for the Five of Wands: “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, he gave: “Litigation, disputes, trickery, contradiction.” Waite said he was offering “a harmony of their meanings” gathered “from all sources”, which means older fortune-telling lists, not his own reading of the picture. On this site I read the picture first and treat lists like this as history.

A spread for the Five of Wands

Use this spread when you are caught in a conflict or a competition.

1. What is the fight really about? The goal or need underneath the noise.
2. What is my part in it? How I am adding to the tension, or not.
3. How can I change the game? One step toward fair play or a clean exit.

Lay the three cards in a row, read each one on its own first, then read them together as a short story. Write one sentence for each position and one small action you will take.

Common questions

Is the Five of Wands a yes or no card?

It leans no, or not yet. There is too much friction for a clear answer.

Is the Five of Wands a bad card?

Not really. It shows conflict, but often the kind that is noisy rather than harmful. Healthy competition can make everyone better.

What does the Five of Wands mean in love?

Arguments, different styles or playful sparring. It asks you to negotiate instead of trying to win.

Related cards

• Five of Swords: another Five about conflict, where winning costs too much
• Seven of Wands: standing your ground once the contest gets serious
• The Chariot: the Major Arcana card of pulling opposing forces in one direction

Keep learning

The Five of Wands is part of the lesson Wands in my free Tarot for Beginners course. To see the whole suit on one page, go to the suit of Wands. To keep walking the suit, read the card before it, Four of Wands or the card after it, Six of Wands, or go back to all the card meanings. For the suits and numbers in one place, see The Minor Arcana: suits and numbers made simple. For every card with keywords, affirmations and examples, see my book The Novice’s Guide to Tarot. If you would like a printable cheat sheet for all 78 cards, my 45-page Tarot Workbook is on Etsy.

Sources

• A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1910), Part III, sections 1 and 2.
• Pamela Colman Smith and A. E. Waite, the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot (London: Rider, 1909).
• Nicolas Conver, Tarot de Marseille (Marseille, 1760).
• Lauri Mukkala, The Novice’s Guide to Tarot, entry for the Five of Wands.