Five of Swords

i. The Nutshell

Upright
The Five of Swords reflects conflict where no one really wins. It often shows up when there’s been a breakdown in communication, power struggles, or a need to prove yourself at the expense of connection. Psychologically it can point to defensive thinking, resentment, or a need to dominate as a way to protect vulnerability. These patterns may be rooted in early experiences where safety was tied to control or intellectual superiority. Spiritually this card asks you to examine your relationship with conflict, truth, and integrity especially when facing tension with others. The lesson is about learning when to engage, when to let go, and how to face discomfort without harming yourself or others.

Keywords: Conflict, defensiveness, defeat, competition, power struggles, control, winning at all costs, miscommunication
Translation: Not all fights serve your growth so pick your battles.

Reversed:
The reversed Five of Swords shows guilt, regret, or ongoing tension after conflict. It points to a struggle between wanting to be right and wanting peace. You may be stuck on past fights or hurt which are affecting your relationships now. This card warns of self-sabotage, shame, or blaming others to avoid taking responsibility. It also highlights mental or emotional conflicts that need healing. The soul’s lesson is to be humble, heal, and handle disagreements without losing connection with yourself or others. The latter is crucial if you’re in a situation that is beyond your control; concentrate on rebuilding any lost self confidence or esteem within yourself first.

Keywords: Regret, unresolved conflict, reconstruction, forgiveness, guilt, shame, resentment, cutting chords, reconciliation
Translation: Repair begins where defensiveness ends.

ii. Illus-traits

A look at the symbolic language of the Five of Swords in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck:

Figure holding three swords, two on the ground – The person gathers weapons after a fight, showing a need to win or control, even if it hurts relationships. The swords left behind may show ignored emotional problems or tension from trying to be right.
Figures walking away – Shows separation or disconnection after conflict. These figures reflect the emotional cost of winning at someone else’s expense. Can point to guilt, regret, or the impact of unacknowledged pain in relationships.
Smirk on central figure’s face – Implies self-satisfaction or defensiveness. May reflect a coping mechanism rooted in needing to protect oneself through dominance or withdrawal. Suggests emotional detachment and difficulty with vulnerability.
Stormy sky and rough water – Symbolises emotional and mental disturbance. The environment reflects ongoing inner conflict or instability, even if things appear settled externally. Indicates unresolved emotions.
Swords as mental energy – The scene reflects the use of the mind to defend, control, or avoid discomfort. Suggests karmic patterns around miscommunication, pride, or fear of emotional exposure.

iii. Influences

Planetary Influence
The Five of Swords combines Mars’ drive with Venus’ relational focus, while the Moon adds emotional sensitivity that can intensify reactions. This creates tension between acting on instinct, protecting feelings, and maintaining connection. Psychologically it shows up as a tendency to react defensively or try to control outcomes in relationships. There may be a push to protect pride or avoid vulnerability through mental strategies or withdrawal. It can also reflect a pattern of prioritising self-protection over mutual understanding. The soul is learning to hold conflict without retreating or overpowering.

Natal Houses
The First House reflects how personal identity and instinct influence your reactions in conflict. There may be a habit of defending yourself quickly to avoid feeling exposed. The Fourth House points to early emotional foundations and the need for safety; when this is unstable, conflict may trigger old patterns of self-protection. The Seventh House reveals how relationship dynamics can become imbalanced when you use control or avoidance to manage discomfort. The Third House shows how communication may become defensive or manipulative. The Eighth House reflects deeper fears of loss, abandonment, betrayal, or emotional power struggles, showing how unresolved pain affects your ability to stay present in hard moments.

Astrological Signs
Aries may react quickly to protect pride, often regretting the fallout later. Libra may avoid open conflict but still engage in subtle control or withdrawal. Cancer may retreat or shut down emotionally to avoid feeling exposed. All three highlight different ways of managing discomfort in relationships either through force, avoidance, or retreat. When these energies are out of balance, they create patterns of isolation, blame, or emotional distance. The soul’s task is to develop emotional honesty without retreating into silence or pushing others away. Growth comes through accountability, repair, and learning how to navigate conflict without losing connection.

