Tarot Discussion Group, Card of the Week.

Rites of Passage: The 6 of swords represents those moments that change our lives. Moments that say things are going to be different from here. I like the image in Melanies Card, I think of her as a young priestess, leading her circle for the first time. We see her Poised in Confident. She is at peace with this moment, she has worked for this and she is ready. The setting is beautifal, green and calm, that and her robes, reinforce the overall peacefull feeling of Melanies Card.

The Card shares the aspect of a pause, you can see generally in the sixes. The 6 of Pentacles represents Philanthropy, taking a moment from the grind of the material world to give back. The 6 of Wands, represents Victory, the young lord returning home to recieve his Laurals, between campains. The 6 of Cups, Nastolgia is again a moment of pause taken to remember the joys childhood.

I think in order to understand this card it is best to compare it with the 10 of Wands. Both represent the completion of cycles. While the 10 of Wands can be seen as harvest time. A time to reap the rewards of a years work, but a time that requires one last great effort, to bring the crop home. The 6 of Swords represents moments like, graduating High School, or being a awarded a black belt. The curriculum is completed and what remains is the formal recognition of that accomplishment.

So we see something of that represented is in the Universal Waite Card. The figures huddled in the small boat crossing a still water. We dont see the quite joy of Melanies card. We cannot see the faces of the figures, as they sit so quitely huddled against the elements, their is something sad about the UW card. The UW card carries a reminder that these moments seperate us from our past. So after school, we all make promises and plans to keep in touch. Yet so many people find that our adult lives are very differnt from our childhood, and part of that is a new and differnt circle of friends.

As an aside the UW, represents one easily overlooked aspects of the overall Tarot. The Swords represent the intellectual aspect of a well rounded life. Or so they should, but as the Tarot has evolved, the Sharpness of the swords, has eclipsed the Intelligence of the Swords. Even when dealing with cards that are generally positive in other suits, the swords card often represents a negative energy. Socraties would have been a Prince of Swords, and we remember him now as one of the great minds of all time. Yet if you asked the average citizen of Athens about the man, he might of scratched his head a moment and then said, "Oh the smartassed little man, yes I know of him."

Divination: Hard earned success, Attainment of a Goal, Completion of a Curriculum, Obstacles overcome. Moving beyond present difficulties. A possible reconcilliation. A pause between struggles. Attaining a higher level of consciousness.

Reversed: Retreat in the face of difficulties. Stalemate, unable to move forward. A journey postponed. Inability to learn from past mistakes. Miscommunication.

Please click on the Tarot Home link, to access a list of all card essays currently online. Please share your thoughts I look forward to your replies in the group.