4 of Swords

Peredur

Since reading THE DaVINCI CODE I can't look at this card without seeing the Temple Church in London.
Bob
 

pandora

the 4 of swords

the 4 of swords.........
to me I always see the 3 of swords above you and they are carved in stone.....the heart piercing of the 3 swords (no matter what is was, big or small) will be with you for ever.
You lay thinking/recouping/ above an ace of swords, offering a new beginning, but which direction should/will it take. This sword cuts two ways.
From the left of this card shines a stain glass window, someone kneels, and I see this as looking for/or an offering of spiritual wisdom, the chance of using you mind with a higher/enlightened wisom.
Before you hit the 5's...... take your time and think/learn/prepare with knowledge. Understand how you want to move on.
I feel the hurt that is and will always be so much a part of your life with the 3 of swords requires a rest and the question here is how you spend the time in the 4 of swords will reflect on you, your life, and the 5's as you move into this next stage.

Are you looking for healing, understanding, coming together....then the 5 will mean something like expressing individuality, the right to be heard, looking for a ballance, building towards a pentacle with everyones input....or perhaps you want revenge, a little justice......hurt those that hurt you....a new beginning with your ace of swords...using the energy for right, wrong, good, bad.

I think I use to see this card as a inactive card, but when you think of "air" it is not an inactive element, it is active and at times unstable. I see this card now as a time when you lay back and activley "think" of all the things you could have done, should have done, could do, will do, to form a stable/unstable foundation.
Wisdom is offered if you will come and listen, but I think in most cases we will often over look this and become more concerned with our own moral justice when we rise up.

Pandora

p.s. wishing there was a spell checker
 

Ace

I often wonder if 4 of Swords is a workaholic card: see? I am working myself to death! Now all of you must say, "see how hard I tried?"

I have also had it come up for frigidity (a woman who was molested years ago was having difficulties relating with her husband). IN more general terms: you are blocking your emotions for some reason. OTher cards will tell why.

And Pandora: I sometimes copy my replies to a blank e-mail, spell check it, then copy it back. If you can do that it might help!
 

WalesWoman

Ace
The four of swords is really an interesting card for your querant. After times of trouble the 4 Swords to me is a place to retreat, regroup, reconsider, and just about any "Re" anything. Which was what she had to do to maintain "herself" during and after being violated. So even though she may not want to close herself off from the people she loves and becomes remote, unconsciously she has to go to her safe place in order to maintain control over her emotions and memories. She may need to work on the other R's that go with it, recooperate, rejuvenate, repair, and return.
 

Ace

WalesWoman said:
Ace
The four of swords is really an interesting card for your querant. After times of trouble the 4 Swords to me is a place to retreat, regroup, reconsider, and just about any "Re" anything. Which was what she had to do to maintain "herself" during and after being violated. So even though she may not want to close herself off from the people she loves and becomes remote, unconsciously she has to go to her safe place in order to maintain control over her emotions and memories. She may need to work on the other R's that go with it, recooperate, rejuvenate, repair, and return.

I know what you mean, WalesWoman, but at the time it was frigidity. I pulled a clarifier card (this was actually done with Robin Wood deck) and got the Wheel of Fortune reversed, with the crying maid up. I asked her about being molested, and she said yes, rushing in almost as all one word: yes-but-I-am-over-it-now. I told her she needed to work on it, and since I think she was right on the edge anyway, she cracked open like an egg and started to cry.

She had retreated so far she was locking herself out of the real world. This was, as you say, a safe place to maintain control over her emotions, but it was becoming encysted and she was losing all emotions, instead of controlling them. She was very thankful to me afterward, so I think now she could start really healing, having drained it out! Now she could indeed return.
 

WalesWoman

Right on Ace! I realized it was about her inability to feel passion or arousal or even want to, just didn't express it correctly. You helped her crack the ice that has frozen her to her past, it's going to be hard to develop the trust needed to open herself to being vulnerable and "present" after those sorts of things happen, no matter how much she loves her partner. It's an unconscious thing and consciously trying to NOT Freeze everything out and retreat is a big effort and one she needed to be aware of and understand the why's and wherefore's. but you helped her find that opening.

You are very insightful and the explaination you just gave was really, really good. She probably feels very lucky to have you for a reader.
 

Elentir

A Completely Different View?

Hi, all, I was browsing through this forum looking for cards that I have at one time or another had different and/or incompatible interpretations for. This is one of them.

I'm not saying that this is my own preferred interpretation, but what, exactly, is the reason why this card is never seen as a funeral or wake? Why is it so universally assumed that the knight here is in some sort of spiritual retreat, when it seems to me (and has seemed to others I know) that he may very well be "laid out" for burial. Couldn't this be a crypt, rather than simply a chapel?

Also, does anyone have any ideas about interpreting this card by way of comparing it to the other 4s of the deck? It seems to be like the 4 of cups, which I have also seen interpreted in opposing ways (either (in a negative sense) it's boredom or dissatisfaction with the present and an inability to see opportunities being offered, or else (as a more positive reading) it's the inspiration of a new idea that leads us to the next step on the path).

Thanks all!
 

Imagemaker

I've always thought this card was contradictory, too. To rest in a crypt, to be carved in stone doesn't bring positive "rest" ideas to me. To be wearing armor, still shielded, immortalized in one's battle dress--is much more than taking a break.

In some decks, the swords are pointing right at the figure's face. In others, the swords are clearly hung aside in peace. In the spiral, the woman is napping comfortably under a soft quilt.

I usually go with the idea of piercing thoughts set aside for now (recovering from the 3 before re-engaging in the 5) and ignore all the coffin/effigy imagery. But it bugs me.
 

krazymayj

molestation

ace and waleswoman, did either of you take into account that while the man under the coffin is covered, away from the situation, there is in the window a man making a gesture to a child?
 

poivre

Holy Christmas krazymayj ~
too much information!

I think someone posted about the
6 of Cups in the same way.