Numerology
The Five of Swords is linked to the number 5, which represents disruption and the flow of change, and can signal a break in harmony, often caused by conflict, defensiveness, or mistrust. It reflects a stage where old ways of thinking are challenged. This number shows up when mental patterns create division rather than resolution, so the five here asks you to examine how you respond to tension - whether you avoid, dominate, or detach - and to recognise the cost of those responses.

Element
Air rules the mind, language, and perception. In the Five of Swords, Air becomes sharp or fragmented, showing mental conflict, overthinking, or miscommunication. Thoughts may be used to justify actions or protect against emotional exposure. When the element is misused, it leads to disconnection and imbalance. Healing begins by becoming aware of how the mind defends itself and learns to stay present with discomfort rather than trying to control it through thought.

iv. A Day in the Life of the Five of Swords

Well That Escalated Quickly
You feel tense and reactive. Small issues turn into arguments. You speak or act before thinking, then feel regret or shame. You might shut people out or keep score in your head. There's a need to protect yourself, even if it damages trust. You may feel misunderstood, but resist showing vulnerability. You’re sick and tired of arguing which just keep adding layers to unprocessed wounds.

Adjusting the Knobs
You begin to notice your part in repeated conflicts. You see how defensiveness or silence makes things worse. You reflect before reacting and recognise when you're trying to win rather than understand. You become more aware of the difference between protection and avoidance. Space helps you hear your own thoughts better and you begin to choose honesty over control.

Unsubscribed from Self-Sabotage
You stop using conflict to create distance and no longer try to prove your point at the cost of connection. You can sit with uncomfortable feelings and name what you need without blame. You stay calm in tense moments and diplomatically point out when someone is projecting. Instead of withdrawing or pushing, you pause, listen, and respond with self accountability. You trust that walking away doesn’t mean losing power and know that how someone else behaves isn’t your responsibility.

Writing the TED Talk
You’ve learned how to disagree without shutting down or being overpowering. You can hold tension without rushing to resolve it and your thoughts and emotion work in constructive tandem. You take self responsibility without using it as a stick to beat yourself up with, and use time alone to help you reflect. You stay clear on your values and set limits with respect for both yourself and others. Healing to you now means staying grounded in the present and allowing discomfort to exist without letting it take over.

v. Working with these Energies

The Five of Swords reflects patterns of conflict, defensiveness and emotional disconnection. You may argue to protect yourself, withdraw to avoid conflict or try to win instead of understanding. These habits often come from past situations where vulnerability felt unsafe. They create distance, mistrust, and repeated tension in daily life.

Track the turning point – Think of a time when you pushed someone away or needed to be right during a disagreement. What were you trying to protect? When did control or withdrawal feel safer than openness? This isn’t about placing blame, but recognising how growing up in a high-conflict environment may have shaped your reactions, and where you now have the ability to respond with awareness and choice.
Name the cost – Ask how these reactions have affected your relationships. Have they led to isolation, guilt, or a lack of trust? Notice whether the need to defend yourself has kept you from connection or perspective.
Don’t override discomfort – When you feel the urge to shut down or argue, pause and ask what emotion is underneath. Is it fear, shame, foundational safety, or something else unresolved from the past? Let yourself feel it without needing to act on it.
Take one step forward – Do one thing that supports honest expression without control; to help heal the grief tied to conflict or past wounds. This might mean naming what you feel without blame, not to acquit anyone else, but to offer support to yourself by listening before reacting, or staying present in a difficult moment instead of withdrawing. When you act according to your true values, you become the person you want to be, not the one others expect you to be to justify their actions.

vi. Building Skills

Daily Practice: Going Along with the Process

The Five of Swords shows patterns of reactivity, mistrust, and mental control. You may feel the need to win, defend, or shut down. These reactions often come from painful past experiences where vulnerability or foundations of stability felt unsafe. When this energy is active, the mind starts cycling with self protection which then generates emotional turmoil. Instead of arguing with these thoughts or trying to make them go away, practice going along with the process.

When a painful thought or urge to defend yourself hitches up, imagine that your mind is a train and this thought is one of its carriages. You don't have to jump off the train or stop it, and you also don’t have to drive it. Just notice the thought and know this is the part your mind wants you to think you’re under threat and wants a reaction based on a learned pattern. However, you don’t have to act on it. Let the thought pass through like scenery out of the window. Stay in your seat.

