Five of Cups

Element: Water

Imagery: A cloaked figure mourns spilled cups while others remain standing behind.

General Themes: Grief, disappointment, emotional focus on loss.

Five of Cups Upright

This card is similar to the Four of Cups. It appears when you feel as if something is missing in your life. While the Four of Cups invites you to stop fixating on what you don’t have and appreciate what you do, the Five of Cups wants you to take a serious look at what you’ve lost and what is missing in your life. Allow the grief to wash over you and then let it go.

Mourn your losses, sure, but don’t wallow in self-pity. Take this as an opportunity to redirect your energy to the parts of yourself and your life that you haven’t fully nourished. Let the sadness you feel guide you — what is missing in your life, and how do you cultivate space for it to emerge naturally? What do you need to let go of so you can move forward?

As promised with all introspective cards, a shift in focus here will reveal new magic and possibilities if you are willing to learn from your past. The three cups scattered before you can be put upright again if you’re willing to do the work. And don’t forget the two upright cups behind you. Let their stability will help you set the others right.

Five of Cups Reversed

This card, when reversed, is much like the Five of Swords reversed, only it tends to deal more with emotional or inner conflict. Cut your losses and move on. There’s no resolving this issue, be it a search for relational closure or internal healing. You’ve been wounded, and it’s not something that will ever feel healed—and that’s okay. The important thing is not to pick at the wound.

Don’t look back. Right now, forward movement is the only vital path you can take. Time and distance, are the best healers. Keep moving forward, even if it’s hard, and, again, shift your focus to new conjurings. Closure comes from letting go and looking to the future.

The Bruja’s Guide to Tarot is the divination sister to the scholarly The Bruja Professor, a witchy take on literature, the occult & pop culture, and Enchantment Learning & Living, an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you.

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Five of Wands

Element: Fire

Imagery: Five figures clash with wands in a chaotic scene.

General Themes: Hollow victory, conflict.

Five of Wands Upright

The Five of Wands, like the Five of Swords, is about hollow victories and conflicts that seemingly have no end. It’s important to know when to walk away. This card wants you to redirect your energy to more life-affirming pursuits. It’s one thing to fight for what you need to, but the presence of this card indicates that the fight here is not worth your time or energy.

Walk away from conflict that doesn’t generate healthy change. Shake off the stagnation of constant strife. In this instance, it’s important not to fight change that can only come through flow, not force.

The Five of Wands can also show up when a lack of communication creates more conflict than is necessary. Slow down and cultivate healthy conversations about what needs to get done or fixed. Not everything gets resolved through battle.

Five of Wands Reversed

The reversal of this card indicates that you need to let down your guard. You don’t always have to be ready for a fight. In fact, that’s a good way for trouble to find you! Instead, shift your frequency. Sometimes the best way to avoid drama is to simply shift your focus to more generative things. If you don’t feed the conflict, it can’t grow.

It’s one thing to wrestle with something, but do so in a way that’s generative. Explore. Examine. Research. Feel. But don’t fixate on a specific outcome. See what makes the most sense when you look at the situation holistically. 

Instead of constantly pushing forward or striving to conquer the next big thing, focus on what you do have. Cultivate contentment, and you will find less desire to chase after pointless conflict.

The Bruja’s Guide to Tarot is the divination sister to the scholarly The Bruja Professor, a witchy take on literature, the occult & pop culture, and Enchantment Learning & Living, an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you.

If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday…and good conversations with the tarot, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram and Facebook. Here’s to a magical life!

Five of Swords

Element: Air

Imagery: A figure gathers swords as others walk away defeated.

General Themes: Hollow victory, conflict.

Five of Swords Upright

Like the majority of the Fives in their upright form, this is about facing grim realities. The thing you were fighting tooth and nail for is not meant to be yours. It’s time to cut your losses and move on. There are some battles you can’t win, and the only way through this situation is by surrender.

You can waste a lot of time trying to make things work, but it’s better to let go and move on. Look to the future and remember that there are better ways of doing things that don’t require you to waste time or energy on issues that will never move forward.

