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The Rider-Waite-Smith card shows the mundane divination meaning of, loss, defeat, failure where contest is decided and finished against the person and the victor claims the spoils. The spoils be the swords of defeated foes, strewn over the ground. The "winds of defeat" are implied by the dark wind tattered clouds above and the head bowed stumbling figures in the back ground. However, Waite, being true to his oath of secrecy, doesn't illustrate the more arcane meanings of Western Qabalah, of which his lodge-The Golden Dawn, taught.

Presented on the Rider-Waite-Smith-Five of Swords, is a disdainful man, who looks after 2 retreating and dejected fellows. Their 2 swords lie on the ground. The thief, carries 2 others on his left shoulder, and a 3rd sword in his right hand, pointing to the earth. He is the master in possession of his field.

The B.O.T.A. Tarot- 5 of Swords, keeps to its minimalistic art. Here, the 5 swords form a Pentagram. Today, when shown upright, most spiritual practitioners see the pentagram as a symbol of protection, representative of harmony and balance, or knowledge and guidance from the universe or divine. The Pentagram represents the 4 Universal Elements of Pythagoras, and the top point, is the Spirit. Hence it is often used for protection.

However, Aliester Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris always drew the Pentagram upside down for meanings of defeat and disfunction. Upside down the Pentagram represents the Survival Mind of the Animal Subconscious, subverting the will of Spirit. Hence, "evil". Here, Dr. Paul Foster Case's Pentagram is right-side up but he keeps the meanings of degradation, destruction , reversal, infamy and dishonor. I can only think that he just didn't want to put the pentagram upside down, for fear of invoking the "beast within", which is the survival mind of your body collective and not "evil", just afraid of dying. So before you get all terrified of the Christian Boogey man of dogmatic origin, just understand that Knowledge is neither good nor bad; However, it is power.

The 5th Sephiroth and ruler of the 5's is called Geburah, and is the Qabalistic Sephiroth of Severity. Severity is considered to be a corrective, not evil. Severity, a form of "tough love", is needed to get one to reconsider their life choices. This is because it is often easy to forget that the physical brain is not "you", it is a wet-ware artificial intelligence computer whose data is indoctrinated definitions of things by cultural number and language; we often call this wet-ware the "ego". Those worded definitions are made after Self has already been created, thus they are classified as illusions, not Truth! Your truth is "I AM", denoting existence; However, what "I AM" is all assumption and therefore, an experiment in Self-Awareness. Remember, everything is an experiment until it "isn't". When proven empirical, the experiment is over.

Geburah, with all her strength, severity and tough love, helps us remember who we really are, and not what we are made to pretend to be.

Yes it is true, dear ones, truth is made manifest as a known thing. And we are known into being, thus we never came seeking our truth, for it is you as a Psyche/Soul and not an indoctrinate idea of self. It's time to get real, as no person can know the truth you represent. Your parentage began in the Universal Collective Unconscious that is the Divine Creative. Hence, the Soul/Psyche already Knows who you are. That is how one becomes manifest; by putting knowledge into form! The Created, are ideas loved and known into being as "Self", not a being who seeks definition and love! Ideas are known as form and presented as images. Whereas, the worded thought of the brain, is just definition of a form that is previously created by the Creatrix, not by those few who wish to rule the many by ruling definition and thereby, ruling the fear based imagination of the body. Each of us is a Spirit/ God(dess)-image who proves idea by making it function as a manifestation. To be is to be proven as a creation of the One Self-upon self-reflection of "What I AM" and/or I AM Me. The "Me" part of this plane of Self-Reflection, is totally assumed, thereby, being changeable at any time of introspection. What one forgets, is that the Pentagram is the symbol for Man. Standing up it is a body run by the Will of Spirit, upside down it is body/ego ruling the body by fear. Hence upright is "Live" and upside down is "evil" and/or live spelled backwards, and has nothing to do with the false boogeyman-the "Devil" which is merely "lived" spelled backwards.
 

The normal disruption of Mother Geburah's strength, is not the cause of disaster! This is because weakness is the cause of the 5 of Swords disaster! A weakness brought on by pacifism, and enfeebling sentiment. Maybe even treachery. If the image is presented properly, the hilts of the swords would form the sinister image of the inverted pentagram; where the body's fears have conquered the will that is Spirit, usually by the treachery of sensations illusions; pleasure pain training, and the illusion of the cultural 2 dimensional definitions of "good and bad" as truth. Since, feeling fearful, is often more sensual than feeling willful, the ever present doubt brought into belief by the victimization of indoctrination, keeps the scattered will from collecting into force. Here, we are defeated by the "divide and conquer" dogma of those few who wish to rule the many. Wholeness, is an established equilibrium of Spirit, Mind and Body. When we believe that anyone of these is of lesser value than the others, we are easily defeated. Hence, the Qabalistic axiom of, "Above all things, know thyself", rings true again. It is time to understand that you are not a body alone, but a trinity of Psyche that is Spirit, Mind and Body. All sacred and all truth.

When the Five/5 of Swords is thrown during a reading, the querent:

• Is usually caught in the fears of the past.

• Is experiencing a self defined prison of negative, self defeating beliefs.

• Defeat on a mental level, bringing humiliation and weakness.

• Is involved in a conflict that appears to have been one, but brings unresolved problems.
• Is trapped in a self designed prison of negative energy from the past.

• We are only defeated when we stop seeking another way. So there is no 5 week or 5 month period of duration suggested here, since it is the querent's own mental negativity that is involved here, and they could change perspective at any time.

If reversed, it implies:

• The suggestion here is to give up fighting, swallow your pride and acknowledge your limitations, and then proceed in a new direction.

Thank you for your interest, comments and supportive donations. May you live long and prosper.

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