This technique helps you sit with the discomfort without needing to rise to fix it. Spiritually, the Five of Swords carries a karmic pattern of separation through fear. Going along with the process teaches you to witness this without feeding it. Know this is not passivity because it takes courage to stay present. It allows space for new choices - ones that align with your deeper values rather than your old defences.

vii. Embodiment

The Five of Swords reveals how mental conflict can disconnect you from your body. When you're caught in defence, argument, or internal pressure, you may stop noticing physical signals. This creates tension, numbness, or disembodiment. Over time, this makes it harder to respond with clarity. Reconnecting with the body helps shift out of mental patterns and supports balanced choices. It also creates space to process conflict without reacting from past experience.

Sight – Find a still or neutral part of your environment. Let your eyes rest there without scanning. Notice how your vision slows when you stop searching. Let what you see anchor you when the mind pulls toward blame, defence, or old stories.

Sound – Notice what you hear right now. Focus on the pauses between sounds. Let silence or stillness hold your attention. This can interrupt the habit of mentally rehearsing conflict or preparing to defend.

Movement – Stand or sit with both feet flat. Press gently into the ground and feel the contact. Let your spine lengthen without force. This helps reset the body’s response when you’re bracing from past emotional tension.

Taste – Let something simple like water, tea, or food sit in your mouth for a moment. Feel its weight, texture and variance in temperature. Stay with the direct experience. This helps return awareness to the present when your thoughts race.

Natural Image – Watch leaves moving, rain falling, or a flickering candle. Notice how movement unfolds without effort. This helps let go of the inner pressure to solve or explain things before the time is right, even when the mind insists on quick answers based on familiar patterns.

viii. Your Impressions

Look at the Five of Swords in your deck or the image above. Notice your immediate thoughts without trying to change them.

Where does your attention go - the figure holding the swords, the people walking away, the sky, the discarded weapons? What thoughts or memories come up in response?
Now scan your body. Notice any tension, tightness, or discomfort. Where do you feel it? What part of the image does it seem to connect with?
What does this card show you about how you respond in conflict or after emotional strain? Do you withdraw, become defensive, or try to control the situation? Are these familiar patterns from earlier experiences where you felt unsafe, unheard, or exposed?
What might move naturally if you stayed with what you feel instead of reacting or turning away? What perspective could emerge if you accepted discomfort without needing immediate resolution?

ix. Intuitive Meaning

Use this space to reflect on what the Five of Swords means to you personally:

When tension builds or conflict arises, do you try to win, withdraw, or defend yourself quickly? What beliefs have shaped how you respond to disagreement or emotional discomfort?
When you feel hurt or misunderstood, do you push others away, stay silent, or replay the situation in your mind? Does this feel like something you’ve done for a long time - possibly a way you learned to stay safe?
What happens when you pause and allow the feeling to be there without reacting? What helps you stay present without needing to explain, justify, or control it?

Applied insight with a three-card reading using the Five of Swords as your anchor:

What thoughts or habitual reactions show up when you feel blamed, rejected, or emotionally cut off?
What supports you in staying open and steady during conflict or misunderstanding?
What becomes possible when you choose to reflect first?

Let your cards talk and note your feelings as your answers unfold, writing your own words below:

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x. Closing Reflection: Track Your Evolving Lens

Your relationship with each card will grow over time because it’s meant to shaped by your life. Consider the prompts below to revisit and reflect.

What I thought this card meant when I first pulled it: —————————————————
A recent experience that changed how I see it: —————————————————
How I feel about it now, in my body or life: —————————————————
What surprised me as this card kept showing up: —————————————————
One way this card is living in my life right now: —————————————————
If this card visited me today as a guide, what would it want me to remember? —————————————————

Revisit these after a week, a moon phase, or a meaningful moment. Let the card evolve as you do.

