The Suit of Swords: Philia and Love Considered / A User Guide to R.M. Place’s Tarot of the Saints
A User Guide to R.M. Place’s Tarot of the Saints
Meditations for Pulp Spiritual Direction Through Applied Contemplative Prediction
Major Arcana Introduction: Balance and Development
Major Arcana: Card by Card Analysis
The Suit of Cups: Self Presenting Love
The Suit of Swords: Love Considered
The Suit of Staffs: Love Made Real
The Suit of Coins: Sacramental Engagement
Keyword Guide to Tarot of the Saints
Transversal Theology: Technical Glossary
The Suit of Swords: Philia and Love Considered
Swords: General Introduction
Standard Resonance
Generally, a card displaying Swords will lead the director to focus on the cognitive, the conscious, the rational, considering how these factors play out in the situation. The general narrative and pictorial focus of the cards in various decks tend to gear toward analysis and calculation and help in contemplation to consider these elements. Oppositional Swords tend to imply Apollinarian coldness, objectivity at the expense of compassion, and calculation without regard to morality. Swords in reverse generally tend to be interpreted as the sorrow or misfortune that comes with over analysis. The images of the suit of Swords is usually the most negatively imbued suit of the deck, often portraying stress, oppressive dominance, or tragedy.
Apart from the general meaning, there are a host of thematic implications that can at times be used to make connections in contemplation. Swords are associated with the element of air. This has more to do with the general meaning than with the symbol of the sword, except that as a medium air is needed to wield a sword. If one is to strike, one must maneuver the sword through the air. Air itself is generally associated with spirit through breath, which is the interface between the exterior world and the life sustenance of a being. In that “spirit” we also associate consciousness, which is the ability to perceive, pars, analyze the environment, and think.
The suit of Swords is traditionally paired with the Suit of Staffs as the two “masculine” suits, balanced by the feminine suits of Cups and Coins. This resonance may appear sexist, but the presentation takes masculinity as a force “yang” and then uses the nature of Swords to convey that force artistically and intuitively. Masculine work is, like the conscious, the exterior, and public work that forms the greater society, it creates the order that informs the household (the internal/unconscious) yet as the male goes into society he is absolutely shaped and supported by the home. The sword is a “divider”, thus it resonates with dissection and analysis, traditionally masculine traits. The sword is used at a distance to strike at, implying a masculine objective stance or transcendence.
The suits are also related to the social structure of medieval society, and in that framework Swords are related to the nobility because the aristocratic class “wields the temporal sword”. For the suit, this implies the “secular order” as order is brought to civil society in postlapsarian reality by wielding the sword. Thus knights and kings will have Swords at their disposal. Rational thought organizes the inner spiritual self and brings to consciousness a sense of order and function. The same is true in a functioning society of the ruling class.
Scriptural Resonance
We pointed out in Pulp Spiritual Direction the necessity of knowledge of myth and scripture. The successful director will know the myths employed by the given deck and be able to salvage them for use as they apply to salvation history. This takes application of mythic-existentialism. “The director must be able to deconstruct the existential backdrop of any given mythic genre according to standard Jungian archetypal construction and work with that meaning in real time as cards and narratives unfold.” The advantage of the Tarot of the Saints is the step of “translation and fulfillment” from an alternative myth to Christian Salvation history can be skipped because the deck uses Christian scripture, history, symbology, and aesthetics as its mythic backdrop. With that in mind, this section is meant as a spark of inspiration to begin considering avenues one can take as the conversations develop during direction.
Much like in contemplations of the suit, swords often resonate negatively in scripture. The best lens through which to see swords is the reference in both Isaiah and Micah to the Eschaton being a time when swords are beaten into plowshares. Weaponry is often seen as ineffective or even detrimental compared to relying on God. When David fights Goliath, David’s weaponry is simple, so much so that Goliath mocks him for his gear. Goliath on the other hand is well equipped. After Goliaths taunt David retorts,
You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have insulted. Today the Lord shall deliver you into my hand; I will strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will feed your dead body and the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field; thus the whole land shall learn that Israel has a God. All this multitude, too, shall learn that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves. For the battle belongs to the Lord, who shall deliver you into our hands.
David was lightly clad and charged goliath striking him on the head and knocking him down. It is clear that the weight of his armor makes it difficult for him to rise back up before David secures Goliath's sword and chops his head off. Again and again, weaponry and military might, as well as strong kings and nobility (the class represented by the sword) are seen as a detriment because they draw the people’s trust away from God and to their own power and authority.
The same is true of the intellect, the general interpretation of the Swords. One can see Eve just begging to display the first use of syllogism in the garden, having been given bad premises by the serpent. From her logic, “the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom”. From there, her relationship with God transformed from being his child to being in contention with him. The intellect is both under the control of the subject, and it is extremely morally ambiguous. It can be used for great good and or great evil.
Probably the greatest example of the intellect gone awry would be Solomon. He presents both intellect and nobility used to the worst ends. Solomon asked God for a discerning heart and was granted the greatest intellect known to humanity. From that, he used his intellect to build the Temple in Jerusalem. But lacking compassion, his labor policy set the seeds for rebellion and the division of the Kingdom after his death. His intellect was able to figure out how to get the temple built, but his lack of compassion did not allow him to see the consequences. He also rarely went to war. Rather, he devised a clever system of political marriages having 300 princess wives and 600 concubines. His intellect allowed him to keep Israel at peace. His intellect also allowed him to keep peace with and between his wives, a rare feat in the Bible for men who had multiple wives. He did this by allowing them to build temples to their gods, and going with each to their own place of worship. But his political self reliance leads to his failure to see that for him to do this as king would lead the people away from God and to the other temples, wanting to mimic the elite.
We come at last to Saint Paul, who is a very intelligent person, but not afraid to be a fool for Christ. He warns in 2 Corinthians against the snares of boastful intellect, “I repeat, no one should consider me foolish; but if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. . . . For you gladly put up with fools, since you are wise yourselves. For you put up with it if someone enslaves you, or devours you, or gets the better of you, or puts on airs, or slaps you in the face.” But Saint Paul also directs often how to use the intellect to reform and live a new life in Christ as he does in Romans 12, “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” Only when one submits the intellect to love and to Christ can one use it to its good and true end. When one uses it for one’s self, one is doomed. Since we are generally selfish beings, this is why the suit of Swords so often presents tragedy. It is no accident that when a bishop is at the altar saying mass the Suit of Cups (the chalice) Staffs (the crosier) and Coins (the paten or in the Tarot of the Saints the host itself) are all present. But the sword is not. Everything it represents is to be ultimately sacrificed in order to be in the presence of God.
For a positive assessment of what Swords could mean in the scriptures, one can take the elemental approach and understand that the words for wind and spirit are interchangeable. Thus any example of the wind to the Holy Spirit in action as the wind can be drawn on for meaning. The Spirit is the loving relationship that binds the Father and the Son, as well as that, binds us to God when we accept him. This is why the wind rushed over the water at the beginning of creations, and why the wind rushes through the house just before the descent of the spirit at Pentecost. The positive acceptance of the Holy Spirit which forms the intellect in love and the rebellious self serving intellect as each is presented in the scriptures gives a good demonstration of the uptight and reverse characteristics of the suit of Sword.
Expanded Resonance
Since this deck is particularly Chrisitan, we have decided to apply an extra level of interpretation to apply during pulp spiritual direction. This extra resonance will be extremely helpful in the evangelical aspect of pulp spiritual direction. Regarding the three loves, we are going to apply the lens of philia to the suit of Swords. Filial love is the love of kinship or love of comrades set to a common task. Filial love takes a little more investment than erotic love. For example, if you have commonalities with someone, you belong to a group together, or are working on a shared goal together, there exists a self evident attraction and comfort that is the beginning of filial love. But the deeper relationship formed between two people who share filial love is to be maintained then there must be a conscious effort to maintain the relationships and cultivate shared values. Unlike Eros, which comes and goes by desire and is self presenting, philia is cognitively recognized first, then felt, then cooperated with. If one did not know that the person standing across from them was their long lost child, or a fellow trade unionist, it is unlikely that philia would be present until that knowledge was acquired.
When Swords present in pulp spiritual direction it is helpful to remember that there are important and extremely effective ways that one utilizes philia in their relationship with God and others. This is difficult because philia is probably the least commented on variety of love in the field of theology. It is often translated as “friendship”, which to many hardly seems like love at all. But philia binds by kinship and task, and it takes a lot of conscious recognition and parsing in order to do this. It is the love of commonality in task and in kinship, thus it resonates well with what civil authority must do in order to keep society together and functioning. Civil authorities must define the commonality of the populace, and propagate a vision for society that allows it to function. Relating to God, philia manifests in that we are made in the image and likeness of God, we have that as a commonality so strongly that humanity was the matrix for the incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity into postlapsarian. That commonality of kinship is supplemented by our commonality in cooperation. God gives humans grace and we cooperate with that grace in order to sanctify the world. As a task or mission (military/sword) this is our common bond with God.
