Editor’s Note: 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. You can visit Sarah’s website here. –efc
By Sarah Taylor
After a period of austerity, a richer and more involved life beckons. The trick here is to keep things in balance.
I often find, when looking at the Queen of Swords, that she strikes a rather solitary figure. Not lonely as much as alone — emphasised by the wind-blasted trees in the background behind her, the clouds seeming to loom and scud in the sky. I can almost feel the bird being taken by the wind currents, even as the Queen herself sits there, wise, implacable. And yet, it is as if she is acknowledging the two figures in the next card — presenting them, almost. “Here they are.” More of that a little later.
The Queen of Swords is wise, and she is her own person. In a past article, I have referred to her resemblance to Queen Elizabeth I, who ruled England with authority, dedication and passion. She sits side-on, her profile strong against the blue sky. The clouds on her red- and yellow-edged cloak seem to be a visual continuation of the clouds surrounding her; a crown of gold butterflies perches on her head. She is of the air — of thoughts and intellect. Her robe is grey like her throne: her head might be in the sky, but she is firmly grounded. And she has broken free of something: has she cut through the red wristbands with her sword, her once-cuffed hands now free to work for her? (It might be interesting to look back at the comments on an article on the Queen some months ago to see the discussions on the significance these bands.)
For as much as the Queen is wise, sober, focused, she is also associated with beauty and flight (rather than flightiness). Butterflies are often a symbol of freedom and beauty revealed. If we are to take our cue from this idea, then perhaps the beauty that is her birthright is unfolding in the scene next to her.
In contrast to the bare, wind-swept landscape of the Queen of Swords, we are now looking into a card that glows warmly with its yellow background. The conifers have been replaced with flowers, vines and fruit. It feels like a lazy, but heady, summer evening. There are other people here: two in the middle-ground, a small group in the distance to the left, and then a walled town in the far background, indicating community. It is as if the two figures have stepped away from the group to beckon to us — the desire to call our attention echoed by that hand-gesture from the Queen.
In an earlier article on the Four of Wands, I wrote of the sense of being an outsider, looking into the scene through the four upright wands, which were acting as a doorway into the picture. Here, I see it very much the same way. There is an invitation to step through — perhaps to step away from a period where the Queen was the ruling authority (and rightly so), and into a time of conviviality, of being among others, of becoming a part of something greater than simply yourself, no matter how adept you were at holding your own counsel.
The caveat is that there is present in the cards a delicate balancing act. The Two of Pentacles indicates a juggling of physical resources in order to maintain an equilibrium. A juggler, attired in reds and oranges — evocative of lifeblood — dances a jig as he holds both Pentacles lightly but deftly in his hands. The Pentacles and his forearms are wrapped in a green infinity symbol: the eternal dance of polarities, duality in action, the full experience of living. Behind him, on undulating waters, sail two ships, one smaller, one larger; an evolution. The larger one’s sails take on the colours of the juggler himself. Like him, both are navigating the oceans of consciousness, working with the movement of the waters that bear them and carry them forward.
There is the potential for joy in this conscious act where solitude and self-knowledge open to experiences with others. I think the message here is that they can co-exist, both equally important aspects of living in balance. For now, though, it is time to join the party.
Thank you, all. I’ve been away, but read through the comments as they came in, and will be going through them again, now that I’m not constrained to my phone screen. 🙂
Indeed, indrani – Wassail! (Just gimme a couple of months to get used to the idea first.) 😉
Need to add one more point (insert at the end of my original post):
“But that doesn’t mean you should forget your friends – that’s the other part of growing up – learning who your friends are, and keeping them close, because 4. It’s a brutal old world out there, and friends are hard to come by…”
😉
I swear you must be reading my mind woman! I just posted this on facebook (and then saw your article): “When you live the rock and roll life, then I guess you just live the rock and roll life… You start off by playing the cards you’re dealt, until you start dealin’ the cards you wanna play…and that my friends is when you start having some fun… Let the fun begin – this little birdy is ready to fly…”
And what did we learn Sarah, from our rock and roll lives?? 1. Balance, balance, balance. 2. Resources are finite – use them sparingly 3. Learn to look after yourself, because that’s what growing up is about – you look after yourself, then you become one less “problem” for the world to deal with…
xox Keep smilin’ there (and don’t forget, “Wassail!”)
😉
..So many roads too ease my soul..
..it’s an invitation.
