Five of Wands as Love Outcome (Upright & Reversed) Tarot Card Meaning

The Five of Wands is the card of conflict, tension, competition, and clashes of ego. The card depicts five men all armed with wands fighting each other in a competitive battle. These men are rivals, and they are duking it out to see who can come out on top. This can either come from intense conflict or good-hearted competition, depending on how you look at it. 

The Five of Wands reminds us that conflict is a part of life. Conflict cannot be avoided forever. Conflict comes up in every relationship, good and bad. It is not conflict itself that causes issues, but how we handle it. The Five of Wands reminds us that we can choose how we handle conflict. We can choose to do this with hostility, or we can choose to do this with grace and kindness. 

Upright Five of Wands as Love Outcome

If you are asking about what is the outcome of a relationship, and you draw the Five of Wands, that means that there are resentments, tensions, and sources of conflict that need to be addressed. The Five of Wands is astrologically associated with Saturn in Leo. The dark side of Leo energy is ego. Perhaps one or both of you are letting ego get in the way? Saturn is all about burden, karma, and responsibility. Is this relationship starting to feel heavy on your heart? There could be frustrations, feeling unheard, and constant bickering.

The Five of Wands as love outcome is a sign of needing to address the true roots of tension in your relationship. Maybe one or both of you feed off the drama, but is that really healthy? Does the only form of intimacy you have come in the form of makeup sex? If you’re looking to have a long-term relationship with this person, and start a family with them especially, you need to heal your relationship dynamic. You wouldn’t want to expose your future children to a toxic home environment, so either address it now or move on to a healthier relationship. You deserve to be with someone who can bring out the best in you, not bring out the anger in you. Or worse, someone who takes out their frustrations on you.

If you are wondering about a potential relationship, the Five of Wands as love outcome means you may disagree on various issues. Get to know each other first. But more importantly, you need to know yourself before getting into any kind of relationship. Sometimes, this card can speak of inner conflict. Know what you want and what you won’t tolerate. Envision your ideal future. You can’t have standards and set boundaries with others if you don’t know yourself or what you want. Assess your values against theirs. Do your differences complement each other, or are they things you’re unwilling to make compromises for?

If you are in a new relationship, the Five of Wands as love outcome means you need to reassess this relationship. If you’re bickering and fighting this early on into the relationship, what will you be like together in 10 years from now? This card urges you to think long-term, and decide responsibly. You obviously love each other a lot, but you also deserve to be in a healthy relationship. Relationships should be supportive, and good partners build each other up instead of tearing each other down.

If you are in an existing relationship, the Five of Wands as love outcome means there are conflicts that need to be resolved in your relationship. Alternatively, the Five of Wands can represent competition in your relationship. Is your person constantly trying to put you in competition with other people to make you jealous? Or does your partner feel possessive and threatened by the attention you get from others? This card may also indicate that your partner competes with you instead of being supportive of your endeavors. Whatever the case may be, there’s an unhealthy dynamic within your relationship that needs to be addressed once and for all. Learn what an abusive and toxic relationship looks like, and know when to walk away. You deserve better.

If you are currently in separation with each other, the Five of Wands as love outcome means your person is going through a lot of inner conflict within themselves. If you are separated by distance, your person misses you a lot, and doesn’t know what to do about it. Something might be rubbing their ego the wrong way, they could be jealous, possessive, and paranoid. Additionally, there’s a lot of burden and responsibility when it comes relocating, and bringing you close, and that could be stressing them out. If you’re inquiring about an ex and possible reconciliation, your person is conflicted about it. You might need to give them time and space to heal, though, as they’re feeling combative right now.

Reversed Five of Wands as Love Outcome

If you are asking about what is the outcome of a relationship, and you draw the Five of Wands reversed, that means that there are unspoken tensions and unresolved resentments in the relationship. When a card is drawn in the reverse, the energies polarize into the extremes. This could mean that you enjoy your disagreements, as long as they’re not toxic. Maybe you just like having intellectual, philosophical discussions where you play the devil’s advocate. Maybe it’s all fun and games for the two of you, and you enjoy the bickering as a form of foreplay. Alternatively, on the other end of the extreme, the arguments may be toxic, even abusive. Know what an abusive relationship looks like. Walk away if this relationship is no longer serving your highest self. 

The Five of Wands reversed as love outcome is a sign of conflict avoidance. Your person may highly value peace and harmony, which is great. However, they (or you) might be keeping the peace a little too much. At some point, you and your partner will have to openly discuss your issues with each other in an open and honest manner. “Open and honest” does not mean an open conflict, it can be done calmly and constructively. Avoiding the issue may lead to resentment and more anger down the line. It’s a bad investment for a relationship.

If you are wondering about a potential relationship, the Five of Wands reversed as love outcome means there could be petty arguments throughout your relationship. Alternatively, you could have epic arguments over the tiniest issues. There’s a lack of balance here, along with disproportionate responses to those imbalances. In numerology, the number 5 urges us to make changes for the better. How can you mitigate this potential issue in the future? Get to know your person better, what makes them tick? Ask yourself: are you truly compatible?

If you are in a new relationship, the Five of Wands reversed as love outcome means combativeness and competitiveness. This could be you and your partner engaging in unhealthy competition, trying to one up each other instead of being supportive of each other. Your person could limit your career potential because they don’t want to be outshined by their partner. Your partner may have a habit of introducing third parties into the mix to put you in competition with others. They may do this as a ‘punishment,’ or perhaps they find it difficult to stay faithful in relationships. Whatever the case may be, recognize toxic behavior, and have the courage to walk away from abusive situations.

If you are in an existing relationship, the Five of Wands reversed as love outcome means constant bickering. If you’ve been in a relationship for a while with this person, this could be the same old arguments you’ve had for years. Maybe you bicker over your partner being messy or forgetting daily household chores. However, in more serious cases, this could indicate a relationship that has become toxic. It’s time to reassess what went wrong with this relationship: when did it start going downhill, and how? Is there anything that the two of you can work out to heal the situation?

If you are currently in separation with each other, the Five of Wands reversed as love outcome means losing the will to fight for something. If you are separated by distance, your person could feel defeated when it comes to your long-distance relationship. They may feel like they lack the resources and opportunity to bring you together, and they’ve given up hope. If you’re inquiring about an ex, they are feeling equally defeated. Although they regret how things ended, they feel hopeless and don’t believe the relationship can be healed. If you’re interested in a reconciliation with this person, they’ll need some convincing.

Conclusion

For love readings, the Five of Wands represents conflict. Conflict is not a bad thing in itself, and it is present in every relationship. It is not conflict that is the problem, but how we deal with conflict. There are positive and negative ways to resolve conflict. The Five of Wands reminds us that we have a choice in how we communicate with others. We can either be honest and compassionate, or we can be avoidant and passive aggressive. We decide how we react to a situation. 

If you find yourself needing further clarity in your relationship matters that go beyond reading for yourself, Sibyl offers unlimited tarot readings on love & relationships, as a neutral and objective third party.