Philia presents as an aspect of love that is recognized and acted upon, thus it reflects aspects of the self that are controlled in a context. Swords, therefore, relate to the conscious capacity to reason, analyze and calculate. The rational represents those parts of our self that work analytically as opposed to intuitively, and are objective as opposed to emotive. Our ability to consciously reason is a deeply integral part of who we are, so much so that as typical westerners, we often conceive of it as our complete identity, which leads to much of the tragedy that is portrayed across the imagery of the suit.
When reverse Swords appear in opposition to philia the general interpretation is pride, clinical dispassionate, objectification, or tyrannical oppression. These are situations when analysis, which is meant to bring harmonious order, brings a rigid one sided dominance disregarding compassion and feeling.
Ace of Swords: The Sword and the Cross
Scripture Passage
He said to them, “When I sent you forth without a money bag or a sack or sandals, were you in need of anything?” “No, nothing,” they replied. He said to them, “But now one who has a money bag should take it, and likewise a sack, and one who does not have a sword should sell his cloak and buy one. Lk 22:35-36
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Ace of Swords shows a fairly plain card with one sword dominating the image. The sword is pointing downward, showing the hilt striking below the image. Only the top three quarters are visible, with the point “below” the bottom of the card. As a whole, the proportions of the portion of the blade shown and the hilt form a cross, the symbol of Christianity. The duality of the image hints at a greater duality in life, there are very few if any objective things that are intrinsically evil, and there are very few things that cannot be turned to evil. The Sword itself is a tool. It can be beaten to a plowshare and be used to sustain life. In darker, more desperate times it can protect the vulnerable from the malicious. It can also be a tool of those same malicious to intimidate through fear or hurt through cruelty. The image of the Ace of Swords is a meditation. In this postlapsarian world, Christ has come, all principalities and powers have been conquered. But the full effect has yet to be realized. When we look at the image, we initially see a sword. When we see the sword, do we see it as an opportunity to dominate our enemies? Or, better do we see it as an opportunity to protect the vulnerable? Can we only see the sword? Do we have the spiritual disposition to even see the cross?
Meditation
The single sword seems to bear no Christian connection for a deck entitled Tarot of the Saints. But there is a deep history of spiritualizing marshal imagery in Christian piety. The sword is a weapon. It protects and it conquers. In spiritual terms, it represents the awareness, knowledge, and skill to effect good spiritual practice. The fact that the Ace of Swords forms a cross also reminds us of the best virtues of soldiery that cross over to Christian spirituality. We noted these in the treatise Modern Slavery and the Mercedarians,
From the Centurion, whose servant Jesus healed, to the Theban Legion, to Martin of Tours, there is no shortage of noble military figures to look to for inspiration of Christian life. But it would be noted that the parts of these figures lives that are inspiring are not taking of life or even military tactical skill. These people are examples of self giving, which is the best Christian the virtue of military life. The classic narrative of military virtue is a person who willfully sacrifices time and comfort form some good, usually protection of the weak or innocent. That sacrifice can even end in that person giving their life for this protection. This very obviously syncs with the metanarrative of the incarnation. An auxiliary narrative is an officer or soldier who is an occupier but does not “lord their authority over their subjects like the Gentiles”. Rather the occupier, instead of bringing death and destruction, helps the populace and builds their community up.
These attributes of conscious sacrifice, valor, fortitude, and bravery are what turn the Sword into the cross in the image. It is the ability to take a position or a skill that could self serve, and use it in the service of the other. The Ace cards are usually indicative of a new beginning regarding the suit they present. In this case, the suit presents cognitive ability and conscious awareness. These psycho spiritual realities are the domain of moral thought and of one’s struggle with the perfection available in postlapsarian existence, perfect striving.
The scripture associated with the Ace of Swords is a call to arms considering perfect striving. Perfect striving is the perfection available to humans in postlapsarian reality according to Thomas Aquinas. In this perfection, we have neither perfect will, perfect desire, nor perfect knowledge. This perfection relies completely “on the part of the lover as regards the removal of obstacles to the movement of love.” It is a transitory perfection, allowing for the goal of the New Jerusalem. But it is described as a “perfection”, not a stopgap, technique, or antidote. This is the “combat” of the Christian. Its arena is every external act of Love toward one’s neighbor. But the internal weapon is the sword of conscious intellectual calculation. Thus our scripture passage relates to the need to be ready and embrace gifts of intellect and awareness. We must consciously cultivate our knowledge by the best sources and seek to inform our conscience. Our conscience is our awareness of the existence of good and bad, right and wrong, as well as the psycho-spiritual judgment of the intellect regarding the moral implications of actions. To inform one’s conscience is to do one’s best to acquire the correct knowledge regarding moral action. To exercise that conscience we must act according to what he has honestly learned. This is the “combat” of the Christian. The sword we use is our reasonable capacity. Our sword is knowledge, sharpened by scripture, tradition, and the magisterium. Each moral lesson learned, doctrine acquired, or dogma understood is a new beginning of Action for the Christian.
Concerning our expanded resonance, Philia is easily demonstrated in military comradery. The Suit of Swords, being representative of the knightly class, comes to show us that our intellects cannot exist in a vacuum, we need others to teach us language to think in, concepts to use and knowledge we would not otherwise have access to. This comradery of battle is further symbolized by the Ace of Swords in that together we struggle to conform ourselves to Christ. Again, we find that comradery in our shared scriptures, in our shared history of Tradition, and in our shared assent of faith to the teaching of the members of the Magisterium. As we develop in the struggle there is an ever new cognitive engagement because the conscience is never perfectly formed in the world. A sincere conscience knows that it is not perfect and continually strives by the best sources to develop. This constant communal effort of mutual support in the formation of the intellect is indicative of the Ace of Swords as Philia.
Application
To draw the Ace of Swords generally implies a new intellectual or cognitive insight that is taking shape in someone’s life and is impacting the situation. For the Tarot of the Saints particularly it is to be in tune with new knowledge acquired regarding mortality, spiritual doctrine, or possibly dogma. It could indicate a new relationship that helps one form new ideas or a new view on how to implement ideas in one’s life. That relationship could be to scriptures, newly discovered traditional sources, or to a person in or expression of the magisterium. Ace of Swords could also allow one to probe the situation for a new moral struggle that has entered one’s life.
In Reverse, the Ace of Swords could indicate that a person is closed minded to new ideas, Or that one fails in moral struggle, or fails to enter the struggle of morality. It could indicate self justification. Polar Ace of Swords could imply a mystical or intuitive approach to the situation is beneficial. Lastly, oppositional Ace of Swords could indicate brute force in the situation.
Two of Swords: The Guidance of the Holy Spirit
Scripture Passage
“For I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me, namely, ‘He was counted among the wicked’; and indeed what is written about me is coming to fulfillment.” Then they said, “Lord, look, there are two swords here.” But he replied, “It is enough!” Lk 22:37-38
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Two of Swords shows two swords facing upwards, crossed at the center of the card. The hilts are red (right) and blue (left), reminiscent of the water and blood that poured from Christ’s side when he was pierced on the cross. In between the raised blades of the swords is the Doves representing the Holy Spirit, adorned with a simple halo. Its wings are spread out filling the gap between the two blades. The Image seems to imply a cognitive union, either between two people, or two ideas in the mind. The Spirit is there to facilitate the loving harmony and union of the two.
Meditation
The Two of Swords generally implies conscious choices. The card comes with stressful connotations. Often a person holds the swords pointed in two directions, but they themselves are blindfolded, indicating an ultimate lack of knowledge. In the portrayal of Tarot of the Saints, the card is generally harmonious. The stress is garnered from the color of the handles, which indicate the suffering that comes with baptism, sacrifice, and new life. How one practices their baptismal priesthood through sacrifice, moral living, and bringing new life are the summative choices to be made when one engages the intellect. As any given two principles come together they can form a harmony of knowledge, but the best use of that harmony is also to be considered. This is what causes the stress. The Dove in the middle indicates a certain trust that must be offered to Divine providence and a leap of faith between the subject, any interlocutor, and God’s will for the situation. At that point, knowledge needs to be put into action. Otherwise, one can endlessly debate and ponder, having never activated knowledge for good. One can trust the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, to justify one’s conscience if one seeks knowledge sincerely and acts according to the certain dictates of their conscience.
The scripture passage shows Christ coming into the knowledge of who he is and what he is to do. His understanding of his own sacrificial death related to the hilts of the swords in the Two of Swords, but those with him are still considering other options. The presentation of two swords shows how invested they are in postlapsarian political advantage. They cannot seem to see a threat beyond Rome’s oppression and can only strike out with the selfsame brutality of Rome. Christ’s knowledge leads him to different conclusions. At this point “it is enough” no more pondering possibilities, the accusers are at hand and he must act.
