Wands · V
Five of Wands
Sparring. Conflict that can train or bruise depending on whether anyone remembers it is practice. Heat is in the room; it wants a rule or it becomes a brawl.
- ELEMENT
- fire
- NUMBER
- Five — disruption: youths sparring, heat without a captain.
- SYMBOLS
- five figures in a tangle of staves, contest more than war · raised wood, no blood, the grammar of sport and of quarrel mixed · a chaotic sky, will meeting will without a referee · clothes of different colors, many aims in one dust
UPRIGHT
- +honest disagreement that improves the work
- +playful competition
- +energy looking for a worthy opponent
- −drama as a substitute for aim
- −many leaders, no craft
- −humiliation dressed as banter
- IN LOVE
- Sparks that are not all eros. Argue about the real thing. Do not win the dust.
- IN WORK
- A messy team, a crowded field, brainstorms that bruise. Name a captain or name a game.
- IN SELF
- Your own wills are fencing. Pick which heat is the work, and which is sport.
REVERSED
The brawl goes underground, or it has no sport left — avoidance of conflict, or conflict as climate.
- Blocked — the upright current exists and is dammed.
- Internalized — the drama is inner rather than worldly.
- Excess — the current is overplayed.
Blocked Five of Wands swallows the argument until it becomes illness. Inner is private rivalry. Excess never leaves the yard.
- PAIRS WELL WITH
- Five of SwordsSeven of WandsStrengthThree of Pentacles
- TENSES WITH
- TemperanceFour of WandsThe Hierophant
WHAT WE WILL NOT SAY ABOUT THIS PLATE
- fight for what you want
- competition will make you stronger
- they're all against you