Queen of Swords

There is a quote I like (attributed to everyone from Buddha to Thomas Merton) that goes something like "if the you of five years ago doesn't consider the you of today a heretic, then you aren't growing spiritually." I am not sure where exactly I first got the message that tarot cards were evil (there is a Devil card but it is more about our own personal demons than the big guy himself) but I didn't go near them until I was studying reiki.

Tarot became a lifeline for me during quarantine, especially since I could not go to my regular church. I could pull a card in the morning and do my (more traditional prayers) with it, then listen to a podcast about that card during a walk in the woods. There are so many accounts on Instagram going deep into the psychology of the cards, the artwork, symbolism, myths, and history. I even found some tarot readers that approach the cards from a Christian perspective. Some cards (three of swords, ouch) can point me towards wounds that need to be healed. Others, like the famed Death card, have jolted me out of my everyday habits with its themes of transformation and rebirth. The best readers I have found can tie the cards to what is happening in the collective as well as the personal (check out The Tower card and see: 2020).

I pulled the Queen of Swords today and realized she has actually shown up often for me over the past year. She is definitely one of the stronger figures in the tarot...a take-no-prisoners, cut through the nonsense kind of woman. The image in the traditional Smith-Rider-Waite deck show her with one arm extended and her sword in the other. She is welcoming you in but also ready to let you know not to mess with her.

Queen of Swords energy can get a bad reputation and get a girl labeled a bad name (rhymes with witch!!) but she knows that time is precious and wants you to conserve your energy. Especially over a turbulent, wild year, she is a good guide in figuring out not just what to cut with her sword, but how to protect what is meant to stay. That is where she can sneak in some tenderness. She is a mother who will not allow anyone to hurt her child. She will not allow you to neglect or abandon yourself. She teaches what has to be firm and what can be fluid, good skills to have during a pandemic. The poet Hafiz says "this place where you are right now, God circled on a map for you." The queen of swords guards this circle and teaches how to expand and contract it, who or what is safe and worthy to invite in, and who needs to be politely (sword in hand) asked to leave.