2 of Swords

Weekly Card 2 of Swords Revisited

December 30, 2013
140123 2 of Swords Blake
William Blake Tarot

Since the moon’s in Libra for most of the day today, according to Western Tropical Astrology, let’s revisit the 2 of Swords.

Huh, what?!

What does astrology have to do with tarot and moon . . . Libra . . . 2 of Swords . . . what???

There are correspondences between tarot and astrology and another cousin, numerology.  There is more than one system of correspondence, and the one I use is the one I most often run across: the one credited to Aleister Crowley.  In that system, 2 of Swords corresponds to the moon in Libra (and also to 56/11 in numerology).

If you know nothing about astrology or numerology, you can file the idea of correspondences exactly where it best suits you.  And if you do have some understanding of those systems, you can use what you know to enrich tarot.

Lets look at the images on the 2 of Science in the William Blake Tarot by Ed Buryn.

(Okay, I know I just confused you with all that information about correspondences.  I’m about to do more: Buryn’s Blake Tarot uses Science for Swords, Painting for Pentacles, Music for Cups and Poetry for Wands.   Remember, we’re under the influence of the moon, where mystery – and often confusion – is a given.)

We’ve got a child standing in supplication by an open door guarded by a howling dog.  Could this be innocence at the entry to experience?  It’s in our imaginations that we speculate on potentials and possibilities. And there we can get hung up in that famously Libran inability to choose.  There’s the rub: 2 of Swords is all about choice without external interference.

Rider Waite Smith Tarot
Rider Waite Smith Tarot

There’s a story in the Rider Waite Smith tarot that progresses from the 10 of Swords to the Ace of Swords.  At the 2 of Swords point in the story, the widow of a slain warrior is in mourning.  Those swords she holds are the swords of defiance.  She’s blinded to the way of peace and is seeking revenge.  Yet she does not move.  Here we have experience, with the potential of an entry to renewed innocence.

Now, with the moon in Libra, you can look to the areas of conflict in your life, to the circumstances that lead you to inner turmoil.  Where are you seeking vengeance?   Can you find your way from there to Blake’s resolution . . . . .

innocence into a new experience

 

Weekly Card 2 of Swords

June 26, 2013
130725 Tarot-Leaves-2ofswords
Tarot Leaves
Rider Waite Smith Tarot
Rider Waite Smith Tarot

 

Decisions, decisions!

Have you ever noticed that, when you’ve got a difficult choice to make, you get stuck in analyzing the either-ors of the situation?

2 of Swords lets us know that we’re going to get nowhere by staying in our mind.  In fact, we got into being stuck by over-using our mind.  We’ve been hoping to protect ourselves from the outcome we don’t want by endlessly debating the pros and cons.  Maybe we haven’t gone so far as to play ostrich (what a lovely view that affords others!), but we might want to feel how close we’ve come.

And it’s costing us more than the ability to move forward.  We’re isolating ourselves from real connection, so we’re alone in our indecision.  We’ve cut ourselves off from our emotions, which means we’re cut off from our very human self and from the people around us.

Hmmmm . . . . all this, just from making a 2 column list?

In 2 of Swords, yes.

2 of Swords offers us a different sort of solution to our dilemma.  We’ve got that ocean of intuition behind us that we’re called to draw from.  We can feel the balance of good and evil (towards our most authentic self and away from the same).  We can also feel the balance of dark and light.  We’ve been holding those swords in the same place long enough.  It’s time to get all martial arts master with them and look into our own dark side to resolve the inner conflict.  Go into the unknown, Luke!

We might find that there are many more than the apparent two options in there.  Aside from the expanded possibilities that include both (it’s all one coin, after all), there are the many possibilities that fall into “neither”.

So, 2 of Swords calls us into true spiritual balance, rather than the temporary (and false!) peace of isolation.  It calls us to make an intuitive choice.

Where will you feel the expanded choices in your life this week?
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