The Number Five Cards of the Tarot

Has a source of power and control become apparent as it increases its dominance? Is there a release of energy in a controlled environment for a stated purpose occurring in your life right now? Will you be able to name the thing that holds sway over your efforts? A Tarot card with a five on it will be released into your reading when these issues are at the forefront.

Sexual prowess is released in this number that simultaneously controls and enslaves our lust. Addictions and commitments become two sides of the same coin. When a card with the number five on it appears in your Tarot reading, you are either in control or completely submissive.

Power is prevalent in all relationships, be they between two people, or between individuals and institutions, other groups or the culture at large. Some of our major emotional responses in life are to having power or to being under the control of another. When we are locked in the throes of addiction or the arms of love, we are submitting body and soul to something or someone.

Fives are ruled by the Hierophant. This is the Tarot card of the ultimate authority on earth as the medieval seers who composed the original Tarot could express: God's will. This is the only card with the number five that indicates you are maintaining control over your domain. The Hierophant is numbered five.

The Devil is numbered fifteen and carries the opposite of the Hierophant. The power you have is not a divine self-control but rather an unleashed energy that is difficult to harness. The Devil has a potency to bring much gain, but is a card of unintended consequences that could leave you powerless or in the service of a brutal, unforgiving master, be it drugs or a manipulative lover.

The Five of Cups is the card that reminds us that even in the powerlessness of grief, we still have a chance to control our emotions. The Five of Wands indicates that the petty fights we are engaging in are of no consequence beyond diverting us from seizing our creative inspiration.

The Five of Swords is the card of cheap victory, of winning control but ending up with nothing worth having power over. The Five of Pentacles is the Tarot's way of describing your alienation from a large group or institution, be it a school, church, employer or other large enterprise.

If your Tarot reading has more than one of these cards with a five, you are most definitely in a power struggle of some sorts. Do you need anger management classes? Are you going back again and again to a lover who mistreats you? Are you withholding love in a relationship in order to maximize your dominance in the partnership?

Each Tarot reading places cards in positions to indicate your past, present or future. When a card with a number five lands in the past position, the foundation of your current situation is one involving a lack of control, an outburst or a repression of feelings. When a Five card lands in the present position, you are empowered like never before; take charge of your own destiny. In the future position, Fives are a great warning for us to look at the structure of things now in order to maintain control in the coming weeks or avoid being sent into servitude in the coming years.

The Heirophant
This priest is the highest spiritual authority within a set establishment. This is a card of controlling a specific part of your life. It could mean mastering the culture and requirements at school. Being handed some authority at a job might be in the cards when you get the Hierophant in your Tarot reading.

The regal man sitting on the throne is the priestly representative of heaven's will on earth. The acolyte priests willingly kneel in a gesture of self-control, respect and humility.

The Devil
Eerily similar to the Hierophant, this winged beast squats on a post instead of a throne and holds no heavenly status. His two servants are shamelessly nude in their pleasure seeking yet remain chained. They are enslaved to the things that are supposed to bring them joy but have become escapes from reality.

The power in this card is harnessing all of your self-centeredness and moving forward - being chained to a commitment to better your status. Too many people, though, get a little success and indulge too deeply in the dark side.

Five of Swords
Like the Hierophant and the Devil cards, this picture features one central character and two subservient ones. As the haggard man smirks at his enemies dropping their swords, it is painfully apparent that they have not been defeated but are rather walking away in disgust.

Perhaps the man did not fight fair; perhaps the fight was not worth the energy. Regardless, the battle is over and the man is overjoyed in collecting the bounty of surrendered swords. But the sad scene indicates that his is a hollow, lonely victory.

Five of Wands
Five boys are playing; each with a wooden walking stick, or wand, flailing at each other, yet nobody is hurt. Are you spending the time you have playing creatively? Is this frivolity a waste of time, or is it a valuable recharging of your batteries?

You do not always have the power to choose when and where you vacation or enjoy a spot of recreation. The Five of Wands reminds you to take valuable time off having fun. But in resting and relaxing, let your creativity be put to the challenge of games and speculations. Wands rule creativity.

Five of Pentacles
If you are feeling on the outside of a group, consider what the lack of power means in crippling your ambition. The chance to make amends and be redeemed might seem impossible. And yet the light from your association with this group still glows within.

Sometimes we just do not fit in and other times we abandon organizations that might otherwise work with us to find a role. If you have been on the outside looking in, the two cripples in this card will underscore the point of your lowest feelings. Again, a Five card features two people on the outs.

Five of Cups
Two cups are left despite the misery and grief on display in a figure hiding his face in shame. Or perhaps that is guilt. Cups represent emotion and he does not seem aware of the two chances at redemption that are still available.

The three cups are definitely spilled and gone. But the water from the river rages on. At the point where we feel most powerless, the universe may be conspiring to remind us that love, the ultimate power, is all around.

In Conclusion
The Tarot cards with the number five are your best bet to explain a relationship that is unbalanced, or a sense that only one narrow path of behavior will be acceptable. This is a group of Tarot cards that reminds us to enjoy the few times we experience true equity in relationships because the nature of things is balanced toward someone or something having more control and power than others.