knight of Swords

🎨 Weekly Creativity Prompt – Knight of Swords

/ Twist the Leaf / Leave a comment

Prompt: “Pull the Knight of Swords card from your deck(s). Compare the imagery between the card provided below and the card(s) from your own deck(s). How would you read them differently and why?“

Japaridze Tarot - Knight of SwordsJaparidze Tarot – The benefits of listening. In a conversation, a debate, or an argument… do you speak? Or do you listen? When the other person is speaking, are you listening? Or are you chomping at the bit to open your mouth and have your side heard? How much restraint does it take to hold back? How hard is it to not hear “Charlie Brown adults” wah-wahing away and instead hear the words said and -think- about them before opening your own mouth? In this card, that is what I see. I see someone fighting to choke back their words, all the while rolling their eyes. Not listening. Just waiting for their time to speak. Is this something that you do? How can you do better, and what will it change if you try to step back and listen instead of jumping forward with “guns blazing”?

Knight of Swords - Lucid Mind Tarot, The Caticorn Deck, The Lighted Window Tarot

Lucid Minds Tarot – This is one of those rare Knight of Swords cards where the Knight’s sword is pointed down.  It speaks of taking time to think before you act rather than charging ahead.  Whether acting is a physical manifestation, or about what is about to come out of your mouth that may influence others or the world around you, this card is a reminder that we need to think first.  Not just about what we want or need to say or do, but about how we say it, as well as how those words (or strategic actions) may affect others.

The Caticorn – A classic knight, this card is filled with action and the knight is poised for battle. His face shows keen intellect and that posture of preparedness indicates that he is ready to act without hesitation. Movement in the background reflects an “Eight of Wands” type of theme, speaking of a need for speed, while the cat’s expression and body language makes it clear that if you’re going to act, make sure you do so with purpose.

The Lighted Window Tarot – In this card, although the sword is up and at the ready, there is no indication of speed nor impulsivity.  The knight’s hair floats around in the air above their head, speaking to me of inscrutable thoughts that are clouded and messy.  Perhaps this is why the Knight is not moving.  The clenched fist of his left hand indicates he wants to, but they hold off to make sure that they are clear-headed first.  I would see this card saying that sense of holding off for clarity is a good idea for the querent as well.

DECK USED: JAPARIDZE TAROT, LUCID MINDS TAROT, THE CATICORN DECK, THE LIGHTED WINDOW TAROT

Time To Climb

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

Today’s meditation was a little over ten minutes long, and although it was a guided meditation, I got so far into the zone that I don’t think I heard a word of it.  It was very relaxing and was primarily focused on the selenite resting against my solar plexus, and the ebb and flow of my energy timed to match my breaths.

Tarot of the SidheToday’s draw is the Dreamer Four (Four of Swords), which is traditionally a representation of taking time to rest and recover, a restorative pause along your path, and can indicate a time of needed recuperation and healing.

I actually have a bit of difficulty with the imagery on this card.  Something about it hearkens back to the Lady Freda Harris artwork of the original Thoth deck, and although this card does not make me internally flinch the way the artwork in that other deck does?  It does create a feeling of discomfort. I’m pretty sure it has to do with the curved rays crisscrossing behind the sun?   I don’t know.  It’s uncomfortable.

That said… I do see the symbolism here in the figure in the center and the glowing sun.  The mountains and clouds.   And that actually does speak to me today.

The message here is a reminder that sometimes restoration and recovery isn’t about taking a nap or lying down, or resting the body at all.   Sometimes it’s about getting outside and connecting with nature, breathing in the fresh air and feeling the exertion of doing something you love that makes the body work and lungs strain.

It’s a reminder that I need to go for a hike this weekend.

DECK USED:  TAROT OF THE SIDHE

#TarotForGrowthAugust Challenge Prompt
Topic: I’m struggling to move past trauma.
Question: What are my expectations of how my loved ones should support my healing?

El Gran Tarot Esoterico

Reading Summary: They should instinctively know what I need (The High Priestess), and come forward on their own to take on more responsibility and control (The Chariot) so that I don’t feel so overburdened (Ten of Wands).

Take Away:  Well, that made me squirm a bit to admit. Okay so I guess I do sort of feel this way sometimes… even though I know that these expectations are ridiculous, and that I need to communicate what’s going on so that my loved ones know what I need and when I need it. As much as they want to help, they aren’t mind readers.

DECK USED:  EL GRAN TAROT ESOTERICO

#DiscordTarotholicsAug2020 Challenge Prompt
Question: What accomplishment from this month deserves celebration?

