The meaning of the number 5 in each of the four suits of the deck
General meaning of the number 5
The meaning of the number 5 is complex and challenging, as there’s no doubt these cards depict loss, sadness, betrayal, harsh arguments, fights, and tough times.
They have a unique characteristic: they are much more favorable, all of them, when the cards appear reversed, “upside down,” than upright. They carry a key message: You need to change.
Sometimes change is hard, which might be why many of the fives show difficult scenes in their imagery. But in truth, the number 5 represents so much more than just that.
Fives symbolize adventure, change, freedom, exploration, and expansion. It’s the number of curiosity, experience, the seeker of knowledge, and the teacher of wisdom. It represents the traveler, someone with great imagination, like a playful child. The Fives? Yes.
The connection of the number 5 in the Major Arcana
In the Major Arcana, the V is the Hierophant, also known as the High Priest or the Pope, the master of knowledge and experience, guiding those who are new to new experiences and exploration.
Even though we don’t often see them as adventurous (never as much as the Fool, of course), they are the ones who open the door to new ways of thinking and fresh perspectives on mysteries. They guide others on adventures that bring about change and growth.
Often seen as too attached to rules and rigidity to allow freedom, they are actually the ones who teach and discipline so that the mind and self-knowledge can be free to explore new things.
Think of it this way: If someone is taught how to read, how much more freedom do they have to explore compared to when they couldn’t read books?
The number five represents the human being. When arms and legs are stretched out, the human body forms a pentagon. The pentagon, like the circle, symbolizes perfection and power.
The number five symbolizes meditation, religion, and versatility. It represents the five senses (taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing). The five-pointed star signifies individuality, spiritual aspiration, and education.
The planet associated with the number five in numerology is Mercury, which rules trade, education, and communication. In astrology, Leo naturally rules the fifth house, which is about creative self-expression, pleasure, and entertainment.
It includes all forms of play, gambling, hobbies, interests, romantic relationships, lovers (as opposed to partners), and one’s attitude towards fun. This playful and creative aspect of the number five can be seen most clearly in the Five of Wands, but it can be considered when looking at the other suits too.
The number 5 in the Minor Arcana
The Five of Swords
The Five of Swords is, like all the fives, a complex card with many interpretative possibilities. That’s just the nature of the number five. Changes can be exciting, painful, stressful, or taken in stride.
Since this card belongs to the suit of swords, the disruption relates to thoughts, communication, learning, and actions driven by these things.
Coming out of the mental rest of the four, the five is ready to strike, using the insights gained from the three and four.
There’s conflict here, as is typical of odd-numbered cards, but also resolution. How this change of mood affects the querent depends on their circumstances. But whether they “win” or “lose” in the conflict, one thing is certain: this is a decisive moment of change, for better or worse.
Here, with the Five of Swords in front of you, you’re taking your stand, putting forward your truth, your arguments, your newly discovered and established beliefs, and letting the chips fall where they may.
The card’s imagery shows what looks like a post-battle scene, where one person is gathering fallen swords in victory, while two others are walking away, making us reflect on what just happened. Changes have occurred for all of them, yet they each display different attitudes towards the event.
In the familiar Rider Waite Tarot, the figure in the background appears devastated, their shoulders slumped, head in their hands. This has been a difficult loss for them, indicating a major change related to pain. Closer to the foreground, the second person seems less affected by the change.
Their head is held high, and they appear relaxed and confident, perhaps reflecting on what happened but not deeply troubled by their loss. You might say they are being a “good sport” and taking everything in stride.
If this were a debate, perhaps they’ve learned something new and are now reflecting on these things, considering changing their mind or position on the matter. The figure in the foreground is the clear winner. They’re the one gathering swords on their side of the conflict.
In some decks, they are shown gloating and smiling, but in others, they’re simply looking at the others. One might wonder if this conflict also represented a loss for the winner, perhaps the loss of a friendship.
They stood their ground and fought with integrity, but now the rift between them and the others is obvious. Often, this card is seen as a “no-win” situation because no matter who “wins,” there are losses on both sides. At best, it’s a futile battle.
Some don’t fully agree with that interpretation. It can be seen as a situation where both sides gain and lose a lot. Although it’s not exactly a tie, there is a clear “winner,” but significant changes have occurred for all, and the real outcome depends on how this change is integrated into one’s thinking and life.
Sometimes you may be the one with all the swords, the clear winner. Other times, you simply drop your sword and walk away, head held high. Still other times, you are defeated, and the loss is significant. In some cases, you might even experience all three possibilities in a single situation.
Perhaps part of the message of this five is “choose your battles wisely,” if they’re really worth fighting. In this five, there may not be clear winners or losers, but all participants will have experienced a significant shift in their mindset and circumstances.
It’s a really difficult card to interpret due to the variety of nuances and possibilities, but the general message is that change is happening, whether you win, lose, or even if there’s no real way out.
The Five of Cups
In the Five of Cups, sadness and grief are palpable. We often cringe when this card appears because its sorrow is almost suffocating.
However, when you look at just the suit and the number, the card doesn’t always have to mean that the emotional change is due to loss, though it often is. Our deepest emotional growth often comes from those emotionally dark times.
