By Sarah Taylor

You know last week when the Five of Swords appeared to the right of the Two of Swords as one of the options you were poised between (the other being the Ace of Swords)? This week takes a look at what’s happening and what’s available if you did, indeed, feel the sting of those five swords in your world.

Seven of Stones, Five of Swords, The Emperor from the Haindl Tarot deck, created by Hermann Haindl. Click on the image for a larger version.

To recap, I wrote that the Five of Swords “is not the under-handed, stealth-driven sabotage of the Seven of Swords, nor the existential anguish of the Nine of Swords, but it is a moment of “ouch!” where someone’s peace of mind is sacrificed on the altar of conflict. Blood is spilled in a battle of wills — a skirmish where there is a clear winner and a clear loser, but either way the victory is one that has its costs. It is accompanied with fiery fury and rage; emotions run very high; despair follows, even though it might be short-lived.”

A skirmish. A war of words. A battle of wills. Sometimes a legal matter where the verdict comes without apology or much deliberation — and there is a cost involved. It may feel like the winner has taken no prisoners, that there is little compassion. It may simply be the bitter sting of defeat, no matter how things stand objectively. There is no objectivity to be had here. You, or someone else, is hurting.

The background to this skirmish has unfolded through the lens of the Seven of Stones (Pentacles in the Rider-Waite Smith deck). There is a sense of events leading up to the Five as foretelling the Five’s outcome. Not enough material resources, perhaps? Or not as much support from others as you would have wanted.

But most of all, the Seven is a moment of spiritual crisis. Why am I doing this? What is this all for? It has an existential quality to it — which stands in stark contrast to the physicality of the suit itself. An existential crisis in a material world. It is a time of taking stock and finding out what really matters to you. It is a moment of seeing where the path of true commitment lies.

This Defeat that you face may simply be another signpost pointing you back on the path of your true commitment. It may be the final battle of a straggling idea that’s had its day. You may be seeing the vestiges of a past belief getting cut away; the sting is the sting of your identification with it — as if it’s a part of you getting cut away with it, when in fact it is not. The truth of who you are still stands. You can still apply the Ace of Swords here (the one that appeared last week). You still have the capacity for insight, which can lead you to a deeper compassion and understanding of the circumstances.

There is a wisdom to what has been taking place, if you do not identify with what your mind might be telling you about who’s ‘winning’ and who’s ‘losing’, and if you can shift towards the change that this is pointing you to.

Bear in mind a skirmish is not the whole battle — it is an outpost, a moment of volatility. And it may be that it is you on both sides of the battle lines: one part of you clinging to what’s changing, the other part standing there on the right.

The Emperor.

You have lost nothing. You are simply in a moment of finding your balance again, your true path, your sovereignty.

From the bare rock and rusted foliage of the Seven and the Five, we move to the truth that lies at the heart of the matter. A tree stands behind The Emperor, a natural depiction of the grounded, rooted vibrancy of an archetype who holds personal authority, yet who is also aligned with the world around him. There is a natural order to things. There is no sign of the forcing of his will over others; his simply being there is a statement of where he stands and what he stands for.

The Emperor’s sceptre — the masculine symbol of his authority, topped with what looks like a head of wheat — is held up towards the Five of Swords, as if he is warding off its influence with that small gesture. It is enough to leave it all behind. The globe he holds to the right, in his left hand — the feminine symbol of fertility, potential, (re)birth — feels like an offering in this reading. An offering to you.

There is a time for conflict and the feelings and experiences that come with it. There is a time to seek balance again and restore yourself to the throne that was always yours to begin with. This is not a battle; this is simply an acknowledgement of what already is. There is no-one to fight over what can only be yours: your will, your dignity, your place in your world.

All else falls away into insignificance in the face of this knowing.

Astrology/Elemental correspondences: Seven of Disks (Saturn in Taurus), Five of Swords (Venus in Aquarius), The Emperor (Aries)

If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread.