I am new to the Druidcraft, so I'm starting here, like a good new student
And I'm also starting here because I drew the Princess of Swords in a reading, and though I was beguiled by her, I had no idea how to interpret her there (in the position of finances!)
I've been reading through the thread - many good thoughts. I like Jota's post just above mine - the princess who is learning her own strength, who is starting with the tools of her future chieftainship (is that a word?). I think, like others, that she is unwrapping, but I imagine that in some readings, she might be wrapping the sword. Perhaps that is how I should see her in the a/m reading? She wraps what is precious (back in those days, swords were worth king's ransoms - no-one would have left them lying about in a field, as some have suggested, unless they died with it) - and she cares for her thoughts as she does for her belongings - passionately but lightly.
I too was drawn to the spring flowers - snowdrops, primrose and hawthorn (may blossom), which flower respectively in February, March and April/May. The Princess is winter going into spring, as the days start to warm (much as is happening now in the Northern hemisphere). Renewal - yes. It is emphasized in the background by the pale spring sky, sunlight colouring the palest primrose yellow soft clouds, a chill in the air even though it is getting balmier - she still wears a cloak.
The hawk, I think can be a reminder that predators abound especially around newlings. When we have new thoughts, new imaginations, new projects, we must protect them from predators. But the hawk is also the strong masculine principle, focussed and goal-oriented, and for all her feminine delicacy, this young lady has a steel core and masculine single-mindedness - all wrapped gently in this graceful blue-eyed exterior.
She is wearing some kind of jewelled panel on her front, which could almost be a breastplate, except it is too short to cover the vital organs - another reminder that she is not yet well protected; but also, that she is free of her movements, and trusting of nature and of her own mind.
Finally, her bare feet on the rocks and moss - looking at them, I feel my feet yearning for the feel of rock and moss...soon....