Alright so today I decided to finally sit down and really understand what the number 5 means in tarot and numerology. I’ve seen it pop up everywhere, and I figured it’s about time I get a handle on it myself instead of just reading other people’s notes.
Starting with the cards on my table
I pulled out my Rider-Waite deck and my journal. My first step was to just look for all the fives. I spread the entire Major and Minor Arcana out on the floor. It was a bit of a mess, but it helped me see them all together.
Here’s what I immediately noticed about the Fives:
- The Hierophant is Key 5. He’s all about tradition and rules.
- Then in the Minor Arcana, every suit has a Five: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles.
Just laying them out side-by-side, my gut feeling was that these cards weren’t about happy times. The Five of Swords shows conflict, the Five of Cups is about loss… it felt like a theme was building.
Digging into the numerology part
I know that in numerology, numbers have core meanings. So I jotted down what I remember about the number 5. It’s the number of change, right? Instability, freedom, adventure, but also conflict because change is hard.
Then I went back to the cards. It clicked. The Hierophant represents a structured system (the opposite of instability), but maybe the number 5 here is about challenging that system? And the minor arcana fives… they all show different kinds of instability.
- Five of Wands: struggle and competition.
- Five of Cups: disappointment and grief.
- Five of Swords: tension and winning a hollow victory.
- Five of Pentacles: financial hardship and feeling left out.
It all ties back to the core idea of the number 5 – a shake-up, a conflict that forces change.
Putting it all together in a reading
To test my understanding, I did a simple three-card pull for myself asking about the energy of the week. I kid you not, the Five of Pentacles showed up. It made perfect sense. I’ve been feeling a bit insecure about a project, like I’m “out in the cold.” Seeing it as a “5” energy helped me frame it not as a permanent failure, but as a temporary period of instability that will lead to necessary change. It’s a challenge to adapt, not a final verdict.
So that was my practice for today. It started with just looking at the cards, connecting them to the basic number meaning, and then seeing how it plays out in a real situation. It’s much clearer to me now. The number 5 isn’t good or bad, it’s just a powerful force of change that shakes things up.