..Every-one, any-one, is the one. ..I wish I could mind-meld for this one, but, … (still waitin’ on the replicators’) 🙂
Thanks all, for allowing my exploration of the cosmos. It’s been very cool of you to not hang me. Hopefully I transition sooner than later and I can get some useful wordage your’ ways.
Jere
..The ambiance, heck yeah!. The colors may be monochromatic, but they still do differ. The Q of swords blue is way different from the 2 of pentacles blue. The pentacles have all those ‘earthy’ colors too. The Q is very silver.
..Why is infinity green, and the wheels yellow? Why is the juggler red and tanned?..
Questions within conversation.., are we good?
Jere
I was just reading on another Tarot site, the author claimed that RWS had cards she called “stage cards,” where there was a straight line drawn across at a specific height, and the events in the foreground were on a “stage.” Surely Smith drew nothing without a specific reason, but I think this is just a convention of the perspective drawing method. It’s just a horizon line. I think what’s more important is that concept I mentioned earlier of the background having a symbolic intermediary that acts on the foreground.
This is how the Queen of Swords ‘strikes’ me, and I take full ownership of my interpretation. She is beautiful; she is strong; she is welcoming but she can defend herself. At one time, it’s possible all she could do was use her sword, but with an inward gaze and willingness to feel, grieve and repent she cut the bonds holding her hands on the sword and can now use one hand to invite closeness and point out beauty. The crown of butterflies indicates her transformation and the child cherub encourages restoration of vulnerability and innocence, and butterfly carved into her chair reminds her to go inward to find continuing transformation. Everything outside of her is in motion but she is grounded in choosing her responses.
Haha: “Highest Wants!”
I meant to write: “Highest Wands.”
Froudian Slip?
The Queen of Swords: she Reigns and Presents–and Reigns (Reins) In. She passes Blessings on the marriage. The Queen sits over a Baby (cherub) Throne like she has risen from her own Blessed (inner/earlier in life/origins in sweet heaven) child who also is a connection to her position as Queen, like she has risen or grown out of that child/cherub into her Queen Self. (The broken binds at her wrists are intriguing.)
The Four of Wands as they appear in This Story: There will be a marriage, a high celebration, but outside the castle walls, in the garden of the peasants, under the flora held high by the Highest Wants (Magic) that will it, and stand tall with both Protection and Sacred Will over this marriage. There is a High Celebration: this marriage is meant to be. (It will not and can not be stopped.) And meant to be outside the rigid walls of the castle. Love this Magical and Natural and Drawn Towards Unity can not be stopped and will be celebrated.
The Two Stars (Pentacles) and The Joker: The Fool plays and jests and frolics with his stars. He dances them inside the eternal loops of the infinity symbol, but they seem loosey, like the stars could fall out of them if he’s not careful. Maybe he takes their protection a little too loosely. While he frolics with these “Gifts” (to the marriage?), two ships–one closer and one further away like it is leaving, but going in opposite directions–roll up and down roller coasters of waves. He is oblivious and plays loosely with the promises of and the power of and the gifts of the stars. I want to rein him in.
..alright, just had a mind warp.. Exclusion vs. Inclusion. The genders. How they play out through the Tarot, and throughout reality as we experience it.. The feminine aspect (which all beings own) is an equal and opposite reaction to the masculine aspect, which in turn has the vis a vis status. This isn’t about body parts, it’s about energies. It’s the whole principle that Light cannot be ‘defined’ without Dark. Now which is which? I don’t believe it’s as dissectable as that. I perceive it as the infinity sign, continually going… But,.. when in the realm of the Queen, are you giving, or taking?
..for every season..
Jere
this ‘reading blends exceptionally well with the oracle today and, for me, it’s about not bailing on an idea that’s come a long way to meet its fruition. a reminder here that the process of fruition itself is not an endpoint but a journey of conscious aliveness — full of welcomings AND discomforts . . .
here a way of being is called from its throne (cave, high-mindedness as other separators) to bring its strength into community in order to serve beyond itself.
thanks, sarah! clear, succint, insightful & encouraging . . .
..off the top of my head, just looking at the cards, before I’ve read the article..
..The idea is received, to then be (what’s the word I’m looking for.. adapted, altered, work with as far as improving its viability). The thought-idea energy is then cast into the Will of manifestation, whereas the harbinger of action enacts a response accordingly, and change is a happenin’..
..alright, onward to the article..
(Thanks for testing my mind with these Tarot sessions. I’ve noticed the more input I digest, the quicker my adaptation to a collective reality I get.)
Jere (still in the solar oposition mindframe, it’s sorta like a personal full moon.)