By Sarah Taylor
Following on from last week’s reading, we have the Three of Swords at centre once more. This time, though, the context is different and so the energy is different. It is as if a layer has been peeled away, and this layer lies underneath — the next story to be told, the next transmutational focus.
There is still a second Swords card, but here, instead of the Eight of Swords, we have the King of Swords. He is the mature human, masculine embodiment of Ace energy. The historical figure I return to time and again with the King of Swords is that of Solomon: discernment, truth, wise compassion.
The King’s posture is upright, but at ease in spite of the heft of the blade. It can be used for battle, yes. The King, as Solomon, knows when that time is called for. That he is holding the sword in the hand that is further from the Three, and that the blade is slanted away from it, suggests that this is not the time to focus on a battle over emotional real estate — which is really a battle over something which can be wounded, but not owned: love.
Behind the King, the back of his throne depicts butterflies as symbols of transformation, crescent moons which bring a sense of the feminine as well as the cycles of nature, and figures that might be angelic or human. All of these stand in contrast to the hardness of the stone from which they are carved and the set of the King’s jaw — while his eyes remain soft. This feels like an exhortation to find the balance inherent in the beliefs we hold, and the actions we take based on them.