- Conflict, tension, win-lose situations
- Learning how to walk away with the lesson
In a reading: know when to walk away — losing a battle isn’t losing the lesson.
The Five of Swords can mean winning at all costs, conflict, even a breakup. There’s a theory that all three figures on this card are actually the same person at different stages — crying because he’s lost, then learning to walk away, then finally walking off with the swords in hand.
Those swords represent the lessons he’s carrying forward from the battle. So even when this card shows up around a loss, it can really mean learning how to walk away from something that isn’t working, taking what you learned, and not actually losing at all.
Prefer to watch? Chris explains all 78 cards