Stunning TarotReading Summary: Choosing (Two of Swords) to work on my inner dynamic (The High Priestess) by focusing on the good in my life and what makes me happy (Nine of Cups), and prioritizing it  over the habitual urge to close myself off and bear down on my business (Nine of Wands).

Take Away:  Honestly, I hadn’t really felt like I had accomplished all that much this month. And then this reading made me realize that I might have something done something rather significant after all.  The fact that this is such a significant accomplishment is that it’s something I have never done before.  Something I never would have even considered okay to do.

But this year I’ve worked very hard to allow my emotional growth some free reign, and to give myself more slack than I’ve ever given myself before.  I’ve found myself trying to heal inner wounds I didn’t even realize existed and, in some cases, actually thought were positive traits.  Traits that I’ve come to realize are harmful.

This month I made it the entire month where every day I made a concerted effort to not push so hard or demand so much, but instead focus upon the things that make me happy and create positive emotional responses.  I’ve focused on not abusing myself, but instead fostering that internal need to do less, and enjoy more.    I think that’s pretty significant.

DECK USED:  STUNNING TAROT

Lionharts #TheAugustTarot #ElementalChallenge
Topic: Give thought to all of your August lessons and draw a card.

Encore Tarot - Knight of Swords“Preparation paves the road” is the lesson that came to mind in relation to this month and that is the lesson I focused upon when pulling this card. The Knight of Swords here then signified the swift action that prior preparation and planning can encourage. It’s much easier to go after what you want and get the things done that you need to get done, when you’ve done the prep work first and everything is in order and ready for you.

Somewhere along the line I managed to forget this very valuable lesson. I have been saving all of my orders work to be done on certain days, and on other days I was just doing random crap that needed done. This might work when things are really slow… but it doesn’t work at all when you have a lot that needs to get done.  As the end of the month has approached, this lesson has become more and more apparent, and it’s time to start spreading my work out more, so that I’m not racing the clock so often or doing so many all-nighters on Mondays and Thursdays.

DECK USED:  ENCORE TAROT

#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge by E Roebuck-Jones
Question: How would I feel without sadness/anger/disappointment?

Magic Tarot

Reading Summary: Incomplete (Nine of Swords) and half blind (Eight of Swords) with very little motivation (Knight of Wands Rx).

Note:  Nine of Swords represents “incomplete” in this spread because the question is about cutting out everything that the Nine of Swords represents.  This makes its presence in the spread an outlier… on the edges alone and bleeding.

Take Away:  The fact is is that people need these negative emotions to help balance out the positive ones. Without that balance you cannot be whole and complete… nor can you grow, because you will be left blinded and unable to see due to half of the language the world uses teach you being silenced.

DECK USED:  MAGIC TAROT

Weekly Creativity Prompt – The Knights

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

Pull the Knights from a deck of your choice. Do you have someone in your life that fits with one of these cards? Do you have people in your life that would fit with each of them? Tell us about the connection you see between each Knight card and the person in your life it represents.

Numinous Tarot

Knight of Wands (Explorer of Candles) – Idealistic and demanding, she visits the protests each night after work. With a mask over her face she holds her sign high, she shouts her passions loud and strong as she joins the mass in the streets again and again. She stands up for her beliefs and for what’s right.  She stands up for what she feels is important, protesting and demanding change as she helps the protestors to drive home what is important and what needs done.

Knight of Swords (Explorer of Bells) – What had once been a spark of an idea has become a burning need to succeed.  She built this business from the ground up and now constantly pushes forward, ever onward, to guide the business towards growth and encourage it to flourish.  Sometimes she takes risks that seem reckless in this need to advance her cause.

Knight of Cups (Explorer of Vials) – Such a charmer, he hits the bars each night with his frat brothers and always comes home with a giggling and happy girl.  He leaves them as happy as he finds them, if not happier, but he does this naturally in pursuit of his own fulfillment.  After all?  How can he wrangle the very best experience out of them without giving them the very best in turn?  Sometimes this means they fall for him, but he’s the love’em and leave’em type.  He does his best to let them down easy, because there’s new depths to explore around the corner with another in the wings.

Knight of Pentacles (Explorer of Tomes) – Five days a week he sits at a desk in a pleated suit and tie.  He meets with clients and guides them forward, showing them how to invest, and what to invest in, sharing strategies for paying off their debts, for financing their mortgage, for creating a fund for their retirement.  His passion in this work, in helping others find their own stability, brings him to work each day and he takes his own advice to build his own future as well.