Sometimes this card comes around when you do win—only the victory feels hollow. What were you fighting so hard for again, and why? Rethink your goals and shift your perspective. Don’t grasp for something that comes at too high a cost. It’s never worth it. Instead, withdraw and look for a smoother way forward.

Five of Swords Reversed

Like its upright form, the reversed Five of Swords signals that you’re in the middle of a battle you can’t win. The only thing you can do to maintain your dignity and remaining energy is to walk away. Find your equilibrium. Remember who you were before this ordeal took over your life.

The best way to resolve this conflict is to let it go and move on with your life. Broaden your horizons and look for the bigger message. When things get too hard, it can sometimes be a sign from the universe that you are moving in the wrong direction. Our egos want to push back against healthy limits, which isn’t good for us in the long run. The best way to restore equilibrium is to get grounded and listen to this message from life. Where does it want you to go instead? The answer is in the path that restores inner harmony.

The Bruja’s Guide to Tarot is the divination sister to the scholarly The Bruja Professor, a witchy take on literature, the occult & pop culture, and Enchantment Learning & Living, an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you.

If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday…and good conversations with the tarot, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram and Facebook. Here’s to a magical life!

Five of Pentacles

Element: Earth

Imagery: Two figures struggle through snow beneath a stained-glass window.

General Themes: Remembering support exists; you are not alone.

Five of Pentacles Upright

The Five of Pentacles is a card of despair and isolation. Typically, you pull it when you are feeling left out in the cold, like the figures in the card. This could be because you are feeling disconnected from loved ones or because you are disconnected from your true self.

Like all Fives, this card flips the script on how we read upright cards. It comes to shake us up after the security of the Fours. Suddenly, you feel less secure and might struggle to make your way in the world. Remember, tarot is all about energy, so this could be literal (you got fired from your job or you’ve been iced out of your social circle), but more often than not, it’s about an energetic freeze.

As with all things, a return to your soul center is required. Let go of outer scarcity and turn to your inner light. See the stained-glass window in the image that shines a light on the figures trudging through snow? That’s the card’s promise that warmth and connection are within reach, if only we look up.

Five of Pentacles Reversed

This card is like a deep exhale after holding your breath for a bit, waiting to see how things will pan out. You survived. The sad energy of the upright form is banished in this card’s reversal.

You’ve come back to yourself after an ordeal. Heal. Decompress. And appreciate being on the other side of things. Remember this too: you are never truly alone. That stained-glass window above the figures always promises light and belonging if we’re willing to reach for it.

In fact, the Five of Pentacles in reverse is a somber reminder that abundance and connection come first and foremost from being true to self. Return to your inner light and everything else will follow.

The Bruja’s Guide to Tarot is the divination sister to the scholarly The Bruja Professor, a witchy take on literature, the occult & pop culture, and Enchantment Learning & Living, an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you.

If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday…and good conversations with the tarot, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram and Facebook. Here’s to a magical life!

The Fives

The Fives are the disruptors of the numbered cards, turning everything topsy-turvy, where the upright version of the cards is negative and the reversed is positive. After the tranquility of the Fours, the Fives want to shake things up again!

But have no fear. Even though they are often framed in a negative light, the Fives are really just trying to keep you from stagnation. The stability of the Fours is great and all, but it’s too tempting to want to stay in that comfort zone. 

While these cards might feel like chaos and instability at first, they are pointing out things that need to be addressed—feelings, conflicts, old ways of being—before you can find peace again.

Five of Pentacles

Five of Swords

Five of Wands

Five of Cups

Image Description: Starry background with the words, “The Bruja’s Guide to Tarot: The Fives: Conflict, Instability, Topsy-Turvy Energy.”

The Bruja’s Guide to Tarot is the divination sister to the scholarly The Bruja Professor, a witchy take on literature, the occult & pop culture, and Enchantment Learning & Living, an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you.

If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday…and good conversations with the tarot, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram and Facebook. Here’s to a magical life!