Considering our expanded resonance, the Philia of the Two of Swords is the beauty of dialogue and sharing of ideas between two friends. This joyful bond can be competitive and by the joyful competition, the bond is formed. Or it can be mutually stimulating and the two are not competing, rather they are seeking a mutual resolution or understanding and trying to build one another up. It could also be a pedagogical relationship, where a “sharing of ideas” is in play, but one partner really has the upper hand and any knowledge is flowing mostly one way (that is not to say teaching, only knowledge). In these varying modalities of information exchange, the Spirit hovers over the relationship making the two one through love experienced as joy and bonding.
Application
To draw the Two of Swords in meditation is primarily to contemplate knowledge applied. When it is applied the card brings an awareness of incomplete knowledge and trust. The card can also allow for considering synthesis through contemplation or dialogue. The Two of Swords could bring comfort to a meditation reminding one that acting according to a sincere conscience brings justification in the Spirit.
In Reverse the Two of Swords could indicate the breakdown of harmonious intellectual relationships. One may probe the situation for a person trusts their own knowledge too much. Or one may look for a person in the situation who is pondering at the expense of action. Lastly, polar Two of Swords may indicate an insincere or erroneous conscience. Or it may indicate one who is not following their conscience.
Three of Swords: Thrice Pierced Immaculate Heart
Scripture Passage
Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” -Lk 2:34-35
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Three of Swords shows the Immaculate Heart of Mary, wrung as it is with a wreath of Roses and pierced according to the prophecy of Simeon. Blood is tricking from the wound. The typical portrayal has one sword that pierces the heart at an angle. But in this image, there are three swords. One from each side at an angle and one from the top down taking the place of the flame that would traditionally erupt from the top of the heart. The replacing of the flame with a sword indicates a lack of passion in the context of the card in contemplation further emphasizing the pain involved in the card.
Meditation
The Three of Swords is invariably a card of pain and suffering. It implies a rigorous intellect at the expense of passion and love, which then has consequences of suffering in a situation. This particular portrayal of this heart indicates the heart of Mary, which implies a pure heart of intuition and emotion, graced from birth, that has been struck with the harsh syllogisms of a cruel world. It is an imperial calculation manifest as a local political maneuver that causes Mary’s suffering. These factors devalue the human person and play up power politics against human dignity and the harmony that God offers against the harmony of empire. The piercing of Mary’s heart is the piercing of all of our hearts, for she is the Mother of Christ and, as the New Eve, the mother of the Church. When each of us encounters a world that does not live up to our ideals (the ideals of the church), or worse, we must watch our own children face up to that world, it causes us this same pain.
The Scripture passage speaks of the prophecy by Simeon that Mary’s heart will be pierced thusly. The contradiction of Christ is that he is the perfect human, but he cannot abide with humans without coming up against the power structures that lead to his death. He is a sign of perfection and of our own concupiscence as a species. Christ in this passage is destined for the Rise and fall of many” because his perfection as a human gives rise to the ability to well calibrate one’s conscience. Now we may act in a justified manner, both cognitively and compassionately. One can no longer say there was not adequate access to guidance. The Three of Swords demands that we make an account of how we use our intellect. Are we using it for cold calculation without empathy or compassion? In such a case, the intellect has become a burden for us and is our detriment. Mary’s heart is pierced because she attunes her heart to Christ, but the majority of the world does not. Rather, to suggest that we sacrifice our intellectual capacity for the sake of compassion seems like a post-enlightenment sacrilege. The result is damage done to those who operate as whole persons and who regard persons before syllogisms.
Considering our expended resonance, the Philia of the Three of Swords is compassion, fellow suffering. Compassion is impressive in that it is a virtue attuned to postlapsarian existence. It is a virtue impossible in Eden. But it develops out of this existence and bonds humans together in powerful ways. It seems that in some way it even transfers as a virtue beyond this existence into the Eschaton. Jesus carries his wounds into the Kingdom with him. Christ and all the saints listen to our prayers and pray in passion with us through their intercession. They are not simply “thinking things” but feeling things and this feeling binds us. The Three of Swords implies the suffering a “thinking thing” bereft of compassion inflicts on those who possess beatitude. Even as it sparks suffering it creates fodder for such compassion which binds those suffering in a common experience.
Application
To meet the Three of Swords in contemplation primarily begs analysis of destructive intellect over compassion. Is someone in the situation calculating by premises regardless of the real life effect on persons? Or the card could indicate the painful process of learning compassion or empathy. The Three of Swords can also indicate motherly or paternal suffering for a child’s loss of innocence.
In Reverse the Three of Swords can indicate a deep bond of compassion in suffering. It could also imply the contradiction of virtue that suffers and vice that seems to triumph. Polar Three of Swords could imply that someone in the situation is applying their intellect well, with tact and with regards for the feelings of others.
Four of Swords: The Meditating Monk
Scripture Passage
I was left alone to see this great vision. No strength remained in me; I turned the color of death and was powerless. When I heard the sound of his voice, I fell face forward unconscious. But then a hand touched me, raising me to my hands and knees. -Dan 10:8-10
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Four of Swords shows a monk sitting in rocky terrain. He is seated with his body facing to the left but his head is turned to the right. He is dressed in a monk’s robe with his cowl pulled up over his head. The monk is facing a “table” carved in the stone. On the table, a book, a skull, and a cross stitched together from sticks and twine form an informal altar. The monk seems deep in thought. The upper section of the card hosts four horizontal swords alternately facing opposing directions. The card seems to imply deep thought and contemplation on tradition from the book and more impactfully the experience of death from the skull and the cross.
Meditation
The Four of Swords is generally imaged as a card of repose. It speaks to the interface between the conscious stimulus that supplies fodder for the dream world. Given the numerology of the number four as “world” (the four corners), it is an interesting card to note such an interplay. This monk takes that stimulus one step further. His book (most likely scripture) seems to indicate intellectual contemplation. The cross is a contemplation on the experience of suffering. The skull is a memento mori. The card brings to mind rest in the mental stillness needed in contemplation, but more so in the memento mori that reminds us of the stillness of death. The Standard Four of Swords usually seems to portray sleep, but often in a way that resembles death, as sleep is so connected to death itself. As we noted in Somnium Spirituality,
When one realizes that for the outside observer there is little difference between a sleeping body and a dead body save the rhythmic breath, one begins to see how easy it is deduce a life after death. People fall into slumber and seem to enter a different world, and this happens as a regular human experience. If one takes that world as legitimate, then how natural is it to assume that when one hits “the big sleep” one transitions permanently. The only objection a modern could have is the cessation of measurable brain activity at death as opposed to active measurable brain activity during sleep, but the separate conclusions are each based on unprovable cosmological assumptions, because we are dealing in each case with worlds that are subjectively experienced outside the scope of the “physical world”.
The altar of the card presents this four fold progression from the self, to thought, to suffering connected to mortality, to the actuality of mortality. The card is a synthesis of this process. It is the human gift to be able to transcend self and be able to grasp our own mortality. This gift is a terror if it is not faced. But if one can face it as the monk is doing, it is a motivator to do good and to make of one's life what one can.
The image on the card is not biblical, but the Scripture passage we associated with the Four of Swords shows us Daniel on the banks of the Ulai having an experience similar to the process we just described. Daniel would have been a member of the elite of Israeli society but is now being carted off the captivity in Babylon in a state of humiliation and suffering. On his journey he has theophany. In his vision, he is struck as if death until he is raised by the guide of his vision. In the case of the card and the vision, the experient is left to process the meaning of death and how it fits into the cosmic scheme. This is a beautiful combination of raw experience, intellectual projection, and analytical contemplation. The cognitive maneuvers are not for their own sake. Rather, they are a motivator because death is also only a ‘rest” or transition ‘from one situation to another. As we discussed in the Major Arcana, preparation for this transition begs action here and now and there is a limited amount of time to take this action.
Considering our expanded resonance, the knowledge of mortality at least subconsciously bonds humanity together in a common task. PAradoxically the task this common knowledge offers is to make meaning of life. The intense awareness of mortality is what makes the bond of philia so intense during battle, and is also what makes our moral and existential shared imperative so pressing as a filial experience. Our own death and the transitory nature of those around us should be regularly in our mind as a calibrator of what we learn from scripture, how we experience suffering together, and finally as one of our shared human experiences.
Application
To meet the Four of Swords in contemplation is generally a call to contemplation. It more specifically calls one to introspectively consider one’s awareness of death or dissolution in the situation. Are the persons involved adequate respecting the bond that mutual mortality plays in the situation? The Four of swords could simply indicate a deadline in the situation. Or, lastly, Four of Swords could be an invitation to find rest and rejuvenation from things that are pressing in the situation that, when compared to impending death, turn out to be of no consequence.
In Reverse, the Four of Swords could indicate a restlessness that results in not confronting mortality. It could imply taking relationships for granted. It could imply a need for dynamic engagement in a situation. Finally, oppositional Four of Swords could bring up issues of self preservation in the situation.
Five of Swords: Little Girl Get up
Scripture Passage
So Jesus went in and said to them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. [At that] they were utterly astounded. -Mk 5:39-42
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Images on the Five of Swords generally show some sort to victory at a cost. This image has four swords Vertically alternating up and down on the upper portion of the card. They are struck thru horizontally by a fifth card. The final sword strikes backward (left to right) directly in the center of the after four swords. The four swords follow a pattern, but the fifth sword strikes through breaking the pattern, just as corporeal resurrection breaks with generally observable casualty as it is logically understood.
