Rider Waite Suit Swords

Ace of Swords – Interesting the hand this time is bright white with a white glow emerging out of a gray cloud but it’s not a huge cloud.  The sword looks like it’s got seaweed coming off the crown on top.  Beneath is a mountain range.

Reversed – wow this feels like a death stab right through the middle killing instantly

Dusty – victory against any obstacle

Reversed = REAL DEATH CARD – sharp, violence, defeat, usually accompanied by vehement rage

Two of Swords – disturbing as the blind-folded woman dressed in a white gown sits on a bench in front of the ocean with two huge swords facing outward (arms crossed) and the moon is a waning crescent but it’s facing down to the left so it looks “off”

Reversed – YIKES this feels like being skewered like sticking cooking nails into a chicken

Dusty – No justice – stalemate, impasse, standstill, writer’s block

Reversed – settlements are reached, action can proceed, ANCIENT SECRETS ARE REVEALED

Three of Swords reminds me of the sacred heart of Jesus images.  A bright red heart is pierced with three swords under three rain clouds?  Grief, broken heart, storm but I don’t get the OMG awful feeling for some reason

Reversed – Upside down feels like a chicken heart with all of the rain drenching like tears

Dusty – Nailed it (pun intended) – despondence, betrayal by someone close, infidelity, slander, public humiliation, lawsuits, breach of contract, severe arguments, blasphemy, heart attack, stroke

Reversed – swift healthy recovery after surgery, restitution

Four of Swords – I remember vaguely Dusty talking about this one.  To me, this card is a tomb.  The man is not alive but a statue on his stone coffin so I can’t ask him anything at all.  Stained glass window and three swords hung downwards over the upper part of his body with a sword sideways on the coffin base.  Crypt feeling but not so much of death but deep deep sleep

Reversed – About to fall on the swords. Upside down feels awful

Saturday, January 9, 2021

Dusty – Nailed it!  Rest after surgery, retirement, honors bestowed posthumously, could indicate an inheritance depending on the other cards in the spread.

Reversed – dishonor, someone is digging up the past, things better left alone, no rest from prying eyes.

Five of Swords – Listened to Dusty’s lesson on this one.

Smug, obnoxious bully gets everyone to leave.  One fellow is distraught as he stops at the water’s edge.  The other is trudging towards the ocean or lake.  Seeing the news in the past few days, this looks like Chuck Schumer calling for Trump supporters to be punished.

Reversed – Upside down the guy doesn’t look so smug.  The two swords he’s holding look about to slip out of his hand.  The other looks like he’s going to drop it.  Not sure how I feel about the other two.

Dusty – “grins wickedly”, open intimidation by a bully, high winds blow on the bully but not on his victims (I did not notice that all!).  weakness amongst the masses

Reversed – end to subjugation, freedom from oppression, concerted team effort to stand up to false authority

Six of Swords – I feel like the boatman is the father and that the little boy is sitting next to his mother who is sick as she’s all bundled up in a large cloak or blanket covering all of her as she’s hunched over.  There appear to be islands on the other bank.  The swords all seem shiny and very large as they are planted firmly in the boat.  The oar seems odd.  Very long and narrow as he pushes the board at an angle to islands.  It doesn’t look like he’s heading towards them.  I feel like I would be adding to their burden by speaking and should just row alongside.  They are in an English punt boat.  I feel like I’m in a regular row boat or canoe.  They look like refugees. I feel like I’m in a boat right behind them.

Reversed – Oh, this feels awful like everything is topsy turvy and worse than before

Dusty – page 188 – Dusty calls it a skiff but those have a distinctive gondola bowing shape

Escape from abuse, relocation from a poor economy, leaving things behind MOVING AWAY from

Reversed –escape is delayed, no way out of the present situation

Strengthened by the act of experiencing versus simple visualization

Seven of Swords – NO WAY would I want to get anywhere near this guy.  He exudes creep, maybe even thief, scoundrel.  The way he is scampering like a male ballet dancer high stepping on his toes looking back over his shoulder makes my flesh crawl.  He is carrying, if you can call it that, 5 swords and two are left upright by the tents.  The tents are super ornate and the landscape looks lush with maybe some trees.  Can’t tell.  The army? Guards are far in the distance around a campfire with one man standing up holding a long long long staff.  But no one sees the thief.

