5 of Swords in Tarot de Marseille

CBD Tarot, Ben-Dov

An RWS reader sees the 5 of Swords and says, 'Defeat. Loss. Betrayal.' I even used to call it the 'nanner nanner boo boo' card, because the victors look so smug and the defeated look so... defeated. But what's in the Tarot de Marseille image?

Look at the card. Think literally to start with. What do swords do? They cut. We use them to defend and to attack. Sometimes they are ceremonial, where they are used to display power and authority. For any sword card, we would do well to remember what a sword literally is and what it represents. Defend, attack, power, authority. Cut, stab, slice, penetrate.

Think about the colours. Forget 'colour symbolism' and be literal. Red is heat, blood. Pale blue is cold and icy. Yellow is the colour of the sun and of gold.

In this image we see four curved scimitars which might be viewed as a ceremonial array, or it might be a defensive formation, or an offensive 'trap'. (Anyone see 'Game of Thrones' recently?!)  In the centre is a red sword with a gold cross guard, blue grip, red pommel and white peen block, or 'pommel button' (these four parts combine to form the 'hilt'). The blade of this sword is red and it is shorter and wider than any other sword in the suit. It appears to be a substantial weapon, created not for aesthetics but for use. (As opposed to some of the longer, slender blades seen in the swords suit.)

In all of the odd sword cards, we see a single red-bladed sword involved in some way with the pale blue cross-hatching at the top of the card. However, in every other card, we see the sword's blade below, its tip above, but only red diamond shapes in the blue area.  (such as the one seen below the sword). It is only in the 5 of Swords that the actual red blade itself is clearly depicted penetrating the blue at the top of the card. And here is where we get the key word for 5 of Swords: 'Breakthrough'.

Five of Swords is the only card that shows a red blade with a red pommel. All of the swords have red blades with pale blue grips, showing the swords consist of strong feelings wielded with detachment -- sans merci? But this is the only one with a red pommel. The pommel of a sword is not there for decoration. It is essential to the construction of the sword. Its purpose is to fasten the blade into the hilt, act as a counterbalance to the weight of the blade, and support the hand. This one is red, and is somewhat larger than other pommels in the sword suit. This blade of passions or strongly held beliefs or determination or bloody-mindedness, or whatever you wish to read into the colour red, is anchored in more of the same. Wielded with a detachment that suggests lack of mercy. And unlike other sword cards, the 5 of Swords clearly shows the main blade penetrating blockages created by the other swords in the card.

The interpretation given in The Open Reading by Yoav Ben-Dov:

'An initiative to push forward and go beyond present limitations. Perseverance in a tight situation brings success. Going your own way regardless of disturbance by others. Imposing your will on adversaries who are weaker.'

We've put an offer on that second house that turned up in a recent reading. Perhaps today will be the 'breakthrough'. We're still waiting to hear from the vendor with a response to our offer.

What breakthroughs are you hoping to make today?

Save your arrows

Wildwood Tarot 

I hardly ever use the Wildwood Tarot. It is not a favourite, and one reason is the suit of Arrows and the suit of Bows. I find it really hard to keep them straight. As the Arrows suit is associated with Air and Bows with Fire, I try to treat them as Swords and Wands respectively, but to be honest that doesn't work terribly well. And when a deck departs too much from tradition, I find myself reaching for it less and less. That's why, despite my affection for them, I don't often use decks like this one's predecessor, the Greenwood, or Rachel Pollack's Shining Tribe.

Anyway, here a red-eyed goat, apparently framed by the corona of the sun, leaps down a hill to escape the hapless hunter, who fires away at him and misses every time. The key word given is Frustration.

In the traditional Five of Swords, we see the aftermath of the battle, as the victors congratulate themselves and the losers skulk away. The victor here appears to be the goat; the defeated hunter here isn't giving up, but we can see he's unlikely to strike his prey.

I suppose he has been stalking this goat for a while, so it must be frustrating to have it unexpectedly spring in the wrong direction (straight down the hill at him!), and in his panic and surprise, the hunter just starts shooting.

The question is, what have we been stalking lately? And what will we do if suddenly our goal springs the wrong way? Things go in unplanned, unexpected directions? How will we express our frustration? Should we express it? Or should we just accept it? The hunter here has shot all his arrows, now he either has to go find them or go off and make more. Maybe if he'd crouched down and let the goat spring past, he could have continued the hunt.

