Druidcraft Study Group - Princess of Swords

Moonbow

WolfSpirit said:
What strikes me most about the card is the sword - why is she wrapping a ribbon (or scarf ?) around it ? Because she is going to carry it safely ? To show us that it is not a sharp sword ? We can also see the sword is not sharp by the way she is holding it, if it was really sharp she would not hold it by the blade.
Oh - just read back what CreativeFire wrote, that she just found the sword and is unwrapping it. That's another way to look at it :)

Getting back to the sword, the wrapping around it, and the fact that she is pointing to it, I am wondering if she is doing some kind of spell?? What do you all think? Did the Druids do spells? Or is this just another Ogham hand signal?..........
 

WolfSpirit

Yes Moonbow* she could be doing a spell or some kind of ritual.
Druids did spells as well; let's also remember that DruidCraft is not just druidry but wicca as well. As Carr-Gomm calls it in the Introduction "the meeting of Wicca and Druidry in DruidCraft". So there will be elements of wicca in the deck as well. As both Will Worthington and Carr-Gomm are druids, I guess the emphasis will be a bit more on druidry though.

By the way, Philip Carr-Gomm has also written a separate book called Druidcraft, nothing to do with the tarot but everything with the pagan path.
I haven't read it yet but hope to do so one day. :)
 

CreativeFire

Moonbow* said:
Getting back to the sword, the wrapping around it, and the fact that she is pointing to it, I am wondering if she is doing some kind of spell?? What do you all think? Did the Druids do spells? Or is this just another Ogham hand signal?..........
Very good question, Moonbow*. Going with the thought that she is doing some sort of spell, it would be interesting to know if she was indeed wrapping or unwrapping. As if it was wrapping it perhaps could be more representing a binding, containing or protecting in someway but it could also be that she was unwrapping, releasing, opening up to new thoughts. I wonder what the artists intention was when painting the image? As I don't have my deck y et, let alone the book, does it indicate anything about this in the companion book?

CF
 

Sulis

Majcot said:
Of all the Princess', she is the most delicate looking one, as tho her life is spent in a more refined manner than her cousins. Noting the size of her hands and feet, and the more feminine stance.
I noticed this too - one of the things I have written in my journal about this princess is that she looks a lot more delicate than any of the other princesses. She's the only one with little, dainty feet.

Majcot said:
It appears that she has torn her cloak to wrap around the sword. Perhaps to symbolize a lack of physical action, as apposed to verbal?
Nice, I like that :)

Wolfspirit said:
As both Will Worthington and Carr-Gomm are druids, I guess the emphasis will be a bit more on druidry though.
I think they're Wiccans too so the emphasis needn't necessarily be on druidry.

CreativeFire said:
As I don't have my deck y et, let alone the book, does it indicate anything about this in the companion book?
The book doesn't really discuss the symbolism used in the Minors or the Courts, just the meanings. It goes into a bit more detail in the Majors - good though because it means that we can come up with our own takes on the symbolism used - I like that.

Love

Sulis xx
 

Cerulean

To me, she is one of the most beautiful court cards...

I seem to like the Sword courts the best when I look at the cards. I think the interplay of blues seem...

Glorious.

They do take my breaths away...

Cerulean
 

Emily

I'm having a quick look through the study threads as I haven't got my deck yet, hopefully Monday or Tuesday, but I've noticed the Sword Princess's eyes - can I see eye colour there - blue?
 

Cerulean

Yes, it is wonderfully reflective of the scene, smoky...

and a glimmer of dark blue, probably reflective of many different shades in the scene.

In the family of my husband, their eyes can take a smoky glimpse,
a pale green tint, or the coppery glints seem to take over in the gray--when there's a smoky blue cast, it's different and appealing to me.

Again, only my filters...but when I found contacts that did that, oh-be-joyful...

Cerulean
 

Emily

Hi Cerulean,

I thought it was - I love to see eye colour in the cards, I think it really adds to the artwork and makes it special if the artist has actually took the time to add eye colours. :)

I like to see unusual eye colours in real life too - my family has strange eyes. Mine are blue but around the pupil is ringed with hazel. My mom has the palest steel grey eyes.
 

Shade

I don't have the deck yet but I'm hoping to rectify that soon. Would it be permissible to drop in?

What stood out to me were the clouds behind her head. I'm reminded slightly of the Motherpeace and other foggy Princess of swords cards. If the clouds were done that way for a reason it might signify a clouded mind or a mind seeking to become unclouded by gaining knowledge and pushing back the curtains as it were. For me, when I look at the card, it looks like the sword in the cloak mirrors the clouds framing her head (would that make it a macrocosm or a microcosm?). I see the princesses and pages as the elements manifesting in small ways or as a person who is in some way a student. Would it make sense that by unwrapping the sword and un-clouding and uncloaking the mind she is taking the first steps for the court of intellect?

On a side note if this deck connects swords with fire and wands with air my theory goes out the window.
 

Sulis

Hi Shade,

Please do drop in :)

Like your take on the unwrapping of the sword.

Sword are air and wands are fire so don't throw your theories out of the window ;)

Love

Sulis xx