Five of Wands

Identity

Symbols

• Five Crossed StavesUnaligned vectors — each insists it is the main axis.+

  In the Golden Dawn system this is the 'Lord of Strife': Saturn in the first decan of Leo, under Geburah, the sephirah of severity. Waite's own word for the crossing is 'mimic warfare', a fight held in imitation.

• Mismatched GarmentsDifferent origins sharing one ground — diversity inside the conflict.+

  Waite's text says nothing of what they wear, only 'a posse of youths'. The variety is Pamela Colman Smith's: with five near-identical staves, the differing clothes are what keep five separate people from merging into one mob.

• Bare Earth UnderfootUnbroken ground — this quarrel happens on territory not yet divided.+

  Waite's reading puts riches at stake ('the search after riches and fortune'; some attributions, he adds, make it a card of 'gold, gain, opulence'), yet nothing of value lies on the ground. The prize exists only in the meaning; the picture shows a struggle with nothing to win.

• Unwounded BodiesNo one bleeds — the boundary that keeps this sparring, and the possibility of continuing.+

  Waite leaves the question open ('as if in sport or strife'), then closes it in his next sentence: 'It is mimic warfare.' His reading opens with 'imitation… sham fight', and the unhurt bodies are what let the picture say so.

Story

The eye goes first to the air above their heads, where five staves cross and no two line up. Below that tangle, five bodies lean and twist into the press, and the staves are the only thing they share. Nothing stands around them (no wall, no crowd, no one keeping score), so the contest has no edge to drive anyone toward and no audience to play to. Everyone is still on his feet. This is the middle of the noise: every staff raised, none yet come down.

Correspondences

Elemental Dignity

Shadow

Related Cards

Four of Wands

Seven of Wands

Strength