He’s wearing one of those Turkish hats called a fez.

Reversed – This looks like the thief is caught in his own traps.  The tents seem more open.  The yellow sky reminds me of jaundice

Dusty page 190 – cites Aleister Crowley – shifting attention to the band of warriors who were supposed to be guarding the armory

False friend, backstabbing by cowards

USING AN OPPRESSOR’S words or devices against them

Eight of Swords – I remember this discussion from Dusty’s lessons.  I feel like I could rescue this lady and probably should.  She’s blindfolded but it doesn’t look like it’s on that tight.  She’s bound, but by mummy wrappings not by ropes or chains.  The swords are stuck into beach sand or a beach by river with the little rivulets you get when the tide has just gone out.  The castle in the background has an empty feel to it like everyone has fled and this lady was stuck out as a kind of sacrifice.  Her shoulders are a bit hunched up and she’s standing straight.  Very thin lady.

Binding one’s time?????

Reversed – not sure.  Precarious situation, unstable ground, headache

Dusty – page 192 – wake up call to selectively remove things from your life that are collectively causing greater harm than they could individually

Reversed – escape – re-entering society – opposite of what I feel

Nine of Swords – a man with graying hair sits up in bed and is either sobbing or holding his face in pain from a nightmare or migraine.  He is sleeping on a bed up against a wall of swords.  There is a relief on the side of the bed platform of a swordsman lunging towards a man that appears to have fallen backwards.  There are roses on the blanket.

PATHOS – I feel really bad for this fellow but am once again reluctant to just go up and ask him what’s wrong.  I’ll stand in the doorway.

Reversed – Oh my! upside down the headache feels worse.  Falling through rungs.

Dusty – page 194  Anxiety, concern over matters outside one’s control, nightmares, look for the root cause of this effect – the bedspread has roses and the symbols of the zodiac (I didn’t look close enough)

Reversed – emotional release, letting go of old pain and moving on

Ten of Swords – murder most foul.  I remember Dusty telling us to look at the gesture in the dead man’s hand.  I can’t tell if a cloak has been draped across his lower half or if that is all blood.  There is no blood coming from the top four swords but there is blood near his head which is turned towards the ocean or river.  The sky is black but there is a yellow sunset.  No trees anywhere and low hills.  I don’t even want to try to remove the swords and bury the man for fear of being seen.

Reversed – I think the swords are being pulled out, but I don’t feel that the man will be revived

Dusty – page 196 – “Live by the sword, die by the sword”.  Might be an assault on an innocent person.  Death by a thousand cuts.  Incessant pin-pricking to other point of throwing you into a frenzy.  Absolute betrayal, financial ruin, treachery, chronic back pain

Reversed – Dodging the bullet  Resurrection!

Thursday, January 14, 2021

Page of Swords – I think I like this guy  Wind has whipped his hair or blown something that seems attached to the back of his hair.  He’s a bit of dandy the way he stands with his left leg back in a ballet barre routine position.  Rolling hills I think with a tree being blown and either waves or a hill in the distance.  Flock of birds over the cloud.  He looks like he’s holding the sword ready to swing it.  I’d ask him what he sees over his shoulder and where he’s going.

Reversed – Here the neck seems craned in a bad position and the sword tip can’t be seen.  The clouds now look ominous.

Dusty – page 198 “young squire”  Practicing with his sword – represents a person, if a message it’s unpleasant or delivered with disdain.

