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Combinations · Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot
Five of Swords combinations
A smirking young man gathers three swords on a bare stretch of coast while two others walk away. The partner card shows what the contest was about, and whether the querent keeps fighting or lays the swords down.
Card meaning: Five of SwordsCombinations are common patterns, not rules
The readings here describe how a pair most often reads. Check each one against two things before you apply it. The first is the question: the same pair says one thing about a relationship and another about a job offer, and the question decides which side of the pair matters. The second is the background, meaning what the querent already knows about the situation, the position each card holds in the spread, and the cards around the pair. When the question or the background points another way, go with them over the general reading. Each pair page lists the exceptions that come up most often.
Three people stand on this shore and only one of them is smiling. A red-haired young man gathers three swords and looks back over his shoulder, two figures walk off with their heads bowed, and two more blades lie in the grass under grey cloud that has broken across a strip of blue. In a pair, the other card tells the querent which of those people they are and what the fight was over. Beside the Five of Wands the difference is temperature, a noisy scuffle among equals set against a cold, unequal win. The Four of Swords is the rest the quarrel interrupts, and the Six of Swords the boat that carries the querent away from it. With the Seven of Swords, open aggression and hidden moves egg each other on.
Upright, the Five lets no partner settle comfortably. Most upright cards leave the pair mixed, a contest the querent can still handle well, and about a third harden it, the Tower, the Moon and the Three of Swords among them. A reversed partner under an upright Five nearly always sharpens the fight.
Reversed, the card describes a fight being put down, and most upright partners then read as harmonious. The Hermit turns the defeat into a lesson and the Star brings hope back. The Devil and the Eight and Nine of Swords are the exceptions, where guilt, helplessness or sleepless remorse follow the truce.
Five of Swords beside other cards in a spread
Beside Major Arcana cards
Six trumps make the upright pair hard. The Empress sees her warmth damaged, and with the Hierophant, Death, the Devil, the Tower and the Moon the contest turns institutional, final, manipulative, explosive or murky. The other sixteen stay mixed and offer a better way through, such as the Hanged Man's concession or Temperance's fair compromise. Reverse the Five beneath an upright trump and sixteen pairs turn harmonious. With both reversed, the Empress, Hermit, Justice, Star and Moon are hard, a peace that leaves resentment buried or hope absent.
Beside Wands
Fire and Air are friendly, and here that means the Wands' heat feeds the quarrel. Upright, the Five, Seven, Eight, Ten, Page and Knight make the pair hard, bringing open rivalry, a stand that risks costing friends, a fast escalation, a heavier load or eagerness pulled into the fight. The Ace, Two, Three, Four, Six, Nine, Queen and King stay mixed, ventures worth winning cleanly. With the Five reversed, eight Wands read as harmonious, and reversing both Fives lets a long quarrel end in forgiveness.
Beside Cups
Water and Air sit neutrally, so feeling and argument both keep their full weight. Most upright Cups leave the pair mixed, with a bond, a circle of friends or a happy home put at risk by someone's need to win the argument. The Four, Five, Seven and Eight make it hard through a win that feels empty, a loss replayed, a prize mostly imagined or a walk away from what was won. Under a reversed Five, eleven Cups read as harmonious.
Beside Swords
Doubled Air keeps the fight in words and thought. Upright, seven other Swords make the pair hard, from the Ace's truth used as a weapon to the Ten's hard ending, the Eight adding a cornered feeling and the Nine sleepless remorse. The Four, Six and the four courts leave room for rest, a crossing away or a clear-headed review. Reversed beside those seven, the Five reads well, yet the upright Eight and Nine turn defeat into helplessness or guilt. Both reversed, the Eight, Nine and Ten lift into peace.
Beside Pentacles
Earth is contrary to Air, and the coins bring the dispute down to money, work and property. Upright, only the Five of Pentacles makes the pair hard, a conflict that drains resources until even the winner ends up short. The rest stay mixed, each with something solid at stake, such as credit on a shared project with the Three or a family's holdings with the Ten. Reverse the Five of Swords and thirteen coins read as harmonious. With both reversed, the Ace, Two, Eight, Page and Queen sour.
Beside court cards
No court card makes the upright Five easy. Fourteen leave the pair mixed and describe how the querent handles the contest, with the King of Cups' calm, the Queen of Swords' boundaries or the Knight of Pentacles' slower work. The Page and Knight of Wands bring an eagerness the fight exploits, and those pairs turn hard, as does every reversed court. Under a reversed Five, thirteen courts help the peace take hold. A court standing for someone in the querent's life still shows the querent's side of the conflict.
Beside a card of the same number
Its rank links this card to the Hierophant, card V, and to the Fives of Wands, Cups and Pentacles. All four pairs take Wheel of Fortune as quintessence, so positions in the contest can turn. Upright, each one is hard, whether the struggle sits inside an institution, hardens from rivalry, replays a loss or drains resources. Reversed together, the three minor Fives read as harmonious through forgiveness, grief easing or recovery, while the Hierophant pair stays mixed. Paired with itself, the card describes the same fight fought twice.
Beside reversed cards
Turning the partner over removes whatever could have checked the fight, and sixty-nine of these pairs read as hard. A reversed Star takes hope away, a reversed Queen of Swords makes the words cruel, a reversed Knight of Swords turns the attack rash. Eight stay mixed because their own reversal lifts a weight: the Devil, the Five of Wands, the Five and Seven of Cups, the Eight, Nine and Ten of Swords, and the Five of Pentacles. A reversed Eight of Swords breaks a restriction by taking up the fight.
Five of Swords with every card
Each row gives the outlook in all four states, read from Five of Swords's side: Five of Swords first, then its partner.
Harmonious
Mixed
Challenging
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↑ ↓
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Strength
A hostile contest is under way, and soft power keeps the querent from winning at any price.
Queen of Wands
A contest the querent can win, with the question of what the victory costs left open.
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