Waite–Smith, Swords
Five of Swords
What you can see
A foreground figure gathers three swords while two other figures turn away. Two more swords lie on the ground beside the water.
What Waite says
Waite describes possession of the field but associates the outcome with dishonour and loss. Occupying the winning position does not automatically give the scene a favourable meaning.
Waite · Part III, §2 · printed p. 244 ↗Edition and image credits
Pamela Colman Smith, illustrations in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, Rider 1922 reprint, first published 1910. The scans keep the printed borders and page marks, with no cropping or recolouring.