Five of Swords
Minor Arcana · Swords · number 5 · Cinque di Spade
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The Five of Swords is a man gathering the swords of his defeated opponents, with an unpleasant smile: degradation, destruction, revocation, infamy, dishonour, loss. Someone has won, but in a dirty way, and that someone may be you. If these days you got the upper hand in an argument, in the office or in the family, and a bitter taste remains, it is no accident. Or perhaps you are the one walking away, head down. Be careful: victories that humiliate come at a price. It is a warning. The practical advice: if you hurt someone, apologise today; if you were hurt, walk away from anyone who enjoys doing it.
Source: Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) · read the original passage
Reversed
Reversed, the Five of Swords does not change, says Waite, and he adds burial and obsequies: the meaning stays the same, but now something has to be buried. A relationship that ended badly, a betrayed friendship, a project closed in dishonour. If these days you feel you must hold a symbolic funeral, for a job, a love, a version of yourself, it is no accident. It is not a sentence: the obsequies serve to close things for real. Do not let mourning drag into resentment. The practical advice: write what you lost on a sheet of paper, read it once, and then throw it away with a final gesture.