Five of Swords

Upright meaning

A conflict in which winning may damage trust. Hostility, humiliation, or the cost of having the last word.

Something to consider

Ask what winning this argument would leave you with. There may be a boundary worth keeping without continuing a fight that damages everyone involved.

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Historical texts

Waite: the card

A disdainful man looks after two retreating and dejected figures. Their swords lie upon the ground. He carries two others on his left shoulder, and a third sword is in his right hand, point to earth. He is the master in possession of the field.

Source: The Pictorial Key to the Tarot — A. E. Waite (1922) · Public domain

Waite: divinatory meaning

Degradation, destruction, revocation, infamy, dishonour, loss, with the variants and analogues of these.

Source: The Pictorial Key to the Tarot — A. E. Waite (1922) · Public domain

Waite: reversed

The same; burial and obsequies.

Source: The Pictorial Key to the Tarot — A. E. Waite (1922) · Public domain

Mathers: meaning

59. Five of Swords.-Mourning, Sadness, Affliction; R. Losses Trouble (same signification, whether reversed or not.)

Source: The Tarot: Its Occult Signification, Use in Fortune-Telling, and Method of Play — S. L. MacGregor Mathers (1888) · Public domain