Aw, damn.🤬
If any of the fives in the Tarot show up, the truth of the matter is we're in a crappy place. However it may appear on our sunny, perfectly turned out exterior, it is practically guaranteed that “things” are not happy or “okay” right now. It doesn’t even matter which 5 we’re talking out. Whether it is the Five of Cups, the Five of Swords or even the Five of abundance and prosperity loving Pentacles, or our COTD, the Five of Wands. When they arrive, it means that we're at the hardest part. And that “part” simply put, usually means that we or someone close to us is smack dab in the middle of chaos and confusion.
Just check out the Meduda headspace up there! Misunderstandings abound and we find ourselves unable to avoid some kind of conflict. Perhaps we feel caught up in a competition at work or in our own family or friend circles. That’s the kind of bizarro circle jerk energy that radiates from the Five of Wands Tarot card. Sometimes there’s a slight cheekiness to this Furious Five card, and that is the aspect of this pip card that really can guide us into (and I meant that little word “into” I’ll make explain its importance a little further down) a little more peace and calm. And here’s the good news about the Five of Wands. I find that when I do a little “active investigation” into my own Five of Wands dynamic, I almost always discover that the conflict I’m involved is wholly unnecessary and that like Dorothy, I have the power to stop participating in this World of Oz circle jerk madness the very second that I want.
Uh, oh! 😮
If any of the fives in the tarot show up, the truth of the matter is we're in a crappy place. However it may appear on our sunny, perfectly turned out exterior, it is practically guaranteed that “things” are not happy or “okay” right now. It doesn’t even matter which 5 we’re talking out. Whether it is the Five of Cups, the Five of Swords or even the Five of abundance and prosperity loving Pentacles, or our COTD, the Five of Wands. When they arrive, it means that we're at the hardest part. And that “part” simply put, usually means that we or someone close to us is smack dab in the middle of chaos and confusion. Misunderstandings abound and we find ourselves unable to avoid some kind of conflict. Perhaps we feel caught up in a competition at work or in our own family or friend circles. That’s the kind of bizarro circle jerk energy that radiates from the Five of Wands Tarot card. Sometimes there’s a slight cheekiness to this Furious Five card, and that is the aspect of this pip card that really can guide us into (and I meant that little word “into” I’ll make explain its importance a little further down) a little more peace and calm. And here’s the good news about the Five of Wands. I find that when I do a little “active investigation” into my own Five of Wands dynamic, I almost always discover that the conflict I’m involved is wholly unnecessary and that like Dorothy, I have the power to stop participating in this World of Oz circle jerk madness the very second that I want.
The Block is Hot🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Like any card in the Suit of Wands, there is so much heat and energy and anger emanating from it. If we are talking about Wands, we’re talking about the element fire. So we should expect to feel some activation and inflaming around our passions, creativity and desire to express. And one of the biggest, most impactful questions we should ask when the Five of Wands arrives is: do we even mean it? Do we actually care? Whatever shenanigans the Five of Wands represents (maybe passively aggressiv arguments at work, or those nice/nasty group texts that we like to keep going in our family of origin) we have to find space, and turn down the temperature a bit so that we can understand how and why we're putting so much emotional energy into a situation that usually reveal itself to be pretty small, mean and petty.
😜The Funny in the Fury🃏
And the funny part? Because yes, the Five of Wands is a card that ultimately can release a great deal of laughter and can end up being a very funny little pip. Here’s why. In my experience, as a Tarot lover and professional, I often find that when I help a client dig a little deeper into their specific Five of Wands situation, nine times out of ten, we end up laughing at the pettiness, smallness and utter ridiculousness of the origin of the conflict. And you know what else is a trip? When we follow the conflict down the line and hypothesize or game out what the fruits of victory might be if they end up “winning” we often find that the potential benefits of this “win” are so meager and functionally insignificant that it was NEVER worth fighting for in the first place.
The Furious Fives 5️⃣
Tarot numerology is very, very simple. There are four suits in the Tarot and each suit corresponds to an element. The court cards give us information about people and personalities in our lives. The Major Arcana shows us life’s huge archetypes, influences and and major life milestones. And then the pips or Minor Arcana, which reveals the day-to-day occurrences and to do’s that make up and reflect back to us the more mundane aspects of this human experience we spiritual beings have to navigate.
Each suit of the Tarot begins with an Ace which represents opportunity and the suits journey bregind with a Two, which establishes a journey’s beginning and activates movement all the way through to the suit’s terminus-it’s ten card. So when we get to the Five card in any suit, we know that we were at the midpoint of our Tarot journey in that suit. And that midpoint is…well, it’s freaking hard and aggravating af!
