Weekly Card The Queen of Swords is Not Amused

EeeYIKES!
Who is this chick and how do we stay as far away from her as possible??!
Actually, we’ve met her before. Our last visit was much less severe than this image, from The Golden Dawn Tarot.
Look back at that visit for a moment (don’t worry, the link will open in a new tab/window).
So what the hell happened between then and now? How did we get from “brilliant mind” to “off with his head” and full body armour?
Here we’re dealing with the bias and symbolism that are elements as we move from deck to deck. Remember that each card has energy that runs on a spectrum from weak (and unbalanced) through balanced to over-used (and unbalanced). Some artists view the strong point of a particular card more toward one end of the spectrum than the centre.
Remember that the Queen is emotional, even though she’s Queen of Swords, dealing with the mind and rationality. So one end of the spectrum (actually two spectra working together) is going to be highly emotional with limited rationality. You can probably relate to times when you’d like to have taken someone’s head off.
At another unbalanced point, there’s severely limited ability to connect with others along with cold rationality. We’ve got lots of examples of the total lack of compassion with a logic that says, “we need to kill you to – fill in agenda here –“. Many of them fit into the headings of Crime or War.
Since we know this deck is based on the symbolism of the Golden Dawn, we can come up with another explanation if we do a little research. Here’s where study of the history and traditions of Tarot can be very useful. In this case, that severed head symbolizes our own egos (in the arrogant, ignorant, negative sense). The Queen of Swords uses her clear mind to cut through self-deception, “killing” the delusions that cloud our perception.
So which one is the “right” interpretation? All of them can be true in various circumstances. On a single card draw, I suggest going with your gut response to the image on the card. In a multiple card spread, note the influences of the other cards. Is the “Swordness” strengthened or weakened by the cards around the Queen of Swords? How about the emotionality and connectedness of the Queen (read her energy as Cups or water)?
At face value this week . . .
Watch your temper!