The Competitor ~ The part of me that thrives in creative tension but sometimes mistakes chaos for productivity.
Keywords:
Conflict • Competition • Friction
Meaning:
The Five of Wands shows up again, which means the message didn’t land the first time. Or it did land, and now I’m living in it. This card is all elbows and noise. Everyone’s swinging, no one’s connecting. It’s the energy of too many directions at once, too many voices demanding attention, too many battles that might not even be real.
The Five lives in unresolved tension, nothing’s settled, nothing’s clear. It points to the space where I’m either sharpening my ideas through friction or just exhausting myself in pointless combat.
This card asks me to look at where competition is generative and where it’s just theater. Where struggle is clarifying my priorities and where it’s keeping me stuck in a loop of proving myself. The energy here is restless. It wants movement but doesn’t know where to direct it. So it just keeps swinging.
Connection to Previous Cards:
The Five of Wands appeared two days ago, then yesterday the High Priestess showed up to pull me into silence and intuition. Today the Five returns. That’s not a coincidence. It’s like I got quiet enough to hear my inner knowing, and now the external chaos is back, testing whether I can hold onto that clarity. The repetition of this card suggests I’m being asked to work with conflict differently this time.
Yesterday’s High Priestess gave me access to what I know beneath the noise. Now I’m being thrown back into the noise to see if I can stay connected to that knowing while everything around me demands attention.
The pattern is clear: retreat, listen, then return to the chaos with new information. The question is whether I’ll use yesterday’s silence to navigate today’s friction or whether I’ll just get swept up in it again.
Actionable Advice:
The Five of Wands is back, which means I need to engage with conflict more consciously. This isn’t about avoiding friction, it’s about choosing which battles actually matter.
– Look at yesterday’s journal entry where I named what I know to be true. Read it before engaging in any conflict today. Let that knowing anchor me.
– Identify one argument or competition I’m currently in and ask: “Is this sharpening me or just draining me?” Be brutally honest.
– Practice stepping back mid-conflict. Literally. Walk away from one fight today and see what happens when I don’t engage.
– Move tension out of my body physically, run, dance, shadowbox, shake. Let the friction move through me instead of staying lodged in my chest.
– Write down every competing priority I’m juggling. Then cross out everything except the two that align with what I knew yesterday in the silence.
Shadow-Side Warning:
The shadow of the Five of Wands showing up twice in three days is that I might be addicted to the struggle. Watch for the tendency to create conflict because friction feels more real than peace. The card can pull me into performative suffering, making everything harder than it needs to be because ease feels illegitimate.
Another trap: treating every conversation as a debate that must be won. Not every difference requires a defense.
The Five can also make me mistake busyness for importance. If I’m exhausted but still picking fights, or if I’m creating problems just to have something to solve, that’s the shadow. The repetition suggests this pattern runs deep. I’m not just encountering conflict, I might be seeking it out.
Journal Prompts:
• WATER (emotions, relationships): Where am I manufacturing conflict in my relationships because vulnerability feels too risky?
• EARTH (grounding, stability): What’s one battle I can stop fighting today to create more peace in my physical space?
• FIRE (passion, drive): Am I using competition to fuel my work, or am I just exhausting myself to prove something?
• AIR (thoughts, communication): What argument am I continuing just because I’ve already invested so much energy in being right?
• SHADOW (hidden self, integration): Do I feel more legitimate when I’m struggling, and what would it mean to choose ease instead?
Personal Journal:
Not today
Guiding Incantation:
I choose my battles. I release the rest.
Not every fight is mine. Not every voice needs answering.
Chaos swirls, but I stay rooted in what I know.
My energy is mine. I spend it on what matters.
If you find resonance in these personal tarot-based reflections, you can explore more of my work at www.oldtownwitch.