Reversed – self-righteousness, demeaning manner, poor communication, ill-chosen words

Knight of Swords – Not only do I NOT want to be in this picture, I have no idea where I could go except to ride alongside. His horse looks terrified.  He’s racing headlong into battle with the clouds over head.  The wind is blowing from the looks of the trees.  Barren landscape.  It looks like bird motifs on horse’s blanket.  He looks mad as hell.

Reversed – Oh dear.  Upside down looks like a total frenzy.  Now the horse’s mane looks like flames and the sword looks like it’s piercing the viewer.

Dusty – page 200 Angriest card in the tarot

Unstoppable force, extreme courage in the face of danger

Reversed – bully, abusive, quick to anger, loud, instigator, loudmouth, zealot

Queen of Swords – Damn BITCH!  Harsh, authoritarian mannish.  Again very windy.  The hand is held out but it feels like it’s in mid gesture.  The sword is pointed straight up.  A bird is high up in the sky.  The throne is creepy.  Cherub with nasty looking feet and I have no idea what that thing is at the bottom but it’s disgusting.  Even the clouds are afraid to rise up.

Reversed – now her head looks like a battering ram and the sword looks deadly.  The throne’s imagery is even more disgusting upside down

Dusty – page 202 – LONG LONG description of the type of woman this card might represent

Reversed – insufferably evil or mean-spirited selfish woman TYRANT 

This card will require a lot of study as it’s very, very complicated

King of Swords – Complicated man, stern but sad.  The sword is slightly tilted away from him, ram’s horns on the throne maybe?  Clouds, but the trees aren’t blowing.  Can barely see his toes on one foot.  Hand is resting on his leg.  He doesn’t look that scary.  I’d like to ask him about his life.

Reversed – upside down the cloak looks like waves of tears – now his head and face look really sad  – not sure I’m getting anything right.

Dusty – page 204 – ONLY card where the person stares right out of the card at the viewer

Strong leader, judicious

Reversed – patient man with a cruel, calculating mind – criminal mastermind!

STORY TIME

Long ago and far away, the God of Wind retrieved Excalibur from the sea and held it up high above the land. Eons later a young woman, possibly a virgin, was blind folded and set upon a beach to wait a dragon. She is armed with two swords but she is frozen in place by a spell that binds her to the spot. The dragon’s heart is suspended in mid air and pierced by three swords as the storm God gets ready to rain down on the earth. The dragon slayer lies in his tomb inside a stone sarcophagus carved so perfectly it looks just like the knight as if he lay asleep with his hands in prayer pose wishing he had been more careful the day he slew the dragon.

The dragon slayer’s cousins have switched from wands to swords and having battled it out one more time, have broken up and the victor smuggly sneers as he gathers up the dropped swords. He’s a total jerk and will never let them forget today’s defeat. Broken by the death of her lover, a woman and her small son flee in a small boat having given their last farthing to the ferryman. The same scoundrel is found this time stealing weapons this time from an armory after getting the guard drunk and distracted. To appease the warlords, another young maiden is left tied outside a castle with swords driven into the sand in defeat. She could escape but has been so conditioned to not resist, she stands patiently to await her fate. Inside the castle, the maiden’s brother sobs in despair knowing he did nothing and can do nothing but accept his lot in life. Her other brother tried to save his sister but was slaughtered and lays in the banks of the river skewered from his neck to his thighs. The other brother is still alive and has just heard the fate of his brother which makes him sob all the more.

A cousin has emerged on the scene and has taken up his sword confidant that he can defeat all who challenge him as he practices on the beach unawares that a raging maniac of a swordsman on horseback is racing towards him to run him through at the command of a queen who rules without mercy married to a king who sits emotionless on his throne.

FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION

Dusty has a lot of websites and teaching materials all over the Internet. He’s a Sagittarius which is a mutable sign. He is very irreverent and if you missed my blog post here’s a quick glimpse into why some timid souls might not find his humor as hilarious as I do.

https://howmagicworks.libsyn.com/