Five of Swords
The five of swords in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a disdainful man gathering swords as two defeated figures walk away. A. E. Waite read it as degradation, destruction and loss.
Meaning
Waite describes the card: "A disdainful man looks after two retreating and dejected figures. Their swords lie upon the ground. He carries two others on his left shoulder, and a third sword is in his right hand, point to earth. He is the master in possession of the field."
What does the Five of Swords mean?
Waite's meanings are "degradation, destruction, revocation, infamy, dishonour, loss, with the variants and analogues of these"; reversed, "the same; burial and obsequies". His list of additional meanings adds "an attack on the fortune of the Querent", and reversed, "A sign of sorrow and mourning".
In older decks
The Italian suit is spade, swords, among the marks of the earliest cards in the British Museum's catalogue of 1876. Papus reads it as "The enemy triumphs at the moment one fancies the victory is secured."
Read next
- Next in Tarot cardsSix of SwordsThe six of swords in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a ferryman taking passengers across the water in his punt. A. E. Waite read it as a journey by water, a route, an envoy.
- The same shape in Christian symbolsINRIINRI are the initials of the Latin for “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”, the charge the Gospel of John says Pilate had fixed to Christ’s cross. Crucifixes in the Western churches show the four letters on a small board above his head.
See also
The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant.
Sources
- The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, by A. E. Waite, William Rider & Son, London, 1910 (the sacred-texts.com transcription, on the Internet Archive), The Lesser Arcana; Some Additional Meanings of the Lesser Arcana
- The Tarot of the Bohemians, by Papus, Chapman & Hall, London, 1896, translated by A. P. Morton (scan on the Internet Archive), The Divining Tarot, second lesson: the minor arcana
- A Descriptive Catalogue of Playing and Other Cards in the British Museum, by W. H. Willshire, Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1876 (scan on the Internet Archive), General history: the marks of the suits
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from crosses, letters and numbers or squares and rectangles.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 30, 2026. How we research
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