On the lower half of the card, we see Jesus raising the little girl from the dead. He is stooping over her bed, almost straddling it. His right hand is raised in blessing. As he leans into the girl’s, his left hand grasps her left hand. He is looking directly into her eyes. She is looking directly back at him. Her hair is covered by a veil. She is laying on the bed only just beginning to rise. Her right hand is supporting her by the elbow on the pillow. Her blanket is beginning to fall off as she rises. The image portrays tenderness and surprise, but a deep intimacy between the savior and the saved.
Meditation
The standard images of the Five of Swords show some sort of victory but at a cost. Generally, there is some sort of humiliation or regret in the victory, it was won by viciousness or through shame. In this case, the victory is resurrection, which is a great victory that cannot be attained except by the struggle of postlapsarian existence. The shame or cruelty of the struggle is humanity’s excursion into the state of original sin. But death itself is not framed as a cruel punishment in Genesis three. It must be remembered that the first parents acquired specific knowledge when they ate the fruit, the experiential knowledge of suffering. After explaining the effect of the fruit to the pair (this explanation is the so called “punishments”) God says to himself, “See! The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil! Now, what if he also reaches out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life, and eats of it and lives forever?” God’s concern seems to be a permanent state of postlapsarian suffering without reconciliation. Rather than that God gives the gift of rest (death) so that he can, through the patient course of salvation history, acquire for us and through us rectification and fulfillment of the situation. For our part, the victory does require a conscious realization that the saving powers of Christ transcend what we observe here and that cognition, ordered appropriately, yields to faith and hope. But in the end, there will be no shame, only a New Heaven and a New Earth crowned in Glory.
In the scripture passage, Jesus is ridiculed because of his assertion that the girl is asleep. It is not clear whether he is objectively correct, or, more likely, using symbolic language concerning the nature of death. Either way, Christ sees something they do not see. He is able to suspend observation bound by causal connection and tap into a deeper nature of death; death as sleep. Death as sleep has two meanings. This first is as a transition from one world to another; the waking world to the dream world as the terrestrial to the celestial. The second is the rhythm of sedate and action. This is made manifest in the ability of the girl to get up and “walk around”. The rhythm of waking and sleeping queues into a cosmic rhythm of rest and reawakening and exemplified by resurrection. Jesus has the ability to see evidence that is beyond the myopic evidence of “death” as a factoid unrelated to the rest of the human experience. His characterization of death as sleep begins to integrate it into the whole human experience and through that knowledge gives one a different relationship to death that turns weeping to joy. This new view is the victory through the shame of the former view. An alternative view of the scripture passage takes into account that Jesus is raising a female who is in a state of paralysis. Much like Luke 13, the woman with the bent back, this can be seen as a story of divine affirmation of feminine engagement. In this case, the masculine Suit of swords is employed to bolster the feminine and enliven the role of femininity in the world.
Concerning our expanded resonance, the Five of Swords is an example of filial love for Christians because we suffer the anxiety of death together, but the resurrected have moved past this anxiety. Some are even able to move past it before their own death. It is through our ability to see the evidence differently together, as Jesus taught the family, or in our ability to demonstrate it by our relationships that philia can be formed. Through philia, we can grasp the meaning of resurrection or rejuvenation as victory over death and thus invest together in hope by faith.
Application
To encounter the Five of Swords in Meditation offers the opportunity to recognize a hard won victory in the situation, and to recognize persons or people who helped that victory happen. Five of Swords can also present context for looking at evidence with a wider lens, ex: Death in the context of rhythms of life. Five of Swords could also indicate a filial bond made by overcoming or helping each other through trauma or anxiety. Lastly, Five of Swords could indicate a need for or activation of feminine engagement.
In Reverse, the Five of Swords can mean a myopic view of data, or it could indicate existing trauma that has not been resolved. It could imply that someone in the situation is suffering trauma or stagnation in isolation with no help. Five of Swords in opposition could also hint at a lack of faith or hope due to selective data. The oppositional could also indicate feminine paralysis in the situation. Lastly, the polar Five of Swords could indicate an irrational fear.
Six of Swords: Maternal Protection [The slaughter of the Innocents]
Scripture Passage
When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi. -Mt 2:16
Visual Symbolic Analysis
This card usually shows transition in hard circumstances. In this case, the card shows the six swords crossing the card horizontally from top to bottom, the column racing about three quarters of the way down. All of the swords are facing the same direction, to the left. At the bottom of the card, a woman and her child are pictured in flight, running in the same direction the swords are pointing. The Child clings to the woman’s hips as they run and has a look of terror on her face. Her clinging makes for an awkward posture and looks like it is complicated to move. This effect evokes sadness because one can sense that the child is scared, wants to run, and each of them could run faster if the child was not clinging so, but the urge to maternal protection and comfort is keeping the child attached. The mother herself is hunched over as she runs with the child. Her left arm is around the child in the same awkward bond, but her right arm is placed ahead as a balance. Her face seems calm and accepting of the situation, it portrays someone who is used to oppression, expected the flight, and is now doing what needs to be done. The card elicits a sense of oppression recognized and the painful harmony of protection and fleeing.
Meditation
The flight in the image is dominated by swords, which indicate thought and consciousness. This is the terror of the parent, that they cannot shelter their child from realizing the brokenness of this world. As we sculpt children with our ideals they are observing, analyzing, and processing. Then, long before we are ready, children ask the big questions, why do people die? Am I going to die? Why are people homeless? Can that homeless man live with us if he doesn't have a house? Why is there war? Am I safe? The questions from children are endless as they work the syllogisms in their minds and come to the terrible conclusions, all people die, I am a person, I will die. Homelessness is possible for people, I am a person, homelessness is possible for me. Then they check with their guardian to make sure they are safe. A parent must be honest, compassionate, and creative in their answers, keeping the hope of the ideal, but at the same time not deflecting the evidence the child has gathered, and not completely discounting how they apply the ideal to the situation. This is the calm but sad face of the mother and she wrapped her arm around the terrified child and seeks to steady herself as they move on the journey together.
The scripture reflection shows a particular instance of oppression of children and disregard for those who are to be protected. A king is meant to protect his subjects, not slaughter them. This passage shows all the cruel machinations of a machine of social sin, self invested in its lust for power. Such spiritual blindness would kill the most vulnerable, the least threatening, en masse in order to hedge bets against one threat decades down the road. These types of decisions happen in a cruel world where original sin has a grip on humanity and allows concupiscence to reign in their souls. It is our job to navigate the system to the best of our ability as moral agents and as people who are in the world but not of the world. In that space, we maneuver and use our best analysis and judgment to guide those we protect, even when those who properly should protect us are not doing their job. This, also, is the terror of the child and the calm sadness of the mother.
Considering our expanded resonance, the Six of Swords shows a filial bond of protector and protected especially manifest as a parent and child bond. It is the ability to use prudence to navigate moral choices, but also the ability to pass on a way of analyzing that teaches those under our care to do the same. This bond is a love of protection and security, but it is also a bond of master and teacher.
Application
To encounter the Six of Swords in contemplation is to be drawn to a motion of terror or oppression and how one reacts. The reaction is analytical and calculating, but in as much as it is communal, it is a bond of aid and comfort in a hard situation. The querent may want to look in the situation for teachers and learners of moral navigation in a broken world. The card also could be an invitation to investigate parental protection in the situation. Or one could use the card to focus on oppression and how it is affecting the situation.
In Reverse Six of Swords can invite a view of calm or well ordered protective institutions. It could also imply a calm comfortable parental relationship. Polar Six of Swords could indicate a rash or reflex reaction to danger without analysis. Lastly, oppositional Six of Swords could imply that a bond of protection has dissolved.
Seven of Swords: Cosmic Chaos
Scripture Passage
On that day,
The Lord will punish with his sword
that is cruel, great, and strong,
Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
Leviathan the coiled serpent;
he will slay the dragon
-Is 27:1
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The image of the Seven of Swords in the Tarot of the Saints differs from the common portrayal. The card often portrays a figure in the act of stealing a number of swords. But the Image here is seven swords seeming to fall down the vertical of the card in a chaotic array. They are falling toward the bottom of the card where the upper portion of a serpent is visible. At the bottom of the card, one sees the head and tail emerging from below and the serpent seems poised to bite its own tail. Should the serpent do this it would form the Ouroboros, a closed or returning system. The nearly closed serpent contrasts the chaotic swords. The image of the card evokes order out of chaos, but also inspires a sense of possible danger in every outcome of the image.
Meditation
The Seven of Swords offers a picture of Chaos and potential order. The card poses the question, which is preferable? The chaos takes the form of reason (swords) seeking or moving toward an ordered system, the Ouroboros. The Ouroboros most commonly symbolizes a system of life, death, and rebirth. But as a system or an abstraction, the Ouroboros comes to mean a “complete system” that closes in on itself and is self containing. The Author of Meditations on the Tarot Describes this understanding as “enfoldment”.