The lesson I'm seeing here is not to be too reactive when things go awry. It doesn't help. It might feel right or good in the moment, but the aftermath will probably be more than it was worth.

Calm down, love

Tarot of the Hidden Realm, Llewellyn 2013 

This is the Mondayest Wednesday ever. And today I've drawn Five of Swords from Tarot of the Hidden Realm (Moore and Jeffery, 2013). Well yay.

In this card we see a painted warrior fae, wild-haired, charging (or retreating) in battle. Five birds of prey swirl about her. (Hooray for having five of something on a five card!)

The elemental association of the suit of Swords is Air, which corresponds with thought, logic, and also conflict. The elemental affinity of the number Five is Water, which corresponds with emotions and relationships. The Five of Swords therefore is Water of Air. The rational is imbalanced by the emotions (5 being an odd number)--the emotions hold sway. It is a card that can indicate overthinking and faulty perception.

This card is a clear warning for me today, as today at work we are having a meeting in my more difficult work place about 'roles and responsibilities'. It is extremely important that I do not give voice to any emotive overthinking I may have been doing about the situation at work. It will serve nothing for me to bring up anything emotive. In fact, it would be better for me to lay my cards on the table (as it were) objectively and own up to any areas where my own behaviour has caused confusion or problems. I hope everyone else will also do their best to remain rational and grown up about it.

Journaling with the Five of Swords - Fountain Tarot

Fountain Tarot, 2014

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

                                 ~Proverbs 16:18 KJV

That's the first thing that came to mind when I drew this card today from Fountain Tarot (2014). It's the Five of Swords. 

This is an unusual interpretation of the RWS image. Instead of a victor smirking in the foreground holding his five swords as the vanquished slink off in defeat, here we have obscure 'shapes' in the background and this weird, lanky guy who looks like he's had some sort of nervous breakdown after spending a sleepless week working out string theory. And do those shoes have velcro? I think they do! So, buddy, you got nothing to feel smug about! 

Now, what does the companion book have to say about this unpleasant-looking dude balancing on handles of translucent ice blades? 

'Two glum figures stand in the background while the victor balances tenuously on his spoils,' it reads. 'Victories get polluted when your personal integrity is compromised. Nobody wins in this situation, and the backlash can be horrible.' 

What I want to know is, how did he get up there in the first place? And why did those two blobs in the back give up their swords to such a weedy-looking character? 

On a more serious note, I find an interesting take on this card in Benebell Wen's 'Holistic Tarot', and I think it is particularly applicable to the Fountain Tarot version of this card:

'Deep down this is a seeker who feels he or she was born with unfair disadvantages, that others are more privileged. There is a subconscious, unacknowledged resentment because of that. This is not a card about entitlement. Rather, it is a card about being resentful for not having what others have, and thus doing everything in one's power to get what others have. The Seeker thinks he has won, but the storm is just coming' (pages 190-191). 

If we look at the card again, we can see how the main figure of the card has alienated himself from the so-called 'defeated', and the spoils of his 'victory' are almost 'not there' -- it's like they're imaginary. His victory is something that clearly he thought was virtually impossible -- like balancing on the points of swords. Now he's reveling in it.

'The Five of Swords shows a cunning character who profits off others or misappropriates. [It] also gives a sense that the Seeker is using a proverbial sledgehammer to crack a nut, using more force than is required, and in that disproportion will suffer undesirable consequences,' continues Wen (page 191). 

There certainly seems to be only one outcome for the figure in this card. He cannot stay balanced on those swords forever, or even for more than a split second. When he comes down in a crash, he will have five sharp, two-edged blades above, below and all around him. Bad deal! 

We can use this card as the trigger for some deep self-exploration:

In what ways do I feel that I have unfair disadvantages? 

What do I perceive in others as privilege, and how do I harbor resentment for that? How does that resentment manifest in my attitude? In my thoughts? In my responses? 

What are my motivations for my current goals? Am I working toward something because I perceive it as something I need in order to keep up with the Joneses? Do I even really want this thing? 

In what way am I 'using a sledgehammer to crack a nut'? What could be the consequences if I continue in this vein? 