DECK USED:  THE NUMINOUS TAROT

Forethought and Choices

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

Today’s meditation was just over twelve minutes long, and was focused (again) on the new year.  It spoke of new years resolutions, and how they don’t work.   Not because we don’t want them to or don’t have every intention of following through with them, but because change is often something that needs to be integrated into our lives one small step at a time so that we have time to adjust and adapt.

When we try to instill change in a sudden sort of way, what  often happens is that you have difficulty following on through the larger changes once the newness has fallen away.   When you stretch out the process and take little steps?  There’s a better chance of it sticking as it means that the new habits have time to integrate and overwrite the old.

My personal opinion is that sometimes it works… and sometimes?  It doesn’t, yeah?  Some habits need more than willpower to break.  Sometimes it’s not about habits, but about a mindset.  And sometimes?  What we’re trying to break the habit of doing isn’t a habit at all, but a part of our very nature.  All of that’s okay.  It doesn’t mean we give up, only that  we try again and search for new and different methods that might work better the next time.

Knight of Swords - Spacious TarotToday’s draw is the Explorer of Swords, which is the equivalent of the Knight of Swords in this deck. Traditionally this card represents a proactive beta energy, personality, or person in the realm of logic, thoughts, intellect, and communication.   This often comes through as relating to the themes of quick minded ambition and, occasionally, impulsiveness.

The thing is, though, when I see today’s card, what I see is less impulsiveness and more of a “look before  you leap.   The crow sits upon the blade of the sword, but thinks twice about moving out onto the blade where it overhangs open space, as if considering if it is a wise decision (which, of course, it is not… that crow is far too heavy to perch out there).

Yes, the crow will survive either way.  It can fly.   But the choice the crow makes now is the the one that matters.  If it steps out on the blade?  It will force an action that otherwise the crow would never have made.  A choice forced upon it by the previous choice already made.

As a result, this message is more about thinking before you act.  And about making sure that the steps taken are taking me in the right direction, the direction that I want to go in, rather than allowing my choices to force me into decisions and directions I wasn’t planning on going in.

DECK USED:  SPACIOUS TAROT

#TarotForGrowthJanuary Challenge Prompt
Question: What energy did I bring along into 2020?

Field Tarot

Reading Summary:  I’m feeling a bit of disappointment over the past year (Five of Cups) and want to move forward with changes to how I juggle (Two of Disks) my business and ambitions over the next year (Ace of Wands).

Take Away:  I’ve mentioned this in previous readings, so it’s not a huge surprise that it would come up today with this question.  I feel like my plate has been too full with work related mess over the past year, and I need to put some priority on the more administrative side of things in order to help my business grow.

I always set the administrative side of things to the back burner and then things end up a bit of a mess. Moving into the new year I’m carrying with me that desire to try balancing things in a different way, the disappointment of the year behind me there to push me onward into that goal.

DECK USED:  THE FIELD TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsJan2020 Challenge Prompt
Gideon… This is not just a reading prompt, but also an invitation for you to join me in one of the tarot discord servers I am a member of.  It is my congratulations gift to you for having completed the first stage of your lessons in the tarot, and I have been looking forward to giving it to you for some time.  I hope you will decide to join me.
Question:  Do Spread #1

Maregician Tarot Sleeplessness EditionReading Summary:   This is a spread about the wicked witch of the deep south.  I did not choose the target of the spread, but rather allowed the spread to choose for me.  The King of Clubs indicates that the negative influence she had over my life was to yank me forward into that habit of mine of being over-analytical while stuffing my feelings in a box to the side.  The Moon indicates that in return, my negative aspect on her was to create within her a sense of uncertainty.  The Star indicates that the positive influence that they had upon my life was in planting the seeds of inspiration to get more deeply in touch with my spirituality.  The Two of Hearts indicates that my positive influence on her life is that she developed a closer, deeper bond her crones as a result of our encounter and that possibly one in particular in her group stepped forward in a big way in this capacity at that time.

Take Away:  What I get from this spread is that my encounter with the wicked witch of the deep south created not just bad things… but also benefits.  This is something that’s not always easy for me to see, but I do understand how it works, as even negative experiences have positive aspects in how they play out.

DECK USED:  MAREGICIAN TAROT

#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge Prompt
Question:  My biggest challenge this year.

Lighteater’s Tarot

Reading Summary:  Mmm well, this is a new deck, and I’m apparently going to have to work past the whole face of the guy in the Knight of Staves because he looks JUST like this super slob gross person that used to live next door.  Just sayin’.  Onward to the reading…

Working with others can always be quite challenging for me (Three of Coins), but if I want to advance in my ambitions concerning my business (Knight of Staves) I am going to have to find a way to be the boss and direct a helper while keeping my own issues about working with others stable and centered, and my eye on the ball (King of Staves).