✨🖕🏽STUCK IN THE MIDDLE 🖕🏽✨
The Five of Wands Tarot card reveals that we are in the middle of a journey that's using up a lot of energy and heat– it feels hot in a bad way and is extremely competitive! But really what it means is we're just in the middle aka “the thick of it.” For those of you that hang with me on Clubhouse, you’ll often hear me describe the fives, as “the Rubicon.” It's the point that we must pass but that feels unsurpassable. Just know that when you when the fives appear in your readings that it just means you're in the middle, honeybun. And to move past the Five of Wands and start feeling some of the glory of the Six of Wands, you've got to put in a bit of work to moonwalk on past it. And this brings it’s own chllenges. Why? We all know that saying, “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Welp! The Five of Wands let’s us know that the kitchen is hot, but we can’t get out of it until we figure out where the heat is coming from, and what part we are playing in keeping this hot mess going. We have to realize where WE ARE in what's going on. And that leads me to the top three things that we need to do when we're in a Five of Wands situation.
3 Ways to Work the Five of Wands
TURN DOWN THE HEAT: The number one goal when we're in a five of one situation is to find the calm in the storm. It’s time to slow things down and that definitely means turning down the temperature on the stove is back just a little bit from the fray. Step not necessarily back, but into that beautiful quiet middle space that we see in the card. It's important to go there as opposed to outside immediately so that you can see the futility and the uselessness of the argument and conflict that's going on around you. You also get to take a bit of a reprieve. So perhaps you want to stay for a day or two in the group texts, but BE QUIET. Be silent, if for no other reason that to just to see what flows back and forth AND to see if somebody tries to pull you back out of the quiet into the fray.
ACKNOWLEDGE & ABSORB: Acknowledge what you're witnessing, sis. Especially note the the nuttiness, messiness and ultimately the silliness of what you are a part of. It's also important at this moment, now that you’ve created a little space, to really think about the crux of the issue. If the Five of Wands is the midpoint, where's the origin? The point of departure. Where tf did all this start? Why are we even doing this? It's important to take a look at that because nine times out of ten, the person, persons or the situation that dragged you into this is likely thrilled that you're spending so much tim and heart space energy into the conflict. Why? Because it's distracting you from some issue or behavior they'd rather you not notice.
INVESTIGATE YOUR ROLE: This is how we begin the path towards healing–recognizing what role we played in this messy Five of Wands dynamic. What were (past tense, cause hopefully you’re well on your way to moving through this mess) you getting out of being involved in this crazy circular firing squad? And where can we always turn to get more insight into our own personal truths and motivations? The Tarot, of course! If we want a nice long dive into why we chose violence in the first place and how we can learn from our time in that storm, we can always have a nice long hang with the Hermit. Lord knows, she holds up the lamp into our own deep inner universe. And this is where the real juice is.
Me & the Five of Wands ⚽️
It’s not all about me…but writing this post and reflecting upon my own, most recent participation in a messy *ss, circular firing squad. For almost a decade, I was a dedicated, full blown soccer mom. I went to every single game and even spent a little time beore and although we carve out time for big international family trips, the soccer momming took up massive space and caused a lot of conflict in my life. The girls worked out their competitive urges on the field, but us parents were participating in a lot of silent, passively aggressive, damn near radioactive gossiping, backbiting and rating/ranking as a way to falsely inflate their own sense of self worth. And it took COVID lockdown, and my resultant deep and intense dedication to my spiritual praxis and self care that the lockdown created, in order to finally end my participation in the soccermon craziness. I was able to step into then out of the fray, acknowledge my complicity in the circle jerkstep, retrace my steps to figure out how I got there in the first place. And then I had to do the my Hermit work to learn what I was getting from all of that crazy. And what I learned was not pleasant. In fact, it was rather ugly. I way from that. To take a look at not only the craziness that I was participating in with all of this competition that had nothing to do with the girls and fresh air exercise or the love of the game of soccer. It had to do with what I got from it. What did I get out of the truth that I realized was actually kind of ugly. My own Five of Wands moment, revealed all the worst ways that I enjoyed the shadow of being so full of the element fire-envy, competition, vanity and conceit. I loved the borrowed glow of being the mom of the “best” player. It was so ugly and unhealthy, y’all. And it wasn't until I worked with the Five of Wands, that I was able to go into the center–to that quiet space in the middle of the storm and to look out outward, with an new sense of self-awareness and actualization, the insanity of the entire elite girl soccer process and the toxicity of the parent dynamic on the sideline. And now that I know better, I am so grateful that the Tarot and my work with the Five of Wands and the Hermit card helped guide me into doing better by my daughters and myself.
LET'S STAY IN TOUCH! 🙌🏽
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