World Spirit - 7 of Swords

Sulis

I didn't like this image at first and for a long time I just couldn't get what it's saying but I think I'm starting to like this card.

Surrounded by jagged rocks we see a hooded figure in the water. She appears to be gathering swords from the sea.
In the distance is the silhouette of a sailing ship.

Sevens are about overcoming obstacles, moving away from the stability of the sixes and taking chances.
They are related to The Chariot and so are about turning the bumps in the road into stepping stones or turning things to our advantage.

The person is finding swords (thoughts and intellect) in the water (emotions)...
She's looking for an intellectual solution in an emotional situation.
She's searching for the answer to her problem.

The woman is doing what she has to do. It may not be right but it's what she has to do and she's using her brain to overcome her problems.
The other day this card came up in a reading I did for myself and I took it to mean that I was picking over the details of something a little too much...
 

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Bonnie

Difficult Cards

Sulis said:
I didn't like this image at first and for a long time I just couldn't get what it's saying but I think I'm starting to like this card.

Surrounded by jagged rocks we see a hooded figure in the water. She appears to be gathering swords from the sea.
In the distance is the silhouette of a sailing ship.

Sevens are about overcoming obstacles, moving away from the stability of the sixes and taking chances.
They are related to The Chariot and so are about turning the bumps in the road into stepping stones or turning things to our advantage.

The person is finding swords (thoughts and intellect) in the water (emotions)...
She's looking for an intellectual solution in an emotional situation.
She's searching for the answer to her problem.

The woman is doing what she has to do. It may not be right but it's what she has to do and she's using her brain to overcome her problems.
The other day this card came up in a reading I did for myself and I took it to mean that I was picking over the details of something a little too much...

Sulis:

The suit of Swords per se can be a difficult one (at least for me) ... lots of work to be done when they show up in a reading! The Seven of Swords is a particular problem, partially because you have to look within the context of the reading to see if it represents the energy of the Seeker, or the energy of a person or issue in their life.

I get the feeling from this woman that she has come a long ways, through some hard times, always having to watch her back. She appears to be in a body of water, which does indicate that there is emotional content to her issues, and/or that she is only partially conscious of the extent of the issues, or how she feels about them.

The jagged rocks certainly represent obstacles to me ... things that can hang the woman up, or hurt her. She seems to have come to some kind of "safe place" in the rocks, and is withdrawing to protect herself.

The authors call this card "Craftiness". This refers to the mental acuity needed when tis card is drawn, but it also bears a warning ... do not use questionable means to achieve your end!

Blessings,
Bonnie
 

Sulis

I like what you say about the jagged rocks being obstacles to her clear thinking... Things that she has to get around.

The jagged rocks may well represent the problem that she is using her wits to navigate around.
 

aja

I had this card come up in a reading the other night (along with the 9 of Cups). The message that I heard from it was a very clear admonition to 'pick your battles". This fits well with the 7 of Swords as a card of duplicity at one end, and diplomacy on the other.

(as for the 9 of Cups? "Pick your pleasures" - i.e. you can't have them all at once, so be selective)
 

Tarot Orat

Looking at the card, I always see the ship as sailing away - only when I recently looked at the book again did I see that it's supposed to be approaching. With my "sailing away" perspective, I saw the woman as salvaging something that had been left behind, or perhaps going to uncover something that had been hidden while the people now on the ship were in her land. ("We have no swords, no reason to declare war on us...") There's an element of stealth of course, and I suppose "salvage" can be interpreted as "plunder" to some extent, but I just didn't have a very negative reaction like I often do to the RWS decks with the smirking man prancing away from an army camp. This woman feels like part of the land and seascape, she is where she belongs, the ship sailing away is an army no longer encamped and it's safe again.

But that's just me, and my "sailing away" interpretation. I'll think some more about the way the artist really meant it to be seen, and how I can blend that with my existing ideas!