Take Away:  Now that I’ve moved on from my last helper and her undependable ways, it’s going to be necessary to reassess my own reactions to working with others and search for someone that is a better fit for the way I work.   Preferably someone far more dependable than the last.   This won’t be an easy process, but if I’m proactive in the approach, I’ll be able to find what I need.

DECK USED:  LIGHTEATER’S TAROT

Alacrity Can’t Always Be Logical

/ Twist the Leaf / 3 Comments

Today’s meditation was just over eleven minutes long and focused upon keeping in mind the temporary nature of negative emotions.

This is a practice that I use often, especially during my depression.   In fact, it is one of the things that very much helped me in getting hold of my suicidal urges during my Major Depressive Episodes prior to finding a medication that actually helped me with said urges.

The problem is that when you’re in the middle of a deep depression, it feels like it’s never going to end.  That darkness closes in and it feels like that is all there is and all there will ever be forever. Learning to accept that the experience is temporary, no matter how permanent it feels like it might be, gives you something to cling to.  And when there’s only room for one focus.  One thought.  One word…. “it’s temporary” becomes a mantra to get you through those darkest hours in the pit.

Ostara Tarot Today’s draw is the Knight of Swords, with the Eight of Wands as a jumper that fell out to land atop the Knight.   And that is a whole lot of action in the space of two cards, yeah?  Except what I’m seeing here is a bit of a mix between an intuitive hit and traditional meaning.

This is because what I see is that when I am feeling driven to act swiftly, sometimes you have to take your head out of the equation and act from the heart instead.   It doesn’t change the swiftness of the actions needed, but it is a shift in -where- that action comes from.   Sometimes, you have to listen to your heart and your gut, and set your mind aside so that what should be swift action doesn’t turn into conflict.

DECK USED:  OSTARA TAROT

Bonus Reading – #TarotForGrowthDecember

Question:  How can I continue a practice of growth and healing moving forward?

New Era Elements Tarot

Reading Summary: Acknowledge your inner strength (Strength) and resiliency that will allow you to transition through changes in life (Two of Earth) without falling apart emotionally (Son of Water).

Take Away:  Change can suck.  Even when it’s good change, there’s often a feeling of struggle and anxiety involved in the process.   This stress can cause an emotional reaction, but as I learn to better understand and deal with my emotions, my inner strength will continue to grow and I will, in turn, be better prepared for future changes to come.

DECK USED:  NEW ERA ELEMENTS TAROT

Strategy and Boundaries

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

Today’s meditation hasn’t taken place yet.  I plan on meditating during the drive later when it’s my sister’s time to drive.   Hopefully that will go well.  If it doesn’t, I’ll do it before bed once we get to mom’s.

Slow Tarot Today’s draw is a double without a jumper, which means that both of the cards came out together as one.  The cards in today’s draw are the Seven of Swords and the Knight of Swords.

What stands out to me in the Seven of Swords is the white cat looking on from the corner with an incredulous “really?” look to its expression.   This aspect of the card combined with it’s imagery as a whole speaks to me of strategy and a need to do better on the planning aspect of things.

Combined with the Knight of Swords, what I see in these cards is a reminder to use my time at my mother’s house wisely this week.  This is an extremely busy time of year and taking a few days off requires a lot of planning, but once I am IN those days off?  I need to use them wisely so that I can come back refreshed and charge ahead into the holiday rush with a clear head and all guns blazing.

Deck Used: Slow Tarot

Bonus Reading – #TarotForGrowthNovember

Question: Where would I benefit from setting clear boundaries?

Gravity Tattoo Tarot Reading Summary: Choosing who to share with and who not to (The Lovers) is extremely important when I am feeling a spark of emotion (Ace of Cups) tied into my new inspirations (Ace of Wands) and ambitious plans (Two of Wands).

Take Away:  I have mentioned that constant babble of my inspiration and ambition that always has tons of ideas tumbling around in my head.  What I haven’t mentioned is that there is an emotional element to these new inspirations.  I get attached to them, inspired by them, and this inspiration creates an emotional spark of enthusiasm and joy.  That spark sometimes makes me want to share these ideas with others.

But, sharing with the wrong people can put those emotions at risk, crushing the spark or causing other issues if those that I share with run off with the idea to do it themselves, or share it with someone else without realizing they might be giving my ideas to someone that will take them and use them as their own.   Enter the need for boundaries and good choices.

Deck Used: Gravity Tattoo Tarot