In this five, the querent has come down from the retreat of the four to reflect more deeply on what they truly feel about what they’ve done and experienced. With this reflection on the waters of their emotional life and relationships with others, they are filled with regret. They feel the loss of opportunities and relationships with those they loved.
However, deep emotional change doesn’t just come from pain and loss but also from life events that mature one’s emotions in other ways. For example, a woman I’ve consulted experienced a profound emotional change when she became a mother for the first time.
In a way, you could say it’s a loss, as she could never physically experience motherhood for the first time again. These events took her to emotional highs and lows and brought deep and lasting changes in how she feels about herself and others.
So, emotional change, expansion, and growth don’t necessarily have to come with deep loss, depression, or pain, though they often do. The outcome of this change is hinted at in the card by the cups standing upright and the bridge in the background, safely carrying them over the emotional waters to an even better destination.
The figure mourns the spilled cups, not seeing either the bridge that could lead them to safety or the upright cups behind them. We could say they’re not stuck, but they’re in a severe process of change.
These are truly snapshots in time, a moment in the middle of what may feel very unstable and chaotic at the moment, but ultimately leading to meaningful resolution, growth, and change.
The Five of Wands
The Five of Wands is the only five that doesn’t make you grit your teeth with a sad or painful image. The scene on this card is playful, competitive, somewhat confusing and chaotic, but there aren’t high stakes here; nothing truly crucial is on the line.
The young people in the image are engaging in a mock battle with sticks, trying to outdo each other. This card highlights the fun and competitive aspects, as well as people’s attitudes toward games of chance, competition, and play.
Wands represent the active, creative force behind our actions, and so they can also represent our inner attitudes. Some people take games too seriously, as if their life depends on winning.
For some, a game isn’t just a game, and the final outcome can seriously impact how they feel, think, and act. Egos can get wrapped up in a sport or competition meant to be “for fun,” making the result of the game—and how it affects each person—differ depending on their attitude and personality.
We’ve all seen how angry someone can get in the middle of intense competition, and we’ve heard stories of dangerous, sometimes deadly outbursts, while for most it’s seen as “just a game.”
So, while this five may seem to be about petty disputes at most, sometimes it can have a deeper impact depending on the attitudes of one or more of the players involved.
Once again, this card is a snapshot in time, captured in the midst of the action. Change is happening, and what ultimately occurs depends on how the game is played.
The Five of Pentacles
The Five of Pentacles can also be viewed through the lens of the suit of pentacles (material things, primarily) in order to avoid being limited by the sometimes restrictive scene of deprivation and poverty presented on the card.
This five clearly represents a change in material circumstances. I think the reason why many decks show a scene of loss is because it’s a natural consequence of the hoarding posture seen in the four, which can sometimes be a stance of greed.
However, that’s just one possible outcome of the four. The four is stable, and from that stability could come change of an opposite nature, which could be beneficial depending on the circumstances.
To be fair, the scene also suggests that things could turn around for the humble figures walking in the cold. The stained glass window behind them suggests that relief and help are within reach.
Because, once again, this is a snapshot in time between the four and the six, people need to come to their own solution, their own recognition of need, and accept the help that’s offered, which can be seen in the Six of Pentacles.
Once again, many of our greatest times of change and growth come from loss and the difficulties that come with it—the famous “crisis opportunity.” Many lessons are learned, and both internal and external changes take place. The obvious limitation of the people in the Five of Pentacles is that it doesn’t seem to allow for a “change in luck” in a positive direction.
Imagine someone scraping the bottom of the barrel when this card is revealed. Instead of suggesting that their material circumstances will get worse, this card points to a substantial change in those circumstances—and if you’re at the bottom, the only way to go is up.
Subtly, this message can be seen in the card’s image, as the people only need to look up—literally—to see the church window and its shelter. However, most of us tend to focus on the raw scene of misery and lack, the outcasts trudging desolately in the cold outside.
By focusing on the symbolic meaning of the number five, readers can understand that this card doesn’t always need to be taken literally, though it often is, and rightly so. Still, it’s important to remember that the fives show a moment in the process, and change allows us to understand that anything can happen—positive or negative.
Most likely, it will be a mix of both. Hard times are coming, but help will be available, and the situation will be overcome, sooner or later. When all is said and done, many will recognize that it brought significant change and growth into their life.
The Five of Pentacles focuses more on external, material changes in an event, but these material changes often have a significant impact on internal, spiritual changes too.
Final conclusions
The Fives are complex, dynamic, confusing, and often chaotic, representing the very human life experiences that produce growth and change on many levels of our existence. They are a force to be reckoned with, for sure.
Whether their time is good or bad, the fives get our adrenaline pumping and make us pay more attention to the microcosm of our own life. Now you can see why the need for the four solid legs we talked about in previous articles.
If you’re in a time of five, you may come to appreciate that the brief respite you had before everything went downhill may have been a time of true peace, as the Uruguayan poet Mario Benedetti once said: “in that murky way, it revealed to us that we had not been trudging through boredom, but had unknowingly been happy…”