If you feel a quiet sense of recognition, curiosity and want to explore it, browse the sessions page for what feels right.

sessions

Minor Arcana, SwordsAlison Jeavons3 July 2025tarot, astrology, numerology, the fool, uranus, beginnings, mars, planets, zodiac, houses, natal chart, major arcana, new beginnings, working with energy, extremes, first impressions, overthinking, definition, elements, air, earth, fire, water, embodiment, smell, body, soundtrack, action, nature cue, noticing, acceptance, commitment, therapy, scripts, reflection, evolve, lens, troublemaker, wanderer, zero, nought, potential, spark, new, story, beginning, golden dawn, forward, surrender, naivete, upright, reversed, reckessness, fear, hesitation, poor judgment, foolish, risks, frozen, cliff, first, aries, aquarius, fresh start, spontaneous, leap of faith, innocence, leap, curious, impulsive, unthethered, messy, beliefs, 0, ace of cups, water flowing, raw emotions, beginning of love, connection and creatitivy, connection and creativity, intution, unconditionally connected, heart on sleeve, dam of repression, emotional opening, spiritual 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archetypes, personal development, spiritual turning point, facing truth, stuck energy, self-reflection, inner conflict and decisions, emotioal detachment, indecision and delaying action, choice is needed, long standing habit, inherited family habit, hiding emotions, avoiding conflicts, ignore your own needs and feelings, arent clear, avoidance and indecision, diplomacy and inner conflict, weighing options and emotional blockage, impasse and detachment denial, face what youre avoiding, internal pressure, overwhelm and emotional release, mental pressure and denial unraveling, indecisiveness and surfacing conflict, stuck between a rock and a hard place, blindfolded woman, crossed swords, calm sea and moon, stone bench, moon venus and mercury, third fourth and seventh, gemini libra and cancer, number two, number 2, duality, emotional and mental avoidance, name the cos and overriding discomfort, ignoring your instincts, take one clear step, hands as thoughtd, hands as thoughts, why it matters, three of swords, three of swords pain, unprocessed emotional pain, past life cycles, grief betrayal, rejection and abandonment, unresolved past experiences, relationship to emotion, withdrawal anger self blame, core pattern, emotional injury, pain becomes part of your identity, heartache, emotional wounding, sorrow hurt, unprocessed past wounds, refusal to feel pain, grief passed down, suppressed grief, emotional detachment recurring pain, forgiveness, releasing past pain, generational traumas, grieve and let healing begin, three swords piercing heart, floating heart, grey sky and rain, heaviness and grief, disconnection from grounded self, isolation in emotional experience, seek support, sharp upright swords, mental fixation, overthinking and rumination, self judgement, mentally stuck, saturn and venus, seventh tenth second eighth, enmeshment bypassing, preserve connection, number 3, number three, scattered energy, separation after being together, hope ends, attachment patterns, abandonment, rejection and abandonment reumination, emotional numbness, doesnt help, deploy, master storyteller, radio doom and gloom, face karmic patterns, wound was created, root of wounding, four of swords, "rest, recovery, healing, mental restoration, solitude, meditation, emotional reset, spiritual retreat, burnout recovery, peace, psychological healing, inner stillness, nervous system regulation, healing space, temporary withdrawal, recuperation, self-care, integration, spiritual pause, trauma, emotional shutdown, overwhelmed mentally, running away, recalibrate, stress sadness problems, hiding feelings, rest deeply, recovery mental exhaustion, rest overwhelm, integration internal processing, mindful balanced harmony, unresovled grief, burnout, emotional exhaustion and resolving it, help and support, disconnection and grief, overreaction, defensiveness, three swords above one below, stone figure lying still, stained glass window, dim light and shadows, sword pointing down below the hands, jupiter and libra, ninth seventh third and twelfth houses, dedicated worker, reminder to breathe, mentally drained, five swords, no one wins, breakdown in communication, defensive thinking, dominate, protect vulnerability, early experiences of conflict, when to let go, face discomfort, harming yourself, competition power struggles, winning at all costs, miscommunication, affecting relationships, ongoing tension, soul lessons, regret, unresolved conflict, reconstruction, forgiveness guilt shame, resnetment, cutting chords, reconciliation, repair begins where defensiveness ends, weapons, three swords two on ground, figure walking away, smirk, self satisfaction, protect onself, dominance, withdrawal, emotional detachments, pride and fear, exposure, mars and venus, first third eighth houses, aries and libra, number 5, number five, respond to tension, disconnection and imbalance, mind defends, acquit, justify their actions, foundations of stability, cancer moon and 4th house