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Alison posted an update in the group
Tarot School 9 years, 3 months ago Hi everyone! I’m really excited so see how quickly this group is growing. As some of you know, I’d like to use this space to pool our collective feelings/intuitions/observations/experiences to analyze each card, one at a time.
I know that it will help me a lot, in understanding individual cards, especially numbers and court cards, and think that if everyone puts something in, everyone can get something out. So my proposal is that once a week, each Sunday, we can talk about one card.
Today, I thought maybe we could start with the Ace of Swords/variations thereof.
Beth has some good insights on her website about Aces and their relationship to opportunity (http://littleredtarot.com/grasping-at-tarot-aces/).Please feel free to share any other resources on the Ace of Swords, from any deck (the more the merrier), post pictures, and especially share personal insights!
I like this plan. It would be really nice to see this group stay active and grow! Just read Beth’s article and loved her insights. Swords represent the element air and are often associated with the mind and with intellect. Personally, they call up imagery of weather. The swords can be so tempestuous, I think of wind and storms, and the ace would be a flash of lightning. It could mark a jolt of inspiration, the birth of an idea, a wake-up call, or the start of a conflict (though, in that case, not as dramatic as a card like The Tower.)
Great addition about the tempestuous nature of swords. I think some decks depict clouds on this card in the distance as dark and kind of looming as well as casting shadows on the mountains in the background. I think that speaks to what you wrote.
I love the idea of a jolt or a wake-up call for this card!
Thanks for getting this rolling Alison. I hope we can keep it going!
To add to my reply to Hazel, swords do represent something new, new beginnings and with swords there seems to be a danger more than any other suit of negative aspects of the suit manifesting themselves. Hence, the double edge of the swords, which is really a very clever play on words and ideas.
My book calls Aces a gift of the suit. I’m really not sure what that means and would be interested to know if anyone else does.
From left to right: Dreaming Way Tarot, Tarot of The Magical Forest, and Tarot of The Master.
I would guess that “gift” is similar to “opportunity” in that a start at something is being offered to the querent. Maybe?
Oops, that should have read “aces represent something new” not swords.
Alison, what deck is the middle card? “The Breath of Life”, that is interesting and something to think about!
The middle deck is the Wildwood Tarot. I still have not read the explanation for this card in the book that comes with this deck… but I thought it was very interesting that the smoke in this deck, unlike in the others sees to be coming from a fire / campfire/ signal on the ground.
Love this idea too! Elisabeth, my interpretation of aces is that they are the suit in their purest form – they represent the potential of the suit (and perhaps in that way they are a gift)- the aces are some of my favourite cards. I usually think of them in a positive light, but it’s interesting to think about the dark side of that potential. The ace of swords I see as the pursuit of truth and deep thought.
Corinna, yes, the suit in it’s purest form…in the Dreaming Way Tarot so many of the sword cards have people dressed in white which the creator says in the booklet refers to purity of intention. In this deck there seems to be a purity of intention even when things get a bit difficult.
This is pretty awesome:
I love the Collective Tarot’s depiction and interpretation as well: http://tarotparlor.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/img_20131120_084710.jpg
“the ace of swords is the gift of communication- it contains all the potential of clear thinking and truth telling. It’s reaching into yourself and finding what you want to get across, pinching it index finger and thumb, and producing clear communciation[…]The Ace of Feathers asks that you trust yourself in expression, and trust others that it will come across”.
Silly question – how do you embed photos in your posts?
Corinna, that’s really awesome and helps me understand this card a lot. You can’t communicate clearly if you don’t understand clearly.
Instructions for doing all sorts of neat stuff in comments (like posting photos) can be found in Ali’s ‘Learn HTML and Build A Better Internet Comment: Part 2’.
I upload them to imgur. From all ‘images’ select the photo you want to upload and you will see that a window appears with a bunch of urls listed for that photo. Copy the url that ends in .jpg, it says it’s for ‘Direct Link (email & IM)’. Then paste that into the following code in your comment (don’t forget the quotation marks):
I can’t get it to accept what I write in for the code. Best to check Ali’s article I guess.
Oooh, HTML! Of course. THANK YOU :)
This is really interesting, and brings up the question of it being positive or negative again for me. While this card / clear communication might be a gift, saying what you want to clearly is not always productive, depending on what you say. I like that ambiguity.
Alison, really nice connection!