Ten of Swords

 Ah the illustrious ten of swords! Such a foreboding and tragic looking card. I know in the past that whenever I have seen it in a reading I have been sure that I was about to meet my demise. Of course, in fitting with the rest of the swords, the ten of swords is not what it appears to be and is perceivably a good sign. Let’s take a look...


Here we see a person laying face down in the dirt with 10 swords stabbing them all along their spine/back. I tend to think of it more along the spine because of how they are placed, but it depends on how the reader chooses to interpret it. Either way, that’s a lot of swords to have in the back. There is blood spilling out from the wounds into the dirt and their head is turned towards the background. It’s easy to get lost in the seeming brutality of the foreground image. That being said it’s important not to discount the sky. In the sky we see the darkness of the night starting to dissipate as the dawn is rising. The light of the sun is banishing the darkness and bringing a new beginning with it.

This card, more than anything symbolizes the ending of something, and the new cycle that inevitably follows. This ending can manifest in many ways; ending of relationship, career, life cycle, end of a way of being, etc. it truly depends on where the card is pulled in a reading. Sometimes we’re too busy grieving the perceived loss to see the new dawn that is rising just beyond our immediate reality. This card is a reminder that we shouldn’t get so lost in our mental grief over what is no more, that we do not see what is about to rise in its stead. 

There were times in my life where I would pull this card over and over because I would get so entrenched in the feeling of grief that I wouldn’t allow the newness, the inevitable dawn to even be part of my reality. It took me many years to change my mental habits and address the deep subconscious patterns that kept me from honoring those things that are no longer meant for us. When we learn to gracefully let go of what is no longer meant for us, we allow the sweetness of the future to heal our wounds.

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