The Five of Swords
Loss. Hardship. Defeat.
I knew this day was coming. Ever since I’ve been writing about how my card a day affects my life, I knew, inevitably, I’d get a really tough card. Although, I’m great at seeing the optimistic side of Tarot, sometimes, even I can’t escape a harsh circumstance depicted by the card. The Five of Swords is a prime example.
Fives are always a problematic numbers in tarot. Look at all the fives in the Minor Arcana. They contain difficulties and hardships to overcome. There are many ways to view these fives. They could represent an actual event. Five of Swords could indicate someone taking advantage of you. It could offer a lesson. Don’t forget the influence you have over other people and how strongly your actions affect others. It could be a reminder. Take care and don’t put yourself in a vulnerable position. It could refer to your health. Take some extra vitamin C. your immune system is running down. The interpretations are endless.
I drew this card and did what my Tarot friends often do. When they don’t like a card for themselves they quickly draw another. I didn’t like what I saw so I began to reach for my deck. I stopped myself though. To be fair, I had to let this be my card of the day and see how it would play out.
My afternoon was smattered with little Five of Swords moments. First off, I decided not to dwell on any negative aspects of it in relation to my day. I let the card be a warning to be mellow and generous. I wanted to make sure I would not provoke any incidents that are reminiscent of the card. Essentially, to play nice.
The last time I pulled a tough card, Three of Swords, it appeared as a house emergency. Our country house has heat alarm. The house telephones us when the heat is off and the pipes might freeze. Sure enough, four hours after I drew the Five of Swords, the house called with the announcement the electricity was off and the temp was dropping. It was fixed easily enough but I laughed at the coincidence. Weird!
A cold I’ve been suffering from is getting worse. Plus, as I tried to console my sniffles with a night of trash television, all the shows I watch were either moved to another night or reruns. So, I went to sleep feeling just a bit like the sad person in the background of the card.
Truthfully, The Five of Swords wasn’t so terrible after all. One trick to integrating Tarot into your life is balancing the fabulous cards with the hard cards. Sure, I wish I could draw the World, the Star and the Nine of Cups every day but that isn’t how life works. I managed not to let the Five of Swords freak me out and took a lesson from it. My lesson was to play nice and I did.
Take a look at your Five of Swords. Does the picture remind you of anything in your life? If you were a character on this card, who would you be? How could you take the scary aspect of this card and turn it into a positive?
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