Five of Swords
Swords
How This Card Is Derived
Papus gives no separate description of this card. It is derived from his system: Swords is Vau (ו), the equilibrating principle, the link between the two, acting in Yetzirah, the formative world; the number 5 is He of the second series, the passive reaction to what was realized. The meaning below is that combination read out — the equilibrating principle, the link between the two taken at its 5th term — not a quotation from him.
Upright
The passive reaction to four's cessation: what a settled conflict does to whoever settled it on the losing terms. One figure holds the swords and two walk away, and the card is careful not to show the winner satisfied. Papus's fifth term is always the cost of the fourth. Victory that has damaged the thing it was fought over — a defeat administered, and paid for by both sides.
Reversed
The cost admitted — the swords put down, the walk back begun. Or the same hollow win defended loudly, because examining it would mean pricing it.
Correspondences
- Suit
- Swords — Vau (ו), Yetzirah, the formative world
- Suit principle
- the equilibrating principle, the link between the two
- Number
- 5 — He of the second series
- Numeric role
- the passive reaction to what was realized
In a Spread
At the commencement, the matter begins in the aftermath of a win somebody regrets. In opposition, a conflict the querent could take and should not. At equilibrium the situation is stable and someone is absorbing the humiliation that makes it so. As the result: a victory costing more than the object was worth.