The Decan Project: Five of Swords
January 20th - January 29th // 2025: realize that a defeat in your mind may be a victory from somebody else’s point of view
Every 10 degrees of our 360 degree / 12 zodiac star sign system has a minor arcana card associated with it. Minor arcana cards are ace to ten in four suits: wands, cups, swords, and disks (clubs, hearts, spades, and diamonds). Aces are not included in the decans.
The first 10 days of Aquarius, Jan 20th-29th, are associated with the Five of Swords.
Defeat. Negativity is the mind of the Hierophant. 0 to 10 degrees Aquarius.
January 20th, 2025 to January 29th, 2025 is ruled by the Five of Swords. Swords are Air. They represent Thoughts and Voices. Swords represent the Mind.
Five is ruled by Mars. The Mars Force is responsible for the power to create mental imagery. The Five of Swords reminds us that our thoughts are not always friendly—and that some of our thoughts require tweaking.
Our thoughts do not want to hurt us, per se. They are just trying to get a job done.
In our current culture, our negative minds are out of control. Once sharp and on the ball, doing their job to keep us safe from danger in our environment (like saber tooth tigers approaching our caves), today our negative minds have become overreactive and often run amok with fear.
And why wouldn’t they? Our negative minds are overworked—just like us.
When we are stressed out, overwhelmed, or otherwise disregulated, our negative minds cannot properly assess danger. Because we are so flooded with oppressive programming under neo-colonial and technofeudal systems, our negative minds get confused and trick us into believing we are in danger when we are not.
Some people call this state “survival mode,” when we act (or more likely, react) from a place of fear instead of calm and clarity. Survival mode is a common state of being in the world today.
We do need our negative minds—very much so. We don’t want to get rid of them. When it comes to real danger, we want to be able to act accordingly. We simply need our negative minds to work for us and not against us.
To learn to live with your negative mind—and to not let it rule you—is a lesson from the Five of Swords. Negativity comes from the unconscious: from our shadow. Negativity comes from the places within ourselves that we cannot see or understand.
While all “bad” things are created in the “unconscious,” there is no real unconscious. The unconscious is simply a part of our consciousness that we have not yet brought awareness (light) to.
Man’s goal is to harmonize his centers of consciousness with the external planes in the universe by attuning the lesser self with the greater self.
The Five of Swords is Venus in Aquarius.
You?
Or the systems that bind you?
Realize that a defeat in your mind may be a victory from somebody else’s point of view. Do not beat yourself up for where you are in life, whatever you are facing. Your insecurity was taught to you by those who wish to keep you oppressed.
Remember: Every time you’re too hard on yourself a Cheeto dust Voldemort in a parallel universe gets its wings.
With the Mars force of the Five—forward momentum—your negative thoughts can create your reality. So when your negative mind is activated, focus first on regulating (i.e. getting out of survival mode) then focus on the thoughts that you do want to propel you forward… Not the thoughts ringing false alarm bells.
I know this can be difficult as temperatures rise. In this shifting age, each day is a new invitation to become more grounded, focused on the positive, and present with what is actually in front of you.
We have the power to control our minds. Don’t let them run amok! Feel what you feel and let it go. Breathe deep. Seek peace. And trust that something new is on the way.
0 - 10 degrees Aquarius. Venus in Aquarius. Fixed Air. The Five of Swords is ruled by the Knight of Swords and the Page of Swords. Drawings by Pamela Colman Smith for Arthur E. Waite.
References
The Revised New Art Tarot: Mysticism and Qabalah in The Knapp-Hall Tarot by Yolanda M. Robinson, Ph.D.
Way of the Great Oracle: The Voyager Tarot by James Wanless, Ph.D.
Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot by Lon Milo DuQuette
Oooh! I always thought 5 is Venus, because she makes a 5 pointed “Venus rose” or pentagram during her 8 year cycle. And most flowers associated with Venus including the wild rose, are 5 petal flowers
And it’s why the heirophant card is the 5th card and ruled by Venus