The Hermetic
Tarot today, with two reversed cards: the Queen of Swords reversed and The Blasted
Tower reversed. Hmmm . . .
The Queen of
Swords (cusp of Virgo, “I serve,” practical, sensible, work and service
oriented, and Libra, “We are,” partnerships, balance, cooperation, grace) can
be considered a Minor Arcana representation of the Justice card, which is about
responsibility and the relationship between “cause” and “effect.” The main difference is that while
Justice is about the law, the Queen of Swords is about the intent behind the
law. She is Water of Air, and her
feelings support her intellect and the workings of her mind.
The Hermetic Tarot Queen of
Swords represents Water of Air.
The image on the card shows a gracefully dressed woman with beautiful
curling hair, carelessly holding a huge sword over one shoulder and the severed
head of a man in the other hand, dangling by his hair. Yikes! The head is still dripping blood, his eyes still weeping
tears, yet she does not even look at him; instead she gazes serenely off into
the distance. This Queen is quick
and confident, and she does not need to look at me in order to know just what
is happening within me.
The Tower (Fire
(hot/separates and dry/shapes, and spontaneous, impulsive, energetic change),
Mars (action, spontaneity, aggression, drive), Phe (mouth or speech), and the
Path between Hod (which provides analysis and communication) and Netzach (which
offers the stimulating factors of emotion and inspiration)) is one of the Major
Arcana cards that talks of adjustments.
This one tells of a violent or explosive correction in the way things
are going that usually happens after more gentle corrections don’t bring the
needed result. The destruction
caused by The Tower is actually clearing away the old and expired, so new
growth can begin, but it might not be fun to experience. The Tower also shows us what can happen
if we cement ourselves into our beliefs.
I love what Oswald Wirth says about The Tower in his book, Tarot of the
Magicians: “[The Tower] . . . is less a temple, a house of God, than a sacred
building of a body mistakenly identified with God.”
The image on The
Blasted Tower is terrifying.
Lightning bolts rip apart a tall, ornate building, sending people
plummeting down. Even the sun in
the upper right corner of the image is frightening. Instead of rays, we see sharp triangles like the multiple
rows of teeth found in a shark’s mouth.
The capstone of a pyramid is being shot into the building amidst the
lightning bolts; to either side of the building is a tree of life, one white
and one dark. The building itself
is tall, and kind of over-fancy.
To be honest, it doesn’t look like it would be sturdy even on a good
day, but it would be eye-catching.
All in all, the image offers a good visual of the negative side of
ambition.
My Tower is
reversed and in this deck, a reversed Tower is warning of an ongoing entrapment
of some kind. I am being told that
danger is approaching; following the old ways and offering the usual and
customary responses will only draw that danger even closer. Without a willing rendering of balance,
the ugly and uncomfortable adjustment will happen. In fact, it might happen anyway. My reversed Tower is being paired with the reversed Queen of
Swords, who is cruel, deceitful and unreliable. Air cards can tend to lack compassion and empathy, but since
my Queen is connected to Water, perhaps my feelings and emotions are being
distorted. I can’t rely on
feelings and I can’t rely on the intellect, unless I allow them to balance each
other. We have Water, Air and Fire
in this reading, no Earth at all.
A bit of grounding might be just the ticket!
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