Hey, Jenessa,
I'm very glad if I've been of any help.
Now what do you think? IF you/anyone sees anything they think i've totally missed the mark on ... PLEASE bring this to my attention.
Hmmm. Okay, but only because you requested it
jenessa said:
Further to which & as i'd wanted to clarify & otherwise point-out, this type of defensiveness does not originate from any type of attack. So there is an absense of conflict, which eliminates the suit of swords
I was with you up to this point. You're right that a person can get defensive toward another when the other was not attacking. BUT the defensive person is under the
impression that they've been attacked. That they must defend something.
Which means there IS conflict. It may only be a conflict in their mind, but it's there. And swords, which to me at least, is all about communications and how we think as well as conflict, means that even if there is no OUTWARD conflict, there is conflict inside--in our heads.
In which case, Swords would be very apt indeed.
I also ruled-out the suit of wands, given that this form of defensiveness is a reaction & thus not always a form of intellect. As i've indicated in my last post, for me the suit of wands concerns itself with intellect in the sense of a purposeful/willful intent. So as a distinction can be made between a reaction & an intention, i ruled out wands.
You say, "defensivness is a reaction and theus not always a form of intellect." "Not always" indicates that it CAN be. So why rule out Wands?
I'm also a little confused by your distinctions. Traditionally in Tarot, Swords stands for the element of Air, and the qualities of intellect/communication/the mind/conflict, while Wands stand for the element of Fire, and the qualities of ambition, passion, ideals, philosophy, spirituality.
Now there are people who believe the opposite. Swords = Fire, etc. and Wands = Air, etc.
But you seem to have relegated the intellectual elements to Wands without the conflict...which is the ONLY quality you've given to Swords. Where is passion (i.e., LUST--not Love which is cups), where are high ideals that people will fight and die for? Religion that they will martyr themselves for? Where is the hot temper that Wands so often signify? Or the irresistable charisma that Wand folk so often have to charm, seduce, lead into battle?
They're not in Wands...but they're not in Swords either. Where are they? Surely not in the sensitive, compassionate, understanding and forgiving suit of cups!
I also can't understand how wands can ALWAYS be intent. 7/Wands is so very clearly reactive and not intent. It would not happen if the person wasn't under attack.
given that this form of defensiveness is pure emotion, i decided in favour of the suit of Cups.
I think you're limiting both suits and emotions. Take 9/Swords which indicates mental anguish--that is emotional as well as mental, though mental is the cause behind it (going round and round in one's head). And how about 6/Wands with the man riding in triumphant--there must be feelings there of pride and achievement, as well as emotions of adoration and awe from the applauding audience. And the 5/Pents with the poor folk outside the church. Surely there's emotions there, of loss, of dispair.
Other cards have emotions. They are just not about
certain emotions. In particular, the gentle or jealous emotions, like love, affection, kindness, compassion OR contrary wise, the moody-watery emotions like envy and depression, OR instinct-wise, creativity, psychic abilities.
And granted, That is my bias take on cups.
I just kinda thot to myself - PURE EMOTION .. totally LACKING in foundation = no basis what so ever for this type of reaction
Almost never happens. Not in my experience. I know one crazy woman. She explodes defensively for no apparent reason (husband brought home the wrong kind of olive oil--explosion!). But there is a reason, a very deep one, behind her defensive reactions. She doubts herself. And she is convinced that other people share such doubts about her; she is absolutely sure she's going to be criticized--as she was when she was a child and her father yelled at her and berated her constantly.
So even though no attack is intended or launched by the other person, she is sure that there is
going to be an attack. She launches a pre-emptive strike, if you will.
In fact, there is only one example of pure emotional defensiveness that I can think of, and yes, it would be cups. That is hormonal imbalance (male or female). The person reacts because their hormones are out of wack. And in such cases, they may even be able to intellectually see and know that they're reacting strangely to no provocation at all.
I have a concrete example of this. Woman on birth control pills which were too strong for her. She broke down defensively (in tears) because her husband kissed her. She was able to say, even as she was crying, however, "This is crazy, you did nothing...I know this...."
However as tarot cards are intended to describe a whole array of potential life experiences, i am trying to avoid any unnecessary redundancy whilst refining my notes.
Again, in my experience, not possible. Cards sometimes need to be redundant. Why? Because in a spread you might have a card for success in the past--now that card is used. But what if you're going to have success in the future as well? If there's no redundancy...how can the cards tell you that? The success card is being used in another part of the spread.
I'm not saying that there is no differences between cards, merely that it's unwise to spilt too many hairs. Sometimes redundancy is useful and good.
if you can appreciate that when i 1st. began exploring tarot, i was overwhelmed by the many discrepancies re: card meaning.
I very much can appreciate this. Everyone on this forum can. We all go through it in the beginning. It's that scary point where we get a bit overwhelmed. Thankfully, it doesn't last long.
as i don't have a wish card, the 9 of Cups upright position represents "resolution" to me & the 10 of Cups upright takes this one step further & represents contentment.
This is all well and good, but how does reversing that card = defensivness?