Ten of Swords

August 22, 2007

Few cards are more dreaded than the Ten of Swords. The one shown here is from the Waite Smith deck.

It graphically illustrates a man on the ground, in a spreading pool of blood, with ten swords sticking out of his back from haunch to neck. Unarguably the most gruesome of the Seventy-Eight. At least, in this deck. Even understanding the nuances of the image, I still tend to cringe when you see it, especially as an ‘outcome’ card.

But what does it mean; endings, finality, complete annihilation? Yes, it does. But it can also mean ‘relief’. It can mean ‘overkill’. Imagine you are in an intolerable situation and you are at wits end regarding how to end it. When you see this card as the ‘outcome’ or ‘answer’ in a spread, you might think that you are simply going to die from the stress. But what if the card is telling you that the situation is coming to an end? Relief. This situation has run it’s course, and will be ending soon. Or what if this is a case of you brewing a tempest in a teapot, and the card is telling you to stop worrying yourself sick about something over which you have no control? Overkill. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy, making matters far worse than they need to be.

We tend to identify with the figure being pinned to the ground by many blades. But what if the figure represents something that is causing pain, suffering, trouble or anxiety? If that is the case, then this card is a welcome sight.

I know that many of us, myself included, tend to think the worst when reading for ourselves. It’s overcompensation in and effort not to sugar-coat a reading by seeing only what you want to see in the cards. So it is important to remember what you would tell a client when this card appears. And yes, sometimes this card is indicating negative things. But you would try and explore ways in which this card could be a positive message for your client before assuming otherwise, so why not do so for yourself? And even if the message is one of failure or disappointment, there is almost always a silver lining. After death comes rebirth or resurrection. There are no truly final endings, not as long as Time continues to flow.

As with the other ‘dreaded cards’ there are always positive ideas to be found in their seemingly negative meanings. It’s just a matter of being open to them.

Posted in Dreaded Cards