Editor’s Note: If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article tells you how to use the spread. You can visit Sarah’s website here. –efc
By Sarah Taylor
When we looked at the Fours last month, we were met with the sense of being away from the action. The Fours describe a pause, whether obligatory or of one’s own choosing, where there is a call to take stock. In the Fives, we are thrust back into life… and into a different world from the one that we left in the Threes.
The Fives in tarot represent those moments where we find ourselves in some form of ensnarement — physical, mental or emotional. The smooth, well-worn path has given way to potholes and low-hanging branches. The environment seems unwelcoming.
This is the first time since we first looked at the Aces that conflict has made a significant appearance in each suit. Yes, we’ve had moments of conflict; but the Fives are defined by it. When we move from the realm of non-incarnate potential (the Aces) and into the world of duality (the Twos), we have bound ourselves to the experience of contrast. Perhaps conflict is inevitable. Perhaps what we do with it isn’t.
Five of Wands
Five men are gathered on open ground, engaged in some sort of confrontation with each other. There is nothing in the background to situate them in any particular landscape. It is, simply, them, and their Wands.
A few things strike me when I look at what I’ve just described. First, the men are not dressed for battle. They are brightly clothed — fashionable, even; and although one of them is wearing chainmail, there is no other sign of armour, nor are there any swords.