Sword cards illustrate intellectual concepts and correspond to the element of air. Sword cards also describe the way we think and communicate our ideas to others.
Historically, swords have been weapons of war. It’s important to remember, however, that swords have served other, equally important purposes. During the High Middle Ages, swords were an emblem of power, because they were the exclusive purvey of a skilled, highly educated upper class. Medieval knights began their training when they were seven or eight years old, and they continued to hone their skills throughout their lives. Swordplay, jousting, and tournaments were all time-honored ways to bring young men into a social and cultural group.
Because swords represent the intellect, swords cards often relay issues of thoughts, ideas, and related issues of communication — especially when the ideas we try to communicate come into conflict with others, or seem especially cutting. In a romance reading, the presence of Swords cards may indicate that a person or a situation is especially sharp, pointed, or cutting-edge. Someone may have a rapier wit.
Swords are in their element when they move through the air. It’s no coincidence that radio and television broadcasters use airwaves to transmit their messages, and that people frequently say, “The pen is mightier than the sword.”
All sorts of air analogies apply to sword cards. It may be that someone with many swords in a reading is feeling especially heady. They might even have their head in the clouds, or act like an airhead.
I offer tarot and astrology readings online and in person at my Haunted Antique Shop in DeLand, Florida. To schedule a reading, click here.