Dreamer Five - Tarot of the Sidhe

I don't know about you, but every time I draw a downbeat card as my Card of the Day, I feel my heart sink into my shoes. 'Oh no!' is my first thought. Or even, 'What? I thought today was going pretty well! I don't feel bad, or I didn't until now...'  Anybody else get that?

So here we have Dreamer Five, or 5 of Swords. Now here's a kick in the head. If you're familiar with Mary K Greer's Tarot for Yourself, you may have heard of the Destiny Card. It is the minor arcana card that corresponds with your actual birth date. She provides a list of dates, and mine is 5 of Swords. 'From this card you can find indications of your fundamental impulses, desires, and reactions as an individual.' That's kind of amazing, considering the dates associated with this card cover a nine day period. So the implication is that everyone born on one of those nine days is going to have the same 'impulses, desires, and reactions' as me. That's not very individual, is it? So I take all this with a grain of salt. But it's still kind of depressing to be told that your nature is 5 of Swords. It's not like someone with that sort of outlook needs more confirmation of how crap everything is! Ha ha.

Anyway, when I drew this card this morning, my first thought was, Oh. Poo.

I think, though, looking at this card, we see a lot of self-sabotage here. This is a sidhe who has not lost hope but who is throwing hope away. The fire has gone out of him (or her) and so he is turning a dark, sooty green. The flame has gone out of his hair. Worst of all, he appears to have used that sword he is tossing aside to chop off his own wings. He has bloody stumps on his back and is holding the wings in his hand. He's standing on a tremendously high plinth (one of five) that reaches above the clouds. What is his plan now? To throw himself off it, wingless? The sun is blood red, reflected on the icy mountaintops.

So, the card suggests certain questions:

How am I self-sabotaging?
How am I cutting off my own wings?
What fire has gone out of me?
In what ways do I feel I am disappearing into the background? (as the sidhe is doing in his lower half)
What weapons have I used against myself?
How have I isolated myself?
Why have I isolated myself?

And then, to take it deeper:

How have these actions served me?
What reward have I received by doing these things or making these choices?
Did these actions really serve me well, or were they dysfunctional coping mechanisms?
Do I choose to continue these actions, or am I ready to move on from them?


But that's an awful lot just for a daily draw. So for today, we could just take it as a warning to watch out for self-sabotaging behaviour, be careful to not to shoot ourselves in the foot.

Summer Solstice Reading

A reading for Summer Solstice. I found this spread at a blog called Indigo Spirit Tarot. It seemed like a nice spread, so I thought I'd try it out here as my Summer Solstice reading. 

1

2 ............... 3

4 ..... SUN..... 5

6 ............... 7

8

1. Live with passion. Embrace the power of the Sun.

2. Upcoming possibilities. The door to success is opened by...

3. Time to play. Enjoy this gift.

4. Time to be serious.

5. Welcome advice.

6. Beware what lies in the shadows.

7. How to improve, now that you're aware. 

8. A burden lifted. Let it go.

I've chosen to read with Tarot Illuminati (Erik C Dunne, 2013) because -- what's more appropriate on Summer Solstice than a little illumination? 

1. Embrace the Sun - Princess of Swords. 'If the Princess of Swords is anything,' writes Kim Huggens in Complete Guide to Tarot Illuminati, 'she is firstly the power of invention and secondly of revolution.' 

2. Upcoming possibilities - Five of Swords. We often look at this card as indicating defeat, but there's no reason not to sometimes see ourselves as the ones having the upper hand. Kim Huggens supports this, writing, 'If the other cards around it are positive and supportive, it suggests the querent has a unique advantage in the situation and they need to make the most of it.' 

3. Enjoy this gift - Eight of Wands. This card suggests that whatever I start in the coming months will progress swiftly. I have the gift of fast movement and swift progress. 'Often this card indicates that the querent will be involved in a number of events that could be described as synchronicity, carrying them forward in a series of coincidences that they could never have expected,' Huggens writes. 

4. Time to be serious - Ace of Pentacles. Time to be serious about good hard graft, and reminds me to cultivate, process and make use of all my resources to be applied in each situation. I'm seeing it as saying don't get ahead of yourself. Be methodical. First things first. 

5. Welcome advice - The Empress. The Empress advises me to nurture myself, my life, my surroundings, my projects, and other people. She advises me to indulge my creative impulses, which, like childbirth, require sometimes painful effort to reap the rewards. 

