User of Weapons

Servants of the Light, Aquarian 1991

Another one of the amazing court cards from Servants of the Light Tarot, Aquarian Press 1991. Here is the Knight of Swords, or User of Weapons. You'll notice the sword is flaming, and that's because the Swords suit is elemental fire rather than air. So this is the Knight of Wands to me. It would appear that the User of Weapons is battling to rescue the maiden in white who is chained to the rock (it turns out she's the Keeper of Weapons from the next court card, or Page of Swords, ie Wands). If my constant transposing of suits confuses you, just ignore it. And don't let my swip-swaping to deal with elemental switches put you off this magical deck. It really has something special going for it.

The Servants of the Light was founded in 1965 by student of Dion Fortune, WE Butler, who was succeeded in 1978 by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, the creator of this tarot deck. The Servants of the Light is a school of the Western Mystery Tradition, and such luminaries as Israel Regardie, Gareth Knight and JH Brennan have been involved with the organization.

The Servants of the Light Tarot began in 1975, painted by Jo Gill, a majors-only project. The images were used in lectures and as art or covers for books, and eventually became available to members in the form of slides. In 1986, Aquarian Press expressed an interest in publishing it, and a second artist, Anthony Clark, painted the courts and minors. In 1991, it was published at last. So the deck has a long history as a tool used by deeply committed occultists, and I feel the deck has an uncommon depth and power. A lot of energy went into the creation of these images.

Perhaps this advocacy for the deck counts as my User of Weapons action for the day. :) The companion book describes him as 'action man personified'. So whack whack! I've just beat you over the head with the history of the deck. It's very special.

May I continue as User of Weapons today -- for the first time in months, I've worked out three days in a row, so may I make today day four. :D

Mantra: Om ham hanumate namaha (Hanuman's devotion to Rama freed him from all physical fatigue, so this is a good mantra for energy, and I think suitable to the nature of Knight of Wands - I mean User of Weapons)

Flower essence: Hornbeam (the get up and go remedy)