Sulis
One of the keywords and meanings that many people put with this card is 'defeat' and looking at the RWS image, I can see where that comes from.
This image, however, is a lot more like the Marseilles Tarot and so I can't really see defeat.
Here we see 4 crossed swords, points uppermost.
Lying over the top of the 4 swords is a ribbon and over that is another sword with it's point facing upwards. This sword seems separate to the rest, separated from them by the ribbon which we are told in the book represents energy.
I like to think of the ribbons in the Swords suit as representing thoughts and words which are also a form of energy.
Fives to me are about change, often unexpected but change that is much needed to get away from the bogged down feeling that can come with the fours.
The changes in the fives are those that because they are unexpected are often seen as difficult or unwelcome but they are needed to help us grow.
With hindsight the fives are often seen as offering us a lesson and this relates them to The Hierophant, the High Priest or The Pope.
They are blessing in disguise cards.
So this is the sword (the thought or the word) that takes us away from the mental rest and consolidation of the 4.
It can be an argument, the breaking point, the thing that makes us change our minds, a small Tower experience.
It can also be the breakdown in communication.
The fact that it is on top of the other four makes me think that as a card of advice it would be advising me to put my own interests first or to get moving, to break out of the inaction that the four represents.
This image, however, is a lot more like the Marseilles Tarot and so I can't really see defeat.
Here we see 4 crossed swords, points uppermost.
Lying over the top of the 4 swords is a ribbon and over that is another sword with it's point facing upwards. This sword seems separate to the rest, separated from them by the ribbon which we are told in the book represents energy.
I like to think of the ribbons in the Swords suit as representing thoughts and words which are also a form of energy.
Fives to me are about change, often unexpected but change that is much needed to get away from the bogged down feeling that can come with the fours.
The changes in the fives are those that because they are unexpected are often seen as difficult or unwelcome but they are needed to help us grow.
With hindsight the fives are often seen as offering us a lesson and this relates them to The Hierophant, the High Priest or The Pope.
They are blessing in disguise cards.
So this is the sword (the thought or the word) that takes us away from the mental rest and consolidation of the 4.
It can be an argument, the breaking point, the thing that makes us change our minds, a small Tower experience.
It can also be the breakdown in communication.
The fact that it is on top of the other four makes me think that as a card of advice it would be advising me to put my own interests first or to get moving, to break out of the inaction that the four represents.