Posts tagged with 'Swords'

Lotus Circle: 8 of Swords

  • Posted on April 10, 2010 at 9:51 am

Eight of Swords

Lotus Circle 8 of Swords

A woman peers out of an upstairs window. The windows on the lower floor are barred by eight swords.

The Tarot of the Lotus Circle gives the following keywords for this card: Self-Imprisonment, Restriction, Crippling Fear, Denial, Imagined Helplessness, Victimization.

Traditionally, this is the “Damsel in Distress” card though not necessarily physical danger. Swords correspond to the element of Air, meaning intellectual matters. Historically, this card was interpreted as meaning a victim scandal, spread by lies and rumors.

If this card appears in answer to a yes or no question, the answer is No.

Ask yourself: What are you doing to keep yourself immobilized?

Art Nouveau Knight of Swords

  • Posted on February 16, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Art Nouveau Knight of Swords

Knight of Swords, Art Nouveau deck

This knight appears to be a dashing fellow, riding courageously to the rescue or impetuously into danger.

The LWB says that Swords represent “fight and both physical and spiritual sufferance”. If you’re using this card as a significator*, it embodies “an able and courageous man, with a passionate, irascible and insolent nature”. (Typically, a Knight is used to represent a young man and a King for an older man.)

This is all well and good, but what if the card turns up in a spot where a type of person isn’t the answer?

I turned to The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Tarot Spreads to see what it says.

Swords “represent thoughts and ideas” and the element of air. They indicate “how we face obstacles and make decisions”.

The Knight of Swords in a reading “indicates the need to act quickly” or to make a quick decision. It makes sense; knights represent action and swords air, i.e. thoughts, so the two combined means quick thinking.

Lyndi

* A significator is a card chosen to represent either the subject of a reading, or if you’re a writer, could represent one of the characters in your book. I like this article on Significators at The Lotus Pond.

L.

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