Sometimes we need to compete in life.

The five of wands in the tarot comes after the happy influence of the four, the square, a harmonious base from which to grow.  The introduction of a fifth wand, may be adding a bit of fire (wands) into the mix.  A bit of a fight. A bit more of a challenging situation.

The advice in a tarot reading is, go for it, compete, meet the challenge, to win.

The five of wands can easily be associated with having an argument, and if you look at the image on the tarot card, 5 people with 5 wands battling each other, it does suggest dissention is in the air. The danger with being competitive, I have found, is of finding yourself in the middle of an argument.   You think you are just trying to put across your thoughts which are different from another’s, instead of it being seen as additional information the other person feels challenged to get into a fight.

So there’s an art to fighting for what you think is a good idea without upsetting others and I’m not always very good at it.

There are all sorts of ways of working with a tarot card.

When I got the Five of Wands as an advice card yesterday I thought what needs challenging?  How do I need to compete?  I couldn’t help thinking the tarot was saying it’s time to challenge myself, challenge the status quo.  Tear apart ‘bad’ habits, break up any complacency perhaps.  I’d been pondering whether to stay another day on the Isle of Wight and enjoy a last swim in the sea before Autumn….the influence of the five of wands put a stop to that idea. (As it happened it decided to rain and a hellava wind blew up so I wouldn’t have wanted that swim.)

It was time to make a move, bring that fifth wand of inspiration and creativity into any complacency I might be feeling. Summer is over.  Time to shake things up, fire things up for the Autumn.  And actually leaving the boat house until next year definitely feels like a break up.  

Back in Battersea, I feel fired up.  Thank you for the nudge Tarot.