FIVE OF WANDS
No journey is ever completely smooth sailing, and Fives represent one of the most difficult points in any of the suits’ cycles, a moment of conflict, frustration, and tension. In the case of the Five of Wands, it’s a conflict of vision that can manifest in a number of ways - your goals not aligning with the goals or opinions of those around you. Your vision for what you want to create being out of sync with the reality of what you can currently achieve. Your own mind being pulled in multiple directions or being undermined by self-doubt, lack of focus, or any other internal demons that rise up to tangle the metaphorical bicycle spokes of your motivation.
These challenges are not all bad, of course. Sometimes they provide us valuable opportunities for growth. After all, some of the greatest breakthroughs are born from adversity, and having our beliefs or ideas about what we want to create challenged can inspire us to see things in a new light and find an even more promising path forward, or at the very least help us gain clarity on why our person vision is so important and worth fighting for in the first place.
Sometimes, though, this tension becomes a drain on our energy. If it’s only leading to conflict without resolution, it becomes unnecessary stress that draws our attention away from the dreams we actually want to work toward. It’s up to us to differentiate between the two, to determine whether the obstacles we are battling are helping us grow some can achieve our goals or holding us back. Not an easy task, to be sure, but it’s this sort of self-reflection that these clashes can draw out of us, and that is where the value of the Fives truly becomes apparent. If nothing else, we are granted an opportunity to understand ourselves, what we’re fighting for, and why these challenges are rising up before us.
BTS is, of course, intimately familiar with these Five of Wands moments. How many times have they been looked down upon by the industries that they grew out of? How many times has their message, delivery, appearance, etc. been criticized? How often have we seen them speak of their own internal barriers to success - writer’s block, self-doubt, anxiety, depression… and yet they also provide us a model of pushing forward against all the odds, of internalizing the valid critiques and using them to help the members grow as individuals and artists and shutting out all the unnecessary negativity (or using it as inspiration for a sick diss track). Just like all of us, they have faced these moments of make-or-break tension, and continuously come out on top.
But as easy as it is to see these moments as steps in their path to greatness in retrospect, we cannot minimize the stress they caused as they happened. Few of us face these challenges with the absolute certainty that things will work out. When discussing the meaning of the Five of Wands with Sof, our minds turned to the moment onstage at the 2018 MAMAs when Bangtan broke down in tears and admitted that they had considered disbanding.
Of course, we are all beyond grateful that they chose to stay together as a group and continue creating their incredible music to heal, inspire, and comfort ARMY, but it’s worth noting that disbandment, too, is a valid choice. Sometimes the answer is to walk away from the challenge for your own wellbeing, and there’s no shame in that either. The Five of Wands serves to shatter our ego’s grip on our goals, to disillusion us of what we think we know to be the right path forward and point us toward where we actually need to be going in order to achieve the success and fulfillment we seek, in whatever form that may take.
Artist’s Interpretation of the Five of Wands by @bngtanctouts
Funnily enough, Five of Wands was perhaps the easiest card to visualize and bring to life. From the very beginning when Anna and I were discussing its meaning I already had a solid idea of what I wanted this card to be and how I wanted to do that. Blur, tears (both water and paper tears), and Tear the album itself. The colors? Blue hues signifying sadness but also a sense of identity even when a tumultuous wave of emotions blinds you and your team. I took inspiration from Yoongi’s verse in Tear and let the rest work together. Of course, their iconic MAMA 2018 selves had to be in this card.
I remember Anna told me you could sense the tension of the card just by looking at it and that’s when I knew my job here was done and I gave myself a pat pat in the back. I hope you like it and can also sense the tension if this comes up in your readings.