Now, the world of the serpent is that of enfoldment. The serpent biting his tail and thus forming a closed circle is its symbol. A completely successful enfoldment would be hell or the state of complete isolation.
Intellectually this is when one has wrapped one’s self up in a self referential theory to an extreme where every point of reference is enclosed in that theory. One can see how reincarnation can come to mean this. In that cosmology, a self enclosed world of at best ennui (Hinduism) or a life of suffering (Buddhism) must be escaped. In an intellectual realm, it could be any ideology or “ism” that one becomes enticed, then entrapped within. Examples could be a radicalized Thomism, or over applied existentialism, or any thought system that does not leave room for a multivalent epistemology. As reason seeks a way of understanding it is possible, even if the system itself offers much good, to become trapped in a system of thought. This happens when the system becomes predominantly exclusive and disallows any alternate perspective. The only counter argument for this is the all encompassing omniscience of God, which humans do not have access to. We generally strive for complete perfection, and thus, a closed intellectual system is appealing to us. But our perfection in the world is perfect striving, once we stop striving we have either given up or closed ourselves off from grace and inspiration.
The scripture passage indicates God’s reaction to the serpent’s coil. The seeming chaos in which our reason strives, premise by premise, factoid by factoid, is the matrix God wants us to strive in. He sees the order, our job is to seek him within that order, but not by self reliance. When our serpent coils, God seeks to break it and allow us to continue in our properly ordered mode of striving. The passage hints that this breaking may come via suffering as an experience against cognition as a self entrapping exercise. In many ways, the card becomes a meditation on point of view. The Leviathan seems like a great and powerful beast from our point of view. To be able to tame this creature, make it coil around us, and offer us protection is extremely appealing. This ability makes us feel in control of creation because the Leviathan can then strike out with its power and seek to bring the world into order according to your ability to wield the serpent. But actually, the serpent becomes your cage blocking you from further, deeper, or diversified understanding of creation, because in truth the serpent is only part of creation.
Concerning our expended resonance, the Seven of Swords shows a filial bond of comradery in shared systems of belief, particularly as people enlighten each other concerning the connections in the system. The Ouroboros is not closed, thus the chaos of swords are a frenzy of ideas and connections that people make together. There is a deep bonding joy in this mutual striving. As long as the pair do not close the system together or against each other, they continue to learn and expand their investment in the totality of the cosmos.
Application
Encountering the Seven of Swords in Meditation invites an assessment of how “ideologies” or lack thereof may be affecting the situation. It can also indicate a search for purpose or connection involved in the situation. The Seven of Swords could also imply the impact of divine mystery in the situation. Lastly, the card can imply the chaos of how we intellectually perceive the world, the various strands of thought, experience, facts, that we must seek to weave together to strive for a holistic vision.
In Reverse the Seven of Swords implies that someone in the situation is enclosed in the Ouroboros. Someone is trapped in a system to their detriment. Conversely, the polar could mean that the disconnected chaos of intellectual striving is negatively impacting the situation. The card could imply personal intellectual isolation. Lastly, oppositional Seven of Swords can be used to discuss issues regarding alienation from the divine because we somehow do not recognize our lack of perspective, either we think we have the whole picture or we suffer for knowing we don’t, but don’t see the agnosticism as room for constant growth.
Eight of Swords: The Martyr Waits
Scripture Passage
I want you to know, brothers, that my situation has turned out rather to advance the gospel, so that my imprisonment has become well known in Christ throughout the whole praetorium and to all the rest, and so that the majority of the brothers, having taken encouragement in the Lord from my imprisonment, dare more than ever to proclaim the word fearlessly. . . . My eager expectation and hope is that I shall not be put to shame in any way, but that with all boldness, now as always Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. -Phil 1:12-14, 20-23
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Eight of Swords positions the swords in crossing pairs forming a criss-cross pattern across the top of the card. The lowest most pair of swords cross behind the halo of a saint who is awaiting his execution. The saint is sitting straight up, with dignity. He is dressed in a toga and is old, with a grey beard. His hands are clasped in his lap in a calm manner that resonates with the serenity in his face. He sits on a large and immovable stone block. Coming from the block is a chain that is attached to the saint’s exposed barefoot by a manacle. The card implies impending doom, but a doom that is met with calm stoicism.
Meditation
The Eight of Swords generally portrays its subject entrapped by a “cage” of swords stabbed into the ground. The Tarot of the Saints does imply imprisonment, but unlike the standard Tarot deck, the imprisonment does not seem self imposed and cognitive. In this case, the cruel imprisonment is effected because the subject is sowing discord into the established order. The discord is the discord of Christ, and only appears to be discord because the system created runs counter to Christ’s true order of the Cosmos. When one comes with a different point of view, they are a threat to the unnatural yet solidified structure. It is at this point that the structure strikes out in self defense. This is the meaning of the intricately organized swords that bear down on the martyr. But the contemplative peace on his face allows us to understand the knowledge that he has, beyond the system bearing down on him, divine knowledge which grants a peace that surpasses all understanding. The peace of his face also implies the ease with which he can accept uncertainty, as opposed to the system which needs rigid order and definition.
At the heart of this card is a synthesis of cards leading up to it, when one’s active contemplation of death meets the closed Ouroboros. In the scripture passage, Paul makes clear that he intends to use his own death to effect change. Even by his death, he hopes to effect Christ’s presence through signification. The situation of “imprisonment” in this case is not the p[otential of the Seven of Swords. Rather it is the consequence of bringing a healthy dose of the Seven of Swords to a rigid system. The oppressive powers then put one under “arrest”. With that one gets a time of reflection and investment in the way they have chosen to live their life. This stillness, which is meant to inspire fear and dread for the “criminal”, instead inspired contemplation and centering for the Saint. The impending execution, meant to deter when done to the criminal, becomes inspiration when done to the saint. The symbiosis of self with mission and self with the community of the mission all takes place in the stillness of the confinement and generates a genre of literature that is exemplified by Paul but carries through Ignatius of Antioch all the way through Martin Luther King Jr.
That symbiosis is the impact of our Expanded resonance. One who awaits martyrdom centers themself enough to purposefully choose this martyrdom, that is, the appropriate being a martyr. The “waiting” allows for the assumption of the role and even, in the case of Paul for example, a bringing in of the community to that assumption. This is much more effective of a martyrdom than one without the waiting. The philia that is binding is the mutual bolstering between the active will of the “doomed Martyr” and the community who may be in fear, but are inspired by the fortitude of the one in a state of arrest. This bond is commonly effected by either letter or myth and implies the isolation of imprisonment. But the bond itself has the effect of offering fortitude and galvanization to the community and allowing them to further manifest their telos by their lives.
Application
To draw the Eight of Swords in contemplation is to meet with a forced rest allowing for contemplation. It may also imply a sacrificial example effective through a bond of Philia for a movement. Is there an outside force in the situation that halts activity? If so, can this be advantageous as a “regrouping” time? One may want to use this card to analyze the organized systems at work in the situation in order to evaluate their usefulness. Are they actually “arresting” as opposed to effective?
In Reverse, the Eight of Swords speaks to stillness that is anxious and not productive. Or polar Eight of Swords could point to intense engagement. Reverse Eight of Swords could be a chance to talk about the negative effect of crystalized systems (especially of oppression) in the situation. Lastly, oppositional Eight of Swords could indicate a person in the situation that is not appropriately inspirational or inspired.
Nine of Swords: The Dread of “Damocletia” at Prayer.
Scripture Passage
I will make [them] so fainthearted that the sound of a driven leaf will pursue them, and they shall run as if from the sword, and fall though no one pursues them; stumbling over one another as if to escape a sword, while no one is after them—so helpless will you be to take a stand against your foes! -Lv 26:36-37
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Nine of Swords presents an image very similar to the Eight of Swords. It repeats, almost exactly, the criss cross sword pattern of the Eight of Swords. But one sword is added pointing down the middle of the pattern. Again there is a figure at the bottom of the image, but this time it is a woman in prayer. The vertical sword is pointed directly over her head, as she kneels on the ground. Her posture is bent with humility and her hands are clasped before her lips in petition. Her eyes are closed and her face is focused. Next to her on the ground is a closed book. The image conveys anxious prayer in a time of trouble. Reason and learning (the book) has been set aside and the supplicant is now operating on faith and hope in a context of dread.
Meditation
The Nine of Swords is often a depiction of dread. Dread is particularly malevolent because it is completely spiritual. Dread is an inspiration to fear rather than an act of oppression. Usually the image portrays a connection to subconscious dread manifest in waking life. The subject is sitting up from a nightmare. In Tarot of the Saints, the Subject is connecting with another world, but in this case, that world is the celestial realm, not the dream world. And the connection is not a bubbling from the other world into this one. Rather, our subject is consciously aware of the dread and possibly even the cause of it. The dread is symbolized by the system of Criss Cross swords, ordered to entrap, possess, and oppress the subject. That system is now poised to inflict suffering if not destruction and the subject is turning to prayer in despair. The other world is not the source of subconscious dread, but rather the source of hope and salvation. The subject has dropped her book, no longer relying on herself, and is now reaching out to a power beyond the seemingly all encompassing system for aid and rescue.
