Queen of Swords

The Queen of swords is a mature adult, not girlish at all! She is intellectual, strong willed and can cut through the nonsense. She likes clarity and knowing where everyone stands. She is scrupulously fair, and often detached – not emotional or clingy. She is armed and capable, but not defensive - she still has one hand that can reach out and connect. She is a private person, and doesn’t give intimacy easily. Independence is very important to her.

I really like this description from the Intuitive Tarot site: “The Queen of Swords is able to allow others to go through their necessary life lessons without the need to take care of everything.”

Her shadow side is that she can appear (or actually be) cold rather than detached, and superior rather than analytical. She doesn’t suffer fools easily and her criticisms can be cutting. If her intellectual edge leaves her, she can feel overwhelmed by emotion.

And of course, like all swords, she learns through suffering, and life can cut deep.

Knight of Swords

Here he is sword drawn, riding into the wind with full force.

The Knight of Swords will put ideas in action and has the courage of his convictions. He won’t listen or be stopped by opposition. The energy that swirls around the knight can feel violent: he pushes his will through, he wants his own way. He can fight for a cause he perceives is righteous, but he doesn’t always fight fair. It’s easy for this knight to fall into the trap of arrogance, of thinking the ends justifies the means. The plus side is that he is fearless and has no doubts, and that can get you through a difficult situation.

The Inner Child Card warns that if you feel you are at a crossroads, the knight of swords energy can cut through the confusion, but make sure you have all the facts, otherwise you will be racing off in the wrong direction.

Page of Swords

O these swords… the gift of the swords are that they are intellectual, analytical and forthright. But they learn through pain.

So the page of swords, standing with some energy and gusto, has to learn his lessons the hard way. He doesn’t want to follow the map, he wants to find out for himself. When you draw this card, life is sending you some challenges. This is an opportunity for self knowledge and growth.

I love the Inner child version, which shows Pinocchio, looking at himself in the mirror. It’s time to ask, who is pulling my strings, and before I worry about lies I tell to others, let me worry about lies I tell to myself… This is a time to look at yourself in the mirror and acknowledge exactly what is going on.

The shadow side of the swords is when you refuse to learn, arrogantly asserting that you know it all. It about not being logical or forthright,  but stuck in adolescent certainty.

10 of swords

Such a strong image! As if one sword in the back wasn’t strong enough, we have 10 here, killing us 10 times over. Here were feel like we’ve been stabbed in the back, repeatedly. Betrayed and abandoned.

In this card, we have hit rock bottom. The only way to go from here is up. Some people call this card the darkest hour before the dawn. We feel like we’ve been murdered, but we still live, and tomorrow’s new dawn will see us get up, and start again. After all – the worst has happened, things can only get better now!

The Inner Child Card show that the child is actually trapping the dragon (as opposed to being trapped by the dragon) Face the worst of your fears, see how real they are, are we playing the victim? Making our woes a bigger deal than they actually are? The only way to really deal with this situation is to look at it with dispassionate clarity, and see what’s really going on.

9 of swords

Here you are, sitting up in bed, unable to sleep; anxious, tense and troubled about either what has happened or what might happen. Here your problems are invading your sleep, you find it difficult to get rest, difficult to switch off and it’s hard to find an inner peace.

The Inner child cards show the anxiety as a dragon, trapping you in her sinuous curves, leaving you brooding and weak.

Often, fear and doubts makes us feel younger than we are, childlike in the face of these obstacles. I like this quilt image, because it shows how vulnerable you can feel when these emotions dominate. There is no way out but through, when we get these feelings, we have to address them head on, or they can swamp us.

One thing I frequently do when I see this card is ask about actual sleep patterns.  If you are having trouble sleeping, there are 2 things I recommend.  Firstly,  Belleruth Naparstek has a series of meditation CD's.  Her sleep one is highly recommended,  but if you don't like her,  find another one that speaks to you. Secondly,  I have found Tranquil Sleep,  by Natural Factors,  a Melatonin based chewable tablet very helpful for me and would happily recommend it on to others.

Mentioned in Yelp's mail out!

Very pleased to be mentioned in Yelp's weekly mail out!

"Once you've met those caloric obligations, best to get that psyche and physique back on track. Zelina M lets Tribeca Tarot Reader sort out her future infatuations: "Even if the reading is tough," it's the loving kind."

Thanks so much to Zelina and thanks to Yelp too!

8 of swords

A woman stands, eyes bound, surrounded by swords. When people draw this card they are feeling fenced in, trapped, bound. They are unsure how to get out, they feel overwhelmed or powerless. I tell people that the situation would be made so much easier if they shrugged off the bindings and let themselves look clearly. In fact, she could walk out; it is the feeling of entrapment that holds her tight. This is a situation where the persons own fears or anxieties are holding them in, but they could leave it if they were willing to take the risk to do so (which I know, is much easier said than done!)

The Inner Child take a slightly different spin: here we are in the dark, with the spiders, but also with friends or people on a similar journey, and if we just follow the light, we can get out. It requires effort but it’s not insurmountable, and the fact that others are walking with us makes it easier. As always, finding good people to share a journey, even a difficult one, makes it easier.

 
Here too,  there are swords and danger (she could cut her feet!) but there is also movment.  The worst thing about feeling trapped is paralysis,  and taking off the blindfold,  even if we then see things we don't want to see (and can no longer deny) will definitely help us navigate out of here...

Seven of Swords

These are the difficult cards in the tarot – not difficult to read, their meaning is clear, but difficult to bear. Here, someone is sneaking in and stealing swords. However, two swords remain, you are not defenseless and possibly you didn’t really need all 7 of those swords, so perhaps with hindsight, you can see that it wasn’t all bad. But in the moment, you feel the searing heat of loss but worse than loss, the sense that that things were purposefully/maliciously taken from you. You will feel betrayed or deceived.

Of course, you may be the one stealing the swords. You may think it’s just office politics, or how things are done, but you may need to look at your own actions – are you betraying someone? Are you acting in bad faith/taking things that you shouldn’t? Sneaking off? Shirking responsibility?

The Inner Child cards read this quite differently… there you are, trapped into being the good one, staying indoors, doing your work, looking longingly at the world outside. Lots of people relate to that image really strongly.