What's With All the Fives?

[Barleywine]

Has anyone else noticed how often the "5 of this-or-that" appears in the "help wanted" threads under Your Readings? It seems that many people - and especially beginners - have a tough time with the "5" vibration, probably because of the almost uniformly bad rap it gets in tarot literature. I thought some general discussion might be useful.

Five is sometimes called the "Number of Man" because it has been related to the "five senses" and to the four limbs and the head. But it also represents the so-called "fifth element" - Spirit - so it is already a bit elusive in practical readings and can be hard to pin down. It shows the logical progression from the stable but already stagnating Fours; it's a restless energy seeking a way out in order to evolve and unfold. In Hermetic (qabalistic Tree of Life) numeration it's the number of Mars, implying the need to take (possibly disruptive) action. I like the analogy of having to "break eggs to make omelets," which are then cooked to perfection in the Sixes. So it's a "transitional" number, not necessarily good for peace-of-mind unless getting "off-center" or getting away is a relief; the idea that movement of any kind is better than just sitting still. More analogies: a "burr under the saddle;" an "itch that needs scratching;" a "tipping point." I know there are positive connotations to the number 5 in esoteric number theory, but there are precious few of them in tarot commentary. Maybe this is why so many people get a vague, nagging sense of unease when they encounter a 5 in a reading. The expression of that energy can feel off-balance and disconnected; it's left the station but hasn't yet arrived at the next rest stop, so it can get anxious. Personally I like the Five; it shows that change - and the opportunity it implies - is afoot or at least looming, it just needs to be reined in and given constructive direction. Put a bit in its mouth and point it where you want it to go.

 

[Padma]

Interesting topic!

This is the best sum up for fives I have ever seen - although it was not written about the fives, or even about tarot. It comes from a site called eofdreams and was part of my Gemini horoscope. I see 5 as the chaos/crisis.

"Understand, when the Cosmos sends crisis your way, it is never punitive, but cathartic and redemptive. Crisis is beautiful when we understand it correctly. It is, as the sages say, ‘the short-cut to heaven’.

"It builds character, teaches fortitude, reveals what your true priorities are and should be, uncovers the hidden obstacles that were blocking you so that you can do something about them and, perhaps most importantly, shows you who your true friends are. Quite a beautiful thing, this crisis. Often crisis is the answer to your prayers, though you don’t see it at the time. For it is precisely through this crisis that your good will come to you."
- eofdreams

When you think about such things as chaos theory, and how creativity makes a mess before reaching a state of masterpiece, then 5's make sense - and no order could be found without chaos.

Hierophant underlies the meaning of the minor fives, and so there will always be order imposed on chaos, and in fact, there is a sense of directed or implied order below the chaos... One cannot exist without the other.

Many people are afraid of change, and so 5's and Towers tend to freak them out - because they see restless energy, crisis and chaos as the enemy to good order, and because change causes cracks in a set ego, makes one feel insecure, and puts one in a survival mode. But it is the only way forward.

I agree with you Barleywine - change is both necessary and good, and tipping points are necessary to growth and expansion. And cannot be avoided, and pave the way to the serenity of the 6. I especially see the 6 of Wands as the mastery over the disruption.

5 is an energy to embrace!

 

[Sirena84]

I generally see 5's as having very childish energy attached to them.. Its a warning that someone is wallowing in their self pitty or conquest or being too childish over little things and bickering and attention seeking.. This is how I normally see them.. in some minor cases I read them differently but there is still an slant of childishness that lingers with all the 5 cards..

 

[Barleywine]

Nice "personal empowerment" corollary to the qabalistic ideas, Padma! Many of the cases I've been helping to unravel in Your Readings seem not to have risen to that cathartic "crisis" level yet, they just seem to be stalled or ambiguous. Perhaps the OP in those cases hasn't yet realized a crisis is knocking at the door, and just feels unsettled for no really obvious reason. The needed change is "telegraphing" its presence through the 5 energy in anticipation of breaking through and taking center stage. In such cases, the knee-jerk reaction is often more to fend it off at all costs than to invite it in and learn from it. The negative attributions typically given the Fives don't help defuse that automatic response. Similarly, at the surface level, the Hierophant is seen as a "champion of the status quo," and his deeper initiatory mysteries (and attendant growth potential) aren't usually given due consideration in the mundane situations that spark anxiety over the meaning of a particular 5 in a particular context. "Conventional wisdom" (Hierophant) is often unconsciously marshalled as a defense against the threatening destabilization of change, and could be seen as part of the problem rather than part of the solution unless rightly understood.

 

[Barleywine]

I generally see 5's as having very childish energy attached to them.. Its a warning that someone is wallowing in their self pitty or conquest or being too childish over little things and bickering and attention seeking.. This is how I normally see them.. in some minor cases I read them differently but there is still an slant of childishness that lingers with all the 5 cards..

Thanks for the observation! I've always seen the Fives as a bit too far along the continuum to still have that pervasive sense of self-absorption that childishness implies. I would be more inclined to give that to the Ones or Twos, in their "ill-dignified" mode, because they lack perspective, with the Threes and Fours ideally showing a "maturation" process. Now "pettiness" I might see as a "5" quality, which is a sign that the "maturation" didn't take hold, so lingering "childishness" in the sense of immaturity I could certainly see.

 

[Padma]

I think that Sirena had a good point, and perhaps explains much of the frightened, immature reaction to 5 scenarios that you are seeing in the your readings thread...

And, since 5's are "telegraphing" their presence and need for change (beautifully put, by the way!) at the mundane level, the change is best embraced, because should one fight it and try to ignore it - we then invite the energy of the Tower to do the needed disruption. If you don't follow through or listen to change, then the Universe will make it happen...better to master and own one's process for needed change...leaving it to the higher powers causes a far more stressful mess!

(so the 5's might be saying - "If you are going through Hell - keep going!" There is no way out except through - and indeed is much to one's benefit.)

In the context of "conventional wisdom" present in the Hierophant, one could argue that conventional wisdom could only be a learned result from the upheaval. No lessons, nothing learned - so the Hierophant I believe comes in as the mature sum total of the learning experience caused by the upheaval of the 5's...a more pragmatic and developed understanding of why order is needed, and how to impose it to great effect in one's life, through mastering/embracing change/chaos in a mature fashion.

that's my theory, anyways. I hope it makes sense!

 

[tarotbear]

Chaos, chaos, chaos as the stable 4 gets an addition and loses it's stability since it cannot divide evenly ... thank you, Geburah~~!

Personally - I see Rx Fives as stability being restored ... but your mileage may vary ....

 

[Padma]

Chaos, chaos, chaos as the stable 4 gets an addition and loses it's stability since it cannot divide evenly ... thank you, Geburah~~!

Good point...Too bad there is no 2.5 card

Personally, I see reversed fives as the resistance or repression of the necessary change...a kind of implosion, really.

 

[tarotbear]

I see RX Fives as being positive ... but that is how I've reinterpreted them in my men's Tarot book ....

 

[Miss Woo]

My personality and soul cards are both The Hierophant, and I've always had a *big* problem with change. So the five's are definitely a problem for me in Tarot. I actually dread seeing them.

I like The Hierophant though, just not the other five's.