6. Beware what lies in the shadows - 3 of Swords. Huggens makes an interesting point about this card. It is not the card of personal heartbreak, which is better reflected in 5 of Cups. Rather, this card represents the suffering of existence, 'the profound sadness felt when seeing the state of the world and the suffering of mankind,' as Huggens puts it. It represents existential angst, a feeling with which I am quite familiar. 

7. How to improve, now that you're aware - Death. I suppose few cards confront and dispel existential angst as effectively as the Death card. Acceptance. 

8. Let it go - Five of Pentacles.  'Worry is a self-destructive behaviour that perpetuates the cycle of lack and loss,' writes Huggens. 'It keeps us firmly in the past or in the future, and never in the present: we rarely worry about this moment, right now; we only ever worry about something that has happened in the past or what may or may not happen in the future. As such, worry does not allow us to take proper action in the present.' So clearly I need to let go of worry about lack, loss, deprivation, hardship, instability, etc. 

Interesting.

Flowers from heaven in the 5 of Swords

The 5 of Arrows (Swords) from Sacred India Tarot depicts the scene in which Bheeshma renounces the throne so that his father can marry a woman. The woman's father had denied his permission for them to marry because Bheeshma had already been proclaimed heir. So Bheeshma renounces his right to throne and takes a vow never to father children, so that there will be no offspring of his to threaten the children of his father and the new wife. Before making this vow, Bheeshma was called Devavathra. After, his name is Bheeshma, meaning 'terrible vow' (or something along those lines.) His father, shocked and awed by this act (but still horny for the fisherman's daughter), transfers all his spiritual merit to his son Bheeshma, thus making him practically immortal.

We see in the card the fisherman's daughter, the angry fisherman, and Bheeshma, raising five arrows as he makes his vow.

Now the question is, what has this got to do with the 5 of Swords?

Biddy Tarot's website describes several characteristics of the 5 of Swords that can be applied here:

1. A time when it feels like everyone is against you. -- Bheeshma certainly feels that his existence is an unwelcome thing in this situation.

2. The need to make a decision about whether something is so important to you that it puts relationships with others in jeopardy. -- Bheeshma faces just such a situation. If he clings to his claim to the throne, he risks alienating his father.

3. You are in a struggle and there are more problems and obstacles ahead than you are aware of now. -- This is also true for Bheeshma. Bheeshma choice does not lead to the peace he had hoped, but instead to a war that wipes out his descendants and their entire world.

So, Bheeshma's sacrifice is indeed a hollow victory, even if the flowers in the picture have descended from the heavens, bestowed by the gods who are impressed by Bheeshma's vow.

What lesson can we take from this card? Do I need to make a sacrifice for my idea of 'the greater good'? And will there be consequences I cannot foresee as a result of that sacrifice? We can look at it from the noble side - a selfless act to create peace, or the shadow side, a misguided act that ends up being a futile gesture, or even makes things worse. Wow, that's a situation to watch out for today.

Full Moon Reading

Today is the full moon. Let's see what I need to release and embrace:

-------Release-------------------------Embrace------

The Greenwood Tarot (Ryan and Potter, 1996) is telling me to release my need to be in firm control of everything and to embrace feeling frustrated and out of control.

Aaaaaaaaaaagh!

The Ace of Stones (Ace of Pentacles) is a standing stone on a stark white background, decorated with prehistoric 'cup and ring' markings. No one knows what these markings signified to the people who made them, but they are found widely throughout the prehistoric world. For that matter, we don't know why they stood stones on their ends, or configured them in circles. But in any case, we have on Ace of Stones a standing stone, marked with cups and rings, an ancient monument. Chesca Potter says: 'Mythically the foundation stone means the first dry land on which life could begin. Also the first created form, matter, the mother stone, the firm ground from which one can begin one’s journey and measure the eight directions, the birthing ground, the navel stone. The Labyrinth is the place where your journey begins; the first steps; the cup and ring marks represent the source, your emergence into this world. The mare’s hoof mark, considered vulvic in shape means the source of life-the first steps on dry land; following the original horse herds led to your food source. A new stability enters your life.' Which, to be honest is what I thought it meant. Stability in life. Well, this draw is telling me to let go of this need for stability and instead to embrace Frustration.