The scripture passage shows that dread is a true and impactful experience, but the swords that pursue us have no real power. God “makes” us fear these swords and feel powerless against them. The key to understanding God’s motives for this is to notice the discarded book. This dread is what forces us to turn away from our own ability to handle a situation and turn to the trust of God. It shocks us out of the modus operandi of this world, which has closed in around us and entrapped us with its succinct logic of operation founded on the premises of Original Sin and concupiscence. Now the subject reaches outside the system, beyond logic, beyond effort, beyond experience, and relies only on hope in God’s mercy and justice.
The filial bond here is the bond of dread springing from oppression. Generally, the systems that bind and oppress in this world benefit the few and inflict dread on the many. This creates a large community of shared experience of suffering at the hands of the system and allows for compassion and mutual loving support as all together cry out to God for help and justice. Here is most certainly the summation of the sermon on the plain, which relays the lot of the persecuted. “Blessed are the poor, … Blessed are you who are now hungry, … Blessed are you who now weep.” The call of the beatitude is an invitation to understand God’s true protection in the face of an overwhelming sense of abandonment to worldly powers.
Application
To pull the Nine of Swords fundamentally allows for the querent to process any dread in the situation. This can be done from the point of view of the systems that cause dread. What is the sword pointing down over the subject? Or the ultimate resolution for mitigating the dread. Is one investing in the appropriate “power” to diffuse the dread? In as much as dread exists, one may also investigate whether one is “making use” of it in the situation. Lastly, Nine of Swords could indicate that someone is past the point of reason regarding a concern they have in the situation.
In Reverse the Nine of Swords can indicate relief or a resolution to a problem in the situation. The querent may want to analyze how that resolution was achieved. Or it could indicate a self reliance that is past its usefulness and a need to call out for help. Oppositional Nine of Swords may indicate a person in the situation who is privileged and feels no dread because of it. The question becomes how do they use that privilege? Lastly, polar Nine of Swords can imply a lack of compassion in the situation for those who experience existential dread.
Ten of Swords: The Five Wounds of Christ
Scripture Passage
Jesus’ disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” -Jn 20:26-29
Visual Symbolic Analysis
Again the Ten of Swords utilizes the Criss Cross sword pattern of the Previous two cards. But the Ten has two vertical swords, one striking down and one striking up. The penetrating motion down and up seems to imply a piercing of the organized rational system, a break in the organization that conquers it from the outside. Below the swords, on either side of the configuration are cherubs. The tips of the two closet swords seem to pierce their heads. Between them, they hold a cloth, on which is the insignia of the five wounds. The wounds are horizontal crescent shapes slits with stylized blood pouring out in a manner that almost makes each wound look like a closed eyelid. The cloth the cherubs hold is reminiscent of the temple veil, allowing one to see the wounds as some sort of gateway to mysteries behind.
Meditation
The Ten of Swords is generally a “rock bottom” card. It usually portrays a subject with ten swords in their back. The positive side of the card is that there is nowhere to go but up. The Tarot of the Saints has a similar meaning, but with a complex overlay of symbology from the deepest Christian mystery, the passion of Christ. The down motion is the gate for the upward motion. This “gate” is symbolized by the sheet born by the two cherubs. The meaning and method of that “gate” is relayed in the multilayer symbology of the image. First, the “rock bottom’ “nowhere to go but up” dynamic can be seen in the oppositional striking swords. The up down motion, traveling through and “piercing” the enclosed system brings to mind the descent of the incarnation, the passion and death, the resurrection, and the ascension. This entire process is how the Logos descends and ascends. In the incarnation, and especially in the events of the passion the Logos hits “rock bottom”. It is through the travail that the resurrection is achieved and the rectification between God and man is secured. The second layer is the wounds on the sheet. The wound is a penetration of a coherent organic system. The opening, like the opening of a sense organ, is a confluential portal between the inner and outer or one’s being, a path of the three tiered integration of the self. The wounds are more bitter and dangerous than the sense organs. The wounds are certainly a “rock bottom” But they are also the means of the glorious ascent. The piercing of self sacrifice, the vulnerable opening of self to the world, as opposed to the analytical processing of sense data that the sense organs represent. Hence the wounds appear to be “closed eyes”. This is a constant theme in Christianity, things are not as they seem as demonstrated numerous times in the book of Revelations. The Lion of Judah is a slain Lamb. The Army of the Lord is a mass of martyrs. The victorious Church suffers under persecution. Now we have wounds that are gates of glory. They appear to be closed eyes because if one trusts one’s eyes, one sees a slain lamb, not a conquering Lion. The Cherubs on either end of the gate are guardians. They are not welcoming, their faces wear looks of discomfort and disapproval. Their heads seem to be pierced by the extreme manifestations of the lowest aspects of the oppressive system, the corners at which the most violence and brutality will occur, the corners that are most likely to draw people who are mesmerized by them away from the truth, the corners that are most likely to crucify the Messiah.
The Scriptural passage may give light as to why five wounds would relate to the Ten of Swords. Each wound is a gate that has two sides (5X2=10). The piercing of Christ’s flesh sets up the bridging of a duality, whereby the observer can become one with the subject. The inner is exposed to the outer. In the passage from John, we see Thomas not seeing and thus not believing. Thomas seeks to “observe” analytically rather than experience sacrificially as Christ has. When Christ appears to him he has him “re-pierce” the wounds with his own hands. Thomas has an experience of the inner. It is through traversing the gates of the wounds into Christ that Thomas has his theophany. Christ then references the closed eyes of the image on the Ten of Swords, blessed of those who have not seen and believe, those who can trust what appears to be a tragedy to be the revelation of the Glory of God, what appears to be a closing of the gates of perception for Jesus of Nazareth, are an opening to divine life for humanity.
The powerful philia in this image is the bond across the wounds, us on the one side to the five wounds and the depth of Christ on the other side. It is the shared bond between the priest victim and those he saved. The mutual experience expands the five wounds to ten perceptions of mutuality in a relationship of suffering that bonds in filial love and exalts the participants to the Eschaton. As Christ says, “there is no greater love than this to lay down his life for their friends.” Christ's assertion here shows the filial bonding that can be the impetus of sacrifice, but also the bond that effects “sacrifice for”, which facilitates a mutual experience of sacrifice that carries beyond the act itself into the result. That experience effects the relationship as a filial bond
Application
An encounter with the Ten of Swords is usually a meditation on suffering or betrayal. In the case of the Tarot of the Saints, the card presents redemptive or sacrificial suffering. The card allows the querent to focus on relationships of sacrifice in how they lead forward. The Ten of Swords can also be a chance to consider “doors” in the situation. Are there openings that are accessible that, though painful, may lead to a better situation? The Ten of Swords could also indicate the ascension and decision of Christian power dynamics. Lastly, the Ten of Swords invites the querent to consider the vulnerable act of “self sharing”, making the inner the outer as it impacts the situation.
In Reverse the Ten of Swords could indicate denial or avoidance of necessary suffering. Oppositional Ten of Swords is the closing of a door, the disallowance of sharing self, and forming bonds of philia through sacrifice or vulnerability. Polar Ten of Swords could be the faces of the Cherubs, someone in the situation who cognitively invests in the superstructure of oppression at the most base, most extreme level, leading to brutality.
Page of Swords: Saint Martin de Tours
Hagiography
Saint Martin de Tours was born to pagan parents; his father was a Roman military officer and tribune. Martin was raised in Pavia, Italy. He discovered Christianity and became a catechumen in his early teens. He also joined the Roman imperial army at age 15, serving in a ceremonial unit that acted as the emperor’s bodyguard, rarely exposed to combat. Cavalry officer, and assigned to garrison duty in Gaul.
He was baptized into the Church at age 18. Trying to live his faith, he refused to let his servant wait on him. Once, while on horseback in Amiens in Gaul (modern France), he encountered a beggar. Having nothing to give but the clothes on his back, Martin cut his heavy officer‘s cloak in half and gave it to the beggar. Later he had a vision of Christ wearing the cloak. This incident became iconographic of Martin.
Once, just before a battle, Martin announced that his faith prohibited him from fighting. He was charged with cowardice and was jailed. His superiors planned to put him in the front of the battle. However, the invaders sued for peace, the battle never occurred, and Martin was released from military service. Spiritual student of Saint Hilary at Poitiers, France.
Martin became a hermit for ten years in the area now known as Ligugé. A reputation for holiness attracted other monks, and they formed what would become the Benedictine abbey of Ligugé.
