Can the Ten of Swords ever be good?

You ever seen ER, where a patient is hurting real bad and screaming in agony begging for someone to put him under. The 10 of swords is the face the patient makes when he recives a dose of morphine.

All it sais, quit looking at the dead body. Its gone, look at the light!

Can it ever be good? Sure it can. The 10 of Swords represents the end of a cycle. So it might be the end of something good, and it might be the end of something bad. Which is great. The only problem is that.......

It's the end of a CYCLE. The danger is that the cycle may start again. 10 is related to the Wheel of Fortune, so cycles are going to be part of the picture. But since the 10 of S is minor arcana, you have more control over the situation.

Finally reaching the end can be a relief. See mystic tarot for details.

I tend to laugh when it shows up in my personal readings, because it inevitably carries a message of "Silly woman, stop overreacting! Quit being a drama queen; this situation sucks, but it's survivable. What a relief, it's almost over! And it's WAY better than you think...just drop the anxiety and look at the dawn."

Does it accompany endings? Yes, sometimes. But it's a card of reacting to extremes, well beyond what I should, of allowing my thoughts to control me instead of the other way around. Seeing it tells me immediately that I've gone way off track and need to pull myself together. Even when it foretells an ending, it's never as bad as I'm making it out to be.

As another poster said, give me this over the 9/Swords any day.

Metafizzypop said:

Can it ever be good? Sure it can. The 10 of Swords represents the end of a cycle. So it might be the end of something good, and it might be the end of something bad. Which is great. The only problem is that.......

It's the end of a CYCLE. The danger is that the cycle may start again. 10 is related to the Wheel of Fortune, so cycles are going to be part of the picture. But since the 10 of S is minor arcana, you have more control over the situation.

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Just to add a thought to this. The cycle of the minor arcana is a circular one, so the finality of the 10s is only temporary; they are renewed in the Aces of the next suit, in the mode of that particular element. What may be distressing and disempowering in the 10 of Swords could very well become firm resolve in the Ace of Pentacles once the "corner is turned." So the same negative cycle would not necessarily repeat itself, unless the circumstances (for example, an anxious emotional state) are just as awkward with the Earth energy as they were with Air. The positivity that is implied is one of relief at putting something uncomfortable behind and approaching a fresh start. "Out with the old, in with the new."

Clockwork Ghost said:

Hi there,

The title pretty much speaks for itself - can the Ten of Swords ever have a positive meaning? Even The Tower can speak of positive outcomes through drastic change, but how can you ever read a positive outcome into the Ten of Swords?

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What I see in the 10 of swords.

A person can only see a positive in a negative once they have learned enough from what the negative means.

Well, its one of those cards like the 3 of swords, really... I guess it depends on whether you think that dying of heartache with your heart stabbed by three swords coming from 3 different directions and causing you to bleed to death, or lying down in a pool of blood with 10 swords stuck in your back can be good...
I'm sure that there must be some new age, Buddhist-inspired thinker around who will claim that that is a beautiful, enlightening experience, and that the 10 or 3 of swords is a happy card... I personally would answer your question with a plain No.
The only good thing I can think of about it, is that it might be followed by cards suggesting you'll get over it and survive.

It's good in the sense that it's the end of a bad cycle and it usually can't get any worse when you get this card so the only way is up but this realisation comes later. So , no, nothing " good" about this card.

Dangala said:

It's good in the sense that it's the end of a bad cycle and it usually can't get any worse when you get this card so the only way is up but this realisation comes later. So , no, nothing " good" about this card.

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That was my thought before I got into the debate about finally getting past the "end of a cycle" and how that might be seen as positive. While you're actively grappling with it's energy, it would seem to be "the pits."

Barleywine said:

That was my thought before I got into the debate about finally getting past the "end of a cycle" and how that might be seen as positive. While you're actively grappling with it's energy, it would seem to be "the pits."

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yeah but one card by itself says nothing about what come after rock bottom It just says, you're hitting rock bottom now.