The 5 of Arrows (or Swords) shows an archer shooting at a flying goat or ram. I can see how this could be frustrating! 'A double edged card depending on whether you are the hunter or the hunted. The card can be a warning -- either take flight or stand firm and face the situation. Ungrounded aims and fears,' writes Chesca Potter. I believe the card is telling me to get used to the feeling of being ungrounded, of things not going right, of things being unstable. 

It reminds me of this poster:



Ugh. This is hard for me. I love control. Even if it is an illusion. (Those are usually our favourite things.)

Looks like a plot twist in the works today

Thoth Tarot

 I really did not want to accept this 5 of Swords this morning. Another 5 this week? Come on! But even though I reshuffled and drew a couple more cards, got 2 of Disks and Ace of Swords both times, and figured  hmph, I'm just getting cards I drew earlier in the week so I guess I better take the hint that this is the card for today.

So here we are again, back in Geburah. On the Tree of Life, Geburah means 'Severity.' It is the number 5, and represents the heavenly sphere of Mars. Add to all this the suit of Swords, and looks like trouble! Or as Crowley cheerfully calls it, 'Lord of Defeat'.

Just to drive the point home, Crowley has instructed Lady Freida Harris to paint the swords in the configuration of an averse pentagram, which DuQuette assures us can be used to symbolize 'perfectly innocuous concepts', but which in this case 'really does mean trouble.' Well, yay.

You may notice that at the top of the card there is the Venus symbol and at the bottom is the Aquarius symbol. According to Golden Dawn, this card represents 'Venus in Aquarius'. I don't know anything about astrology and so I have to depend on DuQuette's wisdom. He says that Venus and Aquarius are a sensitive, pacifist pair, but they have 'shown up at the wrong party. A terrible fight has broken out in a very rough and well-armed area of Qabalahville--Geburah, the house of Mars, which is located in Yetzirah (the world of Swords).' Venus and Aquarius just can't handle the situation; their peacemaking tactics don't work here, and they are defeated. So however you look at it, this card is about disappointment or loss. There may be setbacks today.

I decided to ask, 'In what area of my life might I see defeat today?' And I drew...the 5 of Cups. Pardon me, but Jesus. What cosmic bowl of Cheerios did I piss in this morning, eh? So, the 'Lord of Disappointment' makes an appearance today as well. This setback could make me feel quite sad. I suppose the question is, am I going to allow it to make me feel sad? I could have a setback today, but how I react to it is up to me.

I saw a poster on Facebook the other day that I really liked:

Whenever something goes wrong in your life, 
just yell 'Plot twist!' and move on.

So let that be my mantra today. 'Plot twist!' (Plus, this is just a daily draw, so whatever disappointment this points to is bound to be minor. Yep.)

Dreams and hands

Book of Shadows, LoS 2012 

The Book of Shadows Tarot Vol 1, Barbara Moore, gives me Ace of Air today. It's timely I should draw this card today, as my mind has been in complete overdrive for the last few days. I'm completely stressed out and the overthinking isn't helping me at all.

The card here, Ace of Air, shows a sylph orchestrating dreams for the sleeping figure. These dreams might be happy ones, or they might be nightmares. The card is ambiguous. Is he dreaming of his bright future--a lovely house, a new car, a fulfilling career--or is he having nightmares about his mortgage, car payments, and failing investment portfolio? Could be either, depends on the surrounding cards, the querent, and the question. The expressions on the faces of the sylph and the sleeper are giving nothing away.

Because this card speaks so deeply to me of my current state of mind, I thought I'd draw two more cards: Do this. Don't do this. These are 'solution' cards to the current rather intolerable situation I find in my mind. What should I do and what should I not do to ease my mind about this situation, and about my general unsettled feelings and disturbed sleep of late?

Musings on the Celtic Tarot: Swords

Suit of Swords--Celtic Tarot, Davis  

The first thing I notice about this suit is the arcing of lightning or electricity and its various manifestations throughout. You can see the first stirrings of it on the tip of the sword in the Ace, then the big spark jumping between sword tips in the Two. It's gone in the Three, but beginning to whirl up again behind the swords in the Four, goes a little crazy in the Five, shoots a clear steady beam in the Six, becomes a full on power storm in the Seven, then is pretty much gone in Eight, Nine and Ten. The background of those cards also appears a deeper red. Why? Looking closer, you can see that there is a ball of energy in Eight, a few glimmering pinpoints in Nine, and a few even smaller ones in Ten. Curious...what could it mean?