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Page of Swords is generally depicted holding his sword aloft in a poise that is ready for action. The posture generally speaks to readiness to do battle. The posture and general cognitive implication of the suit hints at a sophomoric urge to debate for the sake of debate with a strategy to syllogism over premise. Saint Martin de Tours is dressed as an imperial soldier. He is also seen holding a sword aloft, but not with two hands, or one hand with sword and one hand balanced for battle as is often the case. Rather in his right hand holds the sword up for display and his left hand holds out his cloak, reminiscent of his famous encounter with the beggar where he cut his cloak in order to cloth him. The act itself shows the Christian integration of intellect and charity. This is the subsequent dream with Christ wearing his cloak, symbolically portraying a seamless integration of intellect, charity, and intuitive acumen through which we can have a true encounter with Christ..
Meditation
The Page of each suit represents engagement in the significance of that suit at an exuberant, but novice or sophomoric level. To meet a page in contemplation evokes consideration of zeal but also a lack of experience in persons involved in the situation. The Page of Swords is often interpreted as a card centered around communication. It is interpreted as pursuit of truth communicated, or under various methods of communications. It represents the sophomoric zeal of one who is impressed by a new field of communicative engagement and devours opportunity to engage in dialogue. But the zeal is offset by a lack of depth or polished skill regarding the topic.
As a page card Martin de Tours makes sense as a founder of a neophyte community in France, being there when Christianity is new to the region. His expansion of the gospel in the area as a soldier turned bishop is symbolic of Christianity’s expansion across the empire as it effects the basic institutions and conforms them to the gospel. Martin’s communication is not primarily remembered by his use of language. Rather, typical of a soldier, he is remembered by his actions and what they communicate. These actions include his hasty act of charity toward the cold beggar and his stubborn refusal to bear arms against the barbarians in battle. One is reminded of the maximum attributed to Saint Francis, preach the gospel always, when necessary use words. If one has zeal for the gospel and for the Truths of the faith, it is hard to go wrong by sticking to simple acts of charity rather than citing obscure magisterial documents or the likes of Thomas Aquinas’ Summa. The Page and Knight share a clear pedagogical relationship in both the Staffs and Swords. Martin is the student of Hilary of Poitiers, who is often pictured with a dragon symbolizing heresy that he battles. The Knight of Swords, Saint George, Slays a dragon symbolizing idolatry. The Relation Martin has with these two saints is one of learning and study, the need to take one’s time to use the skills one has. Given the cognitive nature of the Suit of Swords, the skill could be the building of comradery, it could be the ability to syllogize, it could be the ability to vet premises, or it could be the skill of learning where to invest one’s cognitive capital.
Given our expanded resonance, Saint Martin as the page shows us the comradery of a common task, both as a soldier in a unit of Men and as a Bishop who is the unifier of a diocese. Each role has tasks and objectives to accomplish and each takes cooperation in order to achieve the task. There is a newfound exuberance in working together toward a task that excites ideas and communication, typical of a communal brainstorming experience. Those ideas need to be crafted and shaped into a systematized actionable agenda. In war, there is a framework for action, a plan, but in battle, there is chaos and action. This raw action of the Page of Swords will ultimately need to be settled out. In terms of Filial love, the raw foundational relationship needs to be developed.
Application
When one encounters the Page of Swords in Meditation one is drawn to the excitement of new comradery, filial love. The querent may want to probe the situation for opportunities for expanding use of cognitive abilities. Or one can consider how communications are happening by display of action. Lastly, the Page of Swords can bring to mind pedagogy regarding how to deal with aspects of the situation, especially concerning cognitive approaches.
In Reverse the Page of Swords may bring to mind sophomoric competitiveness that comes from aggressive debate, arguing from form, not content. It could signify all talk and no action, The oppositional could also imply lack of communication, miscommunication, or a breakdown of bonds. Lastly, reverse Page of Swords could imply emotive excitement.
Knight of Swords: Saint George
Hagiography
The best known account of Saint George is the Golden Legend. In it, a dragon lived in a lake near Silena, Libya. Whole armies had gone up against this fierce creature and had gone down in painful defeat. The monster ate two sheep each day; when mutton was scarce, lots were drawn in local villages, and maidens were substituted for sheep. Into this country came Saint George. Hearing the story on a day when a princess was to be eaten, he crossed himself, rode to battle against the serpent, and killed it with a single blow with his lance. George then held forth with a magnificent sermon and converted the locals. Given a large reward by the king, George distributed it to the poor, then rode away. Saint George is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
Visual Symbolic Analysis
Saint George is pictured in full armor holding his sword to his chest. The sword is almost the length of George himself and has a blue handle. At his feet is the dead dragon, looking almost as if it is in slumber. The dragon is dark red and his face is tucked to his feet coiling around Saint George like a dog may sleep at his master’s feet.
The image portrays a victory won over an advisory. The stillness of the image is in sharp contrast to the standard Knight of Swords card where there is swift and dynamic motion. In this card, the intellect has been employed and the matter is done, conscious engagement has prevailed and Saint George wears a look of calm contentment on his face.
Meditation
The Knight of each suit can be thought of as the employment or good use of that suit’s significance. To encounter a knight in contemplation allows the querent to reflect on how the suit the knight represents is best employed, or how it is being employed by someone in the situation. The Knight of Swords generally implies a person who is assertive, direct, intellectual, and an ambitious perfectionist. The card indicates skilled and successful use of intellect. The Knight of Sword best employs certain Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Gifts of Reason. They are knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. These gifts build upon one another and as one advances in their use, they are able to better use their intellect in the service of others. Knowledge is the ability to learn and retain facts and information that is true. But knowing by itself is practically useless. All one can do is regurgitate information, and this may not even happen in a good circumstance. Thus once one knows one should understand. Understanding is the ability to systematize and relate facts to each other, draw inferences and frameworks among the pieces of knowledge one has. But even this is still self serving without wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to see the good and usefulness of the knowledge and understanding one has and use it in God’s service.
Saint George definitely shows daring assertiveness. The dragon he slays is thematic in stories of Saints. The Litany of the Dragons gives an account of two kinds of saints who engage in “dragon work” those who tame them and those who slay them. Saint John as the Page of Cups is pictured as a tamer on a micro-scale, but George is imaged as a slayer on a macro scale. The Dragon in these hagiographical templates most often symbolizes pagan society. As we noted in the Knight of Cups, one can fulfill such reptiles. In this case a Dragon Tamer inculturating the gospel. The result is a variety of Christianity that is true to the gospel but reflective of the beauty, concern, and temperament of the original pagan Society. A Dragon Slayer, on the other hand, is indicative of the fact that some aspects of that society need to be done away with. For example with Saint George, the willingness to sacrifice human life and dignity for, what appears to be, a subsidiary social well being is a practice contrary to the gospel. Denying humans of life or dignity or using them as an instrument to achieve ends cannot be reconciled with the gospel, thus cannot, by any means, be enculturated. The slaying of this dragon, as the Knight of Swords, is an intellectual calculation, which reduces that an aspect is irreconcilable. Saint George replaces the culture of human sacrifice for the greater good with a preaching of the gospel and a lavish display of Christian Charity. In this case, something is cut away and replaced with an alternative. The Knight of Swords weighs the good and bad of choices and accepts all that is good and rejects what is evil.
In terms of expanded resonance, Saint George is bound by the structure of knightly chivalry, he protects the weak and vulnerable. Thus his action in slaying the dragon is his mission, his subsequent action is the greatest act of filial love, The ability to support a society in a way that is equitable and allows for the prosperity of all parties. The bond of the filial comes with the bond of society and its structures. These structures can be great dragons, oppressing us. Or they can be beautiful relationship and interrelationships that we use to express charity and spread the gospel.
Application
To meet Saint George Knight of Swords in contemplation most generally allows for investigation concerning the use of Knowledge, understanding or wisdom in the situation. Saint George could also be used to see how use of intellect to cut away negative structures and influences in one’s life applies in the situation. Are there aspects or people in the situations that need to be neutralized or deemphasized? Or as a cognitive meditation, Saint George could direct questions concerning compartmentalization of the situation in order to identify dangers or evils. Most generally the Knight of Swords seeks an activation of cognitive intellectual abilities.
In Reverse Saint George as the Knight of Swords could indicate one or more of the Gifts of reason is not operative, leaving the others at a disadvantage. It could also lead one to seek a person in the situation who is confrontational or uses their intellect divorced from charity or compassion. George could indicate a person who attacks by technical knowledge, sophisticated semantics, syllogism, logic, and always with a valid argument. But often (even knowingly) they argue without sound premises. The point is victory, not harmony or edification. Or polar Knight of Swords could be an invitation to employ one’s emotive or intuitive skills in the situation.
Queen of Swords: Saint Joan of Arc
Hagiography
Saint Joan of Arc was one of five children born to Jacques d’Arc and Isabelle Romee. She was a shepherdess and a mystic. From age 13 she received visions from Saint Margaret of Antioch, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and Michael the Archangel.
In the early 15th century, England controlled most of what is modern France. Joan’s visions told her to find the true king of France and help him reclaim his throne. She resisted for more than three years, but finally went to Charles VII and told him of her visions. Carrying a banner that read “Jesus, Mary”, she led troops from one battle to another. She was severely wounded, but her victories brought Charles VII to the throne. Captured by the Burgundians during the defense of Compiegne, she was put on trial by an ecclesiastical court and was executed as a heretic.
