5 of Swords, Enchanted Tarot

My deck is the Enchanted Tarot, and here is my 5 of Swords:



I've read the descriptions for the 5 of Swords here and on some other sites, and they all agree that it signifies conflict, tension, loss, defeat, and betrayal... so, super negative.

But when I look at MY card, I don't see that. In my deck, it looks like a woman has her back to me, and is consciously controlling 5 bolts of lightning (although they're all going different directions). So I don't know how it signifies anything about conflict, tension, defeat, or betrayal... to me, it's more like "manipulating multiple situations", or possibly "trying to manipulate something that's out of your control, and maybe failing at it".

Just looking at my card, can someone suggest why I should be seeing conflict, betrayal, etc? If it's not there, then should I go by what I see in my own deck, or the more traditional interpretations? Or both?

In the traditional 5 of swords I see a battle that had already been and there a 2 losers and 1 smug winner. If he did win it wasn't a fair fight, the smirk on the guys face says he won but he had an advantage.

I know what you mean about these two decks being different and I like your interpretation of manipulating multiple situation.

In the picture she's using magic so it kind of is like altering a situation for her benefit. Even if they were placed there for a reason, she don't care and she's kind of doing what she wants because she wants it a specific way, her way, almost like she's playing God almost. hmm I don't know.. just my thought.

Maybe winning in a situation but with an advantage that others don't or won't have?

Do you have the companion book that goes along with the deck? What does the author say about that card?

All about handling defeat....

csdude said:

I've read the descriptions for the 5 of Swords here and on some other sites, and they all agree that it signifies conflict, tension, loss, defeat, and betrayal... so, super negative.

Click to expand...

In the RWS 5/Swords, there is a man gloating over having won swords off "losers"--but there's more to it than that. The losers are stomping away. One of the meanings of the card is how to handle defeat or loss or betrayal. All things which create "knee-jerk" reactions that can lead to a person doing themselves more damage. Think of all those stories about someone seeking revenge...and ending up in jail. We revel in movies about some vigilante takes out the villains who murdered his family...but in real life, those kinds of people are pretty scary. Did you read that story about some idiot shooting a teenager playing loud music, or the man at a movie who killed someone for being on their cellphone?

Winning isn't everything. And revenge doesn't always work out. It is right to seek out Justice...but you need to avoid acting on your first wild and crazy thoughts. You need to think rationally. Did the other person win "fairly" and if so, how can you accept the loss? Did the person win unfairly, and so you need to address that? Was it betrayal, or just defeat?

The woman you see controlling lighting is, to me, reacting to loss, defeat, betrayal. She's acting on her first inclination and "thought"--"Blast them all! I'm striking out at you, and you and you!" She may seem powerful to you, but she seems wild with rage and loss and defeat to me. Crazy mad/grieving in her cowled veil, her arms to the sky demanding not justice...but revenge. When she's done, and when she cools down, she'll look at what she did and regret it. Because some mother will be weeping over the loss of teenager she blasted for playing loud music. And some child will be weeping over the loss of a father she blasted because he was on his cellphone.

This image is about that, I think. Not power or empowerment, but acting on first impulses rather than stepping back and examining the situation rationally and taking reasonable steps. The "Defeat" of the card is as much a warning to us that if we handle defeat badly, we will act in a manner that is "self-defeating." Handling defeat and loss and betrayal well can build us up, make us strong. Handling it badly, is where we really lose, betray ourselves, and create true weakness.

In some decks the 5 of swords/blades, athames, etc comes off more like determination and persistence. I can see that in this card but also a disregard for consequences (turning one's back on that) in a narrow focus on a difficult goal.

I actually have the companion book. It talks about the card through the lens of defeat, which is the card's keyword.

For me personally, I like to know the intent of the author/artist behind the card, but I don't limit my interpretations to that. If I see something completely different in the context of a specific reading, I go with that and not with what the author/artist intended.

Rodney