Five of Wands

Upright

competition · clash · sparring

Rivalry that sharpens rather than wounds — a scrum of people all wanting the same thing.

Reversed

exhaustion · avoided fight · dirty play

Conflict for its own sake, or a contest ducked and quietly lost.

Why this astrology

The pips two through ten map onto the thirty-six decans, ten degrees of the zodiac each, so Five of Wands is saturn in leo · first decan — a planet working through a particular third of a sign. Aces are the root of their element and the courts carry it as temperament.