Swift justice

Look who's back already today, the King of Swords, or Dreamer King, from Emily Carding's Tarot of the Sidhe. The Dreamer suit is associated with element Air, as are Swords in the traditional RWS tarot deck (and Golden Dawn tradition). In this card, we see the King of Swords in close-up, riding a dragon through the night sky. Behind him is the full moon. The Dreamer King wears a golden winged helmet, his hair flies out on either side. He has oversized epaulets of gold and golden gloves, with a rather simple shirt that laces at the neck. His high collar appears to be made of fire or blazing light, and is part of a cape that streams out behind him (reminding me of the capes seen in the Thoth tarot). The Dreamer King holds his sword up before his face, in an attitude often depicted of warriors. I've never known quite why they did this as it would seem to me to make you vulnerable with your vision obscured. On the other hand, perhaps it is to create a connection between the sword and the eye before battle commences, so that where the eye goes, the sword will follow. (I'm reminded of the many times Aragorn does this in Lord of the Rings).



The hilt of the sword is decorated with a giant, open eye, which the King has held up right in front of the Third Eye chakra. He holds the sword in the left hand rather than the right, perhaps implying that the sword is linked more to the heart and the intuition than the King realises. The Sword suit, after all, is the suit of logic, reason, thinking, planning, strategy, and so on. Not feeling or intuition. But actually, there is a lot of emotion in all of the Sword suit. So maybe the Sword cards are somewhat in denial of their true nature.

What is the nature of the Dreamer King? 'He is known throughout the land for dealing justice with the king's fair hand,' according to the companion book to the deck. (Each minor and court card in the book gets a 4-line verse by way of explanation. That's it, along with a few key words). His title is Gift of Judgement. To me,  Aragorn of Lord of the Rings is an excellent example of a King of Swords. So is Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird.

That eye on the sword probably represents the clarity of the Dreamer King's vision, meaning his ability to see through to the truth of the situation, and mete out justice accordingly. In this way, the card is reminiscent of the Justice card from the Cosmic Tarot, where Lady Justice's laser eyes penetrate to the truth and then also burn away the dross at the same time. I am sure that the Dreamer King's sword is lightning fast to cut off that which needs cutting off, swiftly and surely.

Message for the day: What needs to be cut off in your life today? What needs to be examined with clarity and then dealt swift but fair justice, without hesitation or further deliberation? 

(The answer for me probably has something to do with the junk food always found in abundance on the staffroom community table!)