Visual Symbolic Analysis
Saint Joan Queen of Swords is pictured with close cropped hair and clad in armor from neck to hips. But she dons a flowing skirt to her mid calves and is wearing armored shoes. This break in armor seems to accentuate her femininity amidst a very masculine role. The image strikes the gender paradox of saints (especially women) who gender shift their roles. The Suit of Swords is the most analytically aligned, and yet her armor seems designed such to show a feminine possibility. Her hands are clasped over her hearts and her eyes are closed in contemplation. This speaks to her ability to employ the analytic and conscious while maintaining a relationship with the inner intuitive. Her sword is sheathed at her side in a sign of the conscious analytic that is not combative.
Meditation
The Queen of each suit is generally interpreted as the mature feminine manifestation of that suit’s significance. Queens are the suit manifest as nurturing, protective, emotive, compassionate, giving, and caring manifestation of what a suit symbolizes. The King and Queen cards of a suit also represent the spectral extremes regarding the gender resonance of the suit itself. A queen card of the masculine oriented suits is going to present as the nearest one can get to the center of the gender spectrum regarding that suit. Whereas a queen card of a feminine suit is going to present the best manifestation of what that suit symbolizes as it is presented by masculine principles. The Suit of Swords is a suit that generally aligns with the masculine so the king and queen will align appropriately on this gender spectrum. The Queen of Swords is a person who uses the masculine analytical and cognitive disposition toward a nurturing and compassionate end.
Given these alignments, Joan of Arc is one of the “transgender” saints. These saints are almost exclusively women, who decide that it is better to present as a man in life either temporarily or permanently. In Joan’s career as a military leader she was able to influence regional politics and shape the public world. These traditionally masculine roles take great awareness and cognitive skill associated with the Queen of Swords. As the Queen of Swords, Joan presents a paradoxical union of masculinity and femininity. The Queen of Swords is generally perceived as a woman who is honest, independent, and offers constructive criticism. She leans to an objective stance, but in a way that is perceptive of the person involved “as a person”. Joan’s inspiration for her life comes from three celestial beings who subdue and destroy. Saint Michael subdues Satan and casts him into hell. Saint Margaret destroys the Devil in the form of a serpent. Saint Catherine destroys the oppressive torture wheel of the Romans. Joan Queen of Swords possesses a sword that seems to use cognition to cut away negative influences in life. These include the demonic, the influences of corrupt systems, or can even be brought to the level of toxic personalities. These influences need to be combated, subdued, and/or destroyed. Joan’s life represents that struggle, which is effected “by the sword”.
Concerning our expanded resonance, Joan as the Queen of Swords shows a calculation of filial love. This calculation is one of allies and enemies. She allies herself with the powers that she owes allegiance to and cuts away at the powers that are against her. In life, these are people who edify and people who detract from love in one’s life. The foundation being built upon is national alliance, but for the individual, it can translate to comradery. Saint Joan seeks to bolster comradery in combating forces that would nullify it.
Application
To meet Saint Joan as the Queen of Swords in contemplation is to be offered a chance to explore paradox in the situation, especially gender paradox. Or Saint Joan may bring one to use the powers of intellect to identify allies and neutralize enemies. Lastly, her experience as a mystic may lead the querent to pay closer attention to their celestial relationships.
In Reverse Joan unsheathes her sword and strikes with vengeance, brutality, and uncalculated destruction. As a reverse queen, this implies an attack that is manipulative and unforgiving, laced with spiteful cruelty or deceitfulness. The querent may look to identify such a person in the situation. Lastly, a polar Queen of Swords seeks a peacemaking influence that is hyper masculine and transcendently objective.
King of Swords: Saint Paul
Hagiography
Saint Paul the Apostle was a Jewish Talmudic student, a Pharisee, and a tent-maker by trade. Saul the Jew hated and persecuted Christians as heretical, even assisting at the stoning of Saint Stephen the Martyr. On his way to Damascus, Syria, to arrest another group of faithful, he was knocked to the ground, struck blind by a heavenly light, and given the message that in persecuting Christians, he was persecuting Christ. The experience had a profound spiritual effect on him, causing his conversion to Christianity. He was baptized, changed his name to Paul to reflect his new persona, and began traveling, preaching, and teaching. His letters to the Churches he helped form a large percentage of the New Testament. He knew and worked with many of the earliest saints and fathers of the Church. Martyr.
Visual Symbolic Analysis
Saint Paul the King of Swords is pictured facing the observer. He is holding a sword ascending across his chest with his right hand and an open book with his left. Saint Paul is traditionally pictured with a sword in iconography. There are two reasons for this. First is that martyrs are often pictures with the implements of their death, their shame which is now their crown. As a Roman citizen was Paul was beheaded. The second is that Paul famously describes the “armor of God” as an analogy for the virtues a Christian must consciously practice in order to do moral battle against evil in the world. He beckons the reader in that analogy to take “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” The Word of God is also described in Hebrews as “sharper than a two edged sword”. The book in Saint Paul’s hand seems to be the scriptures. It stands open ready to be consciously engaged, unlike the book carried by Andrew the King of Cups.
Meditation
The King in each suit is generally interpreted as the mature masculine manifestation of that suit’s significance. In contemplation, the presence of a King card invites the querent to consider aspects of traditional masculinity, father figures, social order in the situation. The King and Queen cards of a suit also represent the spectral extremes regarding the gender resonance of the suit itself. A king card of the feminine oriented suits is going to present as the nearest one can get to the center of the gender spectrum regarding that suit. Whereas a king card of a masculine suit is going to present the best manifestation of what that suit symbolizes as it is presented by masculine principles. The Suit of Swords is a suit that generally aligns with the Masculine so the king and queen will align appropriately on this gender spectrum. M The King of Swords is generally interpreted as a person exemplifying reason, authority, discipline, integrity, morality, and strictness.
These definitely speak to perceptions of Saint Paul that we get from his epistles. He uses his words to guide communities he founded toward an experience of communion with Christ and each other. His words are his primary weapon and they become a large part of the New Testament. But he claims that the “Word of God” and “the Spirit” are the sword, and these are not written words. Rather they are persons of the Trinity that a person cooperates with in order to experience Justification. Hence, Paul’s ability to wield order by means of his word is rooted in the greater order of the cosmos, it taps into the primary Logos, begotten not made, that brings order, and the spirit that unites our consciousness to his. “Words” are the medium of the conscious rational realm. Introspectively, they are most commonly the perceived aspect of the “perceiver/perceived” dynamic of conscious thought. This is the analogy that is on display in the beginning of John’s Gospel regarding trinitarian abidance, where the word is with God and the Word is God. It is also the internal working of the auditory consciousness. Lastly, words are a way that we reach communion. Thus the book and sword in Saint Paul’s hands are instruments that use reason and cognition through locution to bring harmony to the world. Paul is the great inculturator. He is the one who is able to bring a Jewish messiah alive in a Greco Roman pagan culture. He does this by his fortitude, his love, and his passionate but sharp intellect. As a King of Swords, he is “in battle” with a culture that is in many ways at odds with the gospel. But his weapon is the keen ability to analyze that culture, find compatibility, and play them up. Only after bolstering compatibility does Paul then use his sword to cut away contradictions and leave a new creation, a culture of Christianity that is true to the gospel, but reflective of a people who did not know the gospel previously.
Regarding our expanded resonance, Saint Paul the King of Swords uses the sword he wields to forge relationships of filial love between persons and cultures. His macro-cultural engagement utilizes a domain of filial love in order to enliven the gospel, dormant in that culture since the Fall. Saint Paul as the wielder of a sword observes and analyses the foundational relationship of philia, the matrix of the preexisting relationship, then brings reason and judgment to bear on how best to develop those matrices for good and against evil. For Paul the primary relationships were cultural, gentile or Jew, servant or free, etc. But his strategy can be used for any foundational filial relationship that is a starting point for mutual cooperation.
Application
To meet Saint Paul the King of Swords in contemplation gives one the opportunity to ponder how words are being used to edify the situation, especially as they concern filial relationships. The card could also evoke questions concerning the situations as it presents intercultural dialogue or syncretism in a planned or structured way. Is there a person in the situation who is an overarching organizing leader seeking to effect good filial relationships? Lastly, the King of Swords can imply a person who uses reason to order an environment or protect and provide for the vulnerable.
In Reverse Saint Paul, the King of Swords is the summation of an objective systematizer without thought for individual effect or consideration for compassion. One may want to analyze the situation to see if any aspects are enmeshed in a careless system or culture of cruelty. Or the querent may investigate to see if there is a person dictatorially organizing to social effect at the expense of personal relationships? Or oppositional King Saint Paul could be indicative of a person in the situation who uses their words divisive or to cruel effect. Lastly, oppositional Saint Paul could be a person who compassionately relates to the individual.
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