Five of Wands
The Five of Wands is the fifth numeral card of the Wands suit, associated with the element Fire. It marks a moment of conflict and competition, when multiple forces or wills contend for space within the suit's process.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-18
Historical fact
Before the 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the Five of Wands was represented by only five wands arranged ornamentally, with no narrative scene. The now-standard illustration — five youths in mock combat, brandishing wands against one another, with no apparent injuries or clear hierarchy among them — was created by Pamela Colman Smith and published in 1909, becoming the visual reference followed by most modern decks.
Interpretation — Rider-Waite-Smith / Golden Dawn
In the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition, this card is titled 'Strife.' It represents competition, minor disputes, friction between differing wills, and the tension of multiple interests competing for the same space — without necessarily amounting to real warfare, but rather a clash of ambitions or opinions. Reversed, it can indicate the end of a dispute, avoidance of conflict, or unresolved internal tensions.
Interpretation — Thoth (Aleister Crowley)
In the Thoth deck, the card is also titled 'Strife' and associated with Saturn in Leo — Fire's energy constrained by Saturn's weight and discipline, producing friction and competition rather than free expression. It represents the struggle between individual impulses of will, each seeking to assert itself, at a still-unstable stage of the suit.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the Five of Wands mean in Tarot?
- In the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition, titled 'Strife,' it represents competition and minor disputes between differing wills. In the Thoth deck, associated with Saturn in Leo, it is read as Fire's energy under tension from Saturn's restrictive discipline.
- Does the meaning of the number 5 repeat across the other suits?
- Broadly, yes. In the Rider-Waite-Smith / Golden Dawn tradition, each number from 2 to 10 carries a wide theme across all four suits — the 5, specifically, tends to introduce rupture, conflict, or loss, expressed differently according to each suit's element.
- Was this card illustrated differently before 1909?
- Yes. Before the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, this card showed only five wands arranged ornamentally, without the scene of five youths in mock combat — that illustration is Pamela Colman Smith's creation.
Sources
- Michael Dummett. The Game of Tarot: From Ferrara to Salt Lake City (1980).
- Arthur Edward Waite. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910).
- Aleister Crowley. The Book of Thoth (1944).
- Stuart R. Kaplan. The Encyclopedia of Tarot (1978).