Alright, let’s talk about the 5 of Wands. This card… well, when I first started really getting into tarot practice, pulling cards regularly, this one showed up quite a bit. And honestly? It felt kinda messy, you know?
My first reaction was always a bit like, “Oh great, conflict.” You look at most decks, and it’s guys waving sticks, looking like they’re clashing or maybe just jostling really hard. It seemed pretty straightforward – disagreements, arguments, people not getting along.
I started keeping a simple log, just jotting down the cards I pulled and what was going on. And I noticed the 5 of Wands popping up around situations involving group stuff. Team projects at work, family gatherings where everyone had an opinion, even planning stuff with friends.
There was this one time I did a reading for myself about a creative project I was trying to get off the ground with a couple of other people. The 5 of Wands appeared right in the middle. My gut reaction was dread, thinking, “This is gonna fall apart because of arguments.”
But what actually happened was… interesting. We didn’t really fight, not in a destructive way. What we did have was a ton of brainstorming sessions that got really loud and energetic. Everyone was throwing ideas out, sometimes talking over each other. It felt chaotic, like the card looked, but it wasn’t necessarily negative conflict. It was more like… creative friction? A bit competitive maybe, everyone wanting their idea to be the best.
Digging a Bit Deeper
That experience made me rethink the card. I went back and looked at my notes. Sometimes, yeah, it did point to actual annoying squabbles and petty disagreements where nothing got done. But other times? It seemed to represent that messy phase before something gets settled. Like:
- Brainstorming sessions
- Friendly competition
- Just a general clash of ideas or energies
- Needing to stand up for your own point of view among many
- Trying to get heard in a noisy environment
I started seeing it less as outright hostility and more as disorganized energy, struggle, or competition. It’s like static on the radio sometimes. It’s annoying, sure, but it doesn’t always mean the radio’s broken. Sometimes it just means you haven’t found the clear channel yet.
So, I stopped automatically assuming the worst. When the 5 of Wands comes up now in my practice, I take a breath. I look hard at the surrounding cards. Is it paired with something really difficult like the Tower or the 10 of Swords? Okay, maybe it is serious conflict then. But if it’s around more neutral or even positive cards, I lean towards interpreting it as that energetic, maybe slightly frustrating, phase of competition, scattered ideas, or finding your footing in a busy situation.
It’s that feeling of trying to make progress when everyone’s waving their own ‘wand’ or idea around. It takes effort to navigate, but it’s not always a disaster. Sometimes, it’s just part of the process before things click into place. That’s how I’ve come to see it through practice, anyway.
