By Sarah Taylor
The three cards that I drew this week offer a cohesive, clear reading — “cohesive” and “clear” being words very much associated with the Ace of Swords, whose influence seems to start working as soon as I lay my eyes on it. The reading is about a point of choice, and the fulcrum — or context — is provided by the Queen of Disks.
As the feminine counterpart to the King of Disks, the Queen is associated with the sovereign feminine aspect of the tangible. She rules the physical realm, which is anything you interact with using your five senses. In other words, this choice is one that will have an impact on how you move through and experience your physical world.
On either side of the Queen of Disks there are two Swords cards, each very different from the other. Swords are associated with the mind, and provide a masculine foil, or frame, for the feminine card at centre. The suggestion is that this particular matter calls for inquiry into the facts, including self-inquiry. Relying solely on intuition or feelings won’t cut it. Not that they aren’t involved, but the emphasis here is on thought processes; they are played up over everything else.
Given that the subject of the reading, the Queen (whether that is you or an aspect of your immediate experience), is feminine, an approach like this might feel like it goes against the grain. It might feel counterintuitive. But something feeling counterintuitive and actually being that way are not the same; if there’s a resistance to applying thought in a concise, illuminating way to a situation, consider the possibility that a little more, rather than less, thought could be beneficial.
Essentially, what the figure in the centre is facing is a decision: which path to take?
On the right, the Eight of Swords embodies the idea of conflict, where the correct way through is not clear. However, what isn’t clear is not the physical situation, but your ideas about it. The Eight is a mental block. Look at the small, seated figure in the foreground. He isn’t looking up. His head is in his hands. He is dwarfed by the two naked women on either side of him. The perspective is out of kilter. His perspective is out of kilter.
Something has become gigantic, apparently outsizing everything else, when, in truth, your access to an instrument of unerring insight is right at your fingertips.
That instrument is the power your own mind.
The presence of the Ace of Swords heralds the ability to exercise the kind of analysis that cuts away everything that is unnecessary and a hindrance to progress. It signals the end of confusion and indecision. As the card suggests visually, it directs you to a path that is both unambiguous and fertile.
Nevertheless, as with all Aces, it requires your active participation. Insight won’t just fall into your hands; you have to reach for it.
You can do this by choosing to look up, around, and within you; by knowing yourself as ruler of your own life; and by bringing into balance your felt nature as a physical, sentient being, with your capacity — and your right — to wield the blade of perception and discernment.
Astrology/Elemental correspondences: Ace of Swords (the pure potential of its suit), Queen of Disks (the watery aspect of earth), Eight of Swords (Jupiter in Gemini)
If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread.
The reflection is deep, Lunesoleil. The Ace, seen one way, can also be a mirror – the blade offering a single plane of reflection. The truth staring us in face; and that truth resides in us, rather than the ‘hall of mirrors’ that are the bodies of others that surround us, and which we often mistake as our own image. Such is the power of projection.
The reflection is deep I feel like this, the spirit which stagnates and can turn round because it cannot find a following, despite the desires by the two bodies which shows an attraction with this something waiting… 😉