Legend: Eight of Swords, Guenevere at the Stake

Sophie-David

In the RWS Eight of Swords, the trapped maiden has the opportunity to wriggle out of her bonds: she only feels trapped. But in Legend's Eight, Guenevere at the Stake, she has no escape. She not only feels trapped, she is trapped. Her detainment is not only humiliating, it is intended to end in her death. Gold chains or not, burning at the stake had to be one of the most barbarous customs ever practiced. In this card, Guenevere becomes a symbol of all the cruel and unjust executions throughout history, but particularly of those deaths suffered by heretics and witches.

It is Arthur who authorized this sentence. The text tries to excuse Arthur as being pushed by the people, manipulated by Mordred, and forced "to fulfil his obligation as king". I don't buy it for one minute. Apart from uncertain legality of the newly introduced double standard in which kings could sleep with whomever they wanted and queens were sexual possessions, I really question Arthur's fitness to rule. Not only was the sentence inhuman and unwarranted, it was political suicide. Burning his Queen at the stake was an indignity that even Henry VIII didn't dare. Queens are almost always the members of powerful families with intricate alliances. To make the sentence a cruel and shameful one instead of the honour of the sword, or even the axe, makes the execution even less palatable. No wonder he tore the round table apart with his decision. As I have said elsewhere, a quiet divorce and a ticket to France for Guen and her lover would have solved the problem. But this was Arthur's fatal mistake.

Anna-Marie, as usual, brings the card to life with evocative imagery. The agony of Guenevere's face and body position, the stark bare wood of the soon to be ignited fuel, the spectral black cloaked monk reading the last rites who looks so much like Death himself, all contribute to the sense of victimhood and doom. For those who don't know the story, you will be happy to hear that Lancelot, the Queen's Champion, rescued her. But in doing so he and his team fought against those still loyal to Arthur. Knights were killed on both sides and in further bloodshed the relatively peaceful world of Camelot was soon destroyed.
 

WalesWoman

Trapped by our desires...rather than our thoughts.

You know in this sense it is so much more related to the Devil, not Cernnous, but the chains of the Devil. Not only is Guenevere trapped by her actions, as well as Lancelot, but so is Arthur. I'm sure it was his passion that signed the decree rather than his logic or sense of honor, once signed he couldn't rescind it either.

The person not in this card, but should be is Mordred...who's desire to trap them and destroy them created the situation from being allowed to go any other way. If he hadn't confronted this in the way he had, so publicly that it could not go unnoticed... Lancelot and Guenevere may have been able to slip away and leave the country. But as paupers? Without land or wealth, title or dignity? Could Guenevere have done that? With them both so deeply religious, could their consciences allowed that?

Arthur's law had to apply to everyone if he was to maintain his authority and credibitlity even if it meant dividing the company of his supporteer and this more than anything lost him his kingdom. I'm not saying he was right, but to be honest I don't think he had any other choice and I'm sure his cuckholded ego did play a large part of his decision.

And then Death is here as well, to change this and transform this into something new and different...another way to attain our desires without becoming trapped and enslaved by them. It's funny how RWS symbols find their ways in cards you wouldn't think of them appearing in.
 

Lyones

I tend to think of this card in terms of "I can't ..." - her hands and feet are shackled to make sure she cannot escape, and she is also hoping desparately that there is a solution, so that waiting for someone to rescue her is quite relevant.

David, I like your description of the monk - he does look like Death, and I think that Guenevere is about ready to faint from anxiety.
 

Sophie-David

WalesWoman said:
The person not in this card, but should be is Mordred...who's desire to trap them and destroy them created the situation from being allowed to go any other way. If he hadn't confronted this in the way he had, so publicly that it could not go unnoticed... Lancelot and Guenevere may have been able to slip away and leave the country. But as paupers? Without land or wealth, title or dignity? Could Guenevere have done that? With them both so deeply religious, could their consciences allowed that?
Well, I also have my doubts about Guen without title and riches. Usually these royal exiles are comfortable though, the king sends over a pension or sets them up with a castle. According to some stories, both Guen and Lance end up in separate cloisters, so it would seem that they eventually adapted to poverty, and I suppose this also salved their consciences.

WalesWoman said:
Arthur's law had to apply to everyone if he was to maintain his authority and credibitlity even if it meant dividing the company of his supporteer and this more than anything lost him his kingdom. I'm not saying he was right, but to be honest I don't think he had any other choice and I'm sure his cuckholded ego did play a large part of his decision.
As you know, I admire Lancelot, but I don't think Arthur ever grew up. We don't see him experiencing the transformative power of love and he remains rather two dimensional. When the choices become difficult he can't think outside the box.

If I remember correctly, you don't care too much for Guenevere, particularly from the reading of Mists of Avalon. Perhaps Arthur and Guenevere both share a comparable weakness: Arthur didn't experience his feminine side and Guenevere didn't - until it was almost too late - experience her masculine. So where Arthur lacked intuitive creativity, Guenevere seemed to be the passive victim of circumstance: never actively committing herself to either her husband or her lover. For example, if Guen had acted, she could have made the decision to go into voluntary exile - and Lance would have surely followed. Instead she ends up an Eight of Swords victim.

What makes these mythic stories so powerful is that they are actually so typically real - they reflect the same types of decisions that we each face. Then we live out the consequences, good and bad.

WalesWoman said:
And then Death is here as well, to change this and transform this into something new and different...another way to attain our desires without becoming trapped and enslaved by them. It's funny how RWS symbols find their ways in cards you wouldn't think of them appearing in.
Yes, each card links to the other doesn't it? Throw in a Moon and its a symbol for intuitive gifts, add a Death figure and we see transformation at work. Once you've established the system it works like a language of its own - and takes on a life of its own. The creative mind is a beautiful thing! :)
 

Sophie-David

Lyones said:
David, I like your description of the monk - he does look like Death, and I think that Guenevere is about ready to faint from anxiety.
Yes, I think that's probably it, she's about to faint. It doesn't say much for the compassion of the monk does it?