The Suits of the Minor Arcana in the Tarot Deck: Part 1: The Swords
Within the Tarot there are four suits of the Minor Arcana; Swords, Wands, Cups & Pentacles. Typically that is what they are known as.
Sometimes the Swords are referred to as Blades or Athame’s. Athame refers to the magickal knife a Witch keeps on her altar and is used only in rituals. Wands can be Rods or Staves, Cups; Chalices or Goblets and Pentacles can be Discs or Coins. It all depends on what deck you use and what the artist of that deck had in mind when creating it.
There are so many decks out there, now that Tarot has become (relatively) mainstream. I am going use the more “traditional” terms. Each suit has a corresponding direction, gender and season, as well as corresponding astrological signs. They also have colors associated with them as well. So during a reading all of these things need to be taken into consideration when looking at the cards and what they are conveying to the Querrent.
SWORDS
Swords are symbolic of the mind. This can cover a wide scope of things; perception, observation, and the biggie for most of us; SELF-IMAGE! This is, in my opinion the most intangible of the suits and sometimes can be perceived as the most negative. We must remember that within the “gray matter” of our minds there are so many twists and turns in there that we made need to be pointed in the right direction. Some deeper meanings in this suit to be on the look out for are forthrightness, confidence, clarity, and control, the ability to be analytical and to be decisive. It is always good to remember that old saying of something being a double edged sword. This is true with this suit. There are two edges to the sword – positive & negative. Just as we have the capacity to be inventive and problem solvers we also have the capacity to be self destructive. The color association for Swords is indigo. I feel that this is because indigo is a deep color, much like the suit it corresponds with. There are many layers to the color, and to the suit. Elementally Swords are connected with Air and aptly the directional association is North. The gender for this suit is male and the associated zodiac’s are: Gemini, Libra & Aquarius.
Zen Proverb: Be the Master of your mind rather than mastered BY your mind.
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