The Right to Free Thought: Rereading Tarot's Swords

Psst! At the end of this month, I’m opening the doors to Tarot in Community, an online space for queers, feminists, and leftists to learn tarot, and merge it with their work in the world. Sign up for the waitlist here!

a light skinned black person with a warm brown afro looking toward the sun. They are wearing glasses, a leather motorcycle jacket, red lipstick, and a red floral shirt with buttons. the background is blue with a wavy texture.

On the first day of 2020, I drew the Ace of Spades and The Big Joker. I knew my grandmother was going to die.

There would be other signs to come. It felt obvious, but I hoped I was wrong. I put it out of my mind.

There seemed to be death all around my New Year 2020 readings. I pulled the Ten of Swords over and over again.

Because I had never seen...an unprecedented pandemic, I couldn't tell why. Maybe I was unwilling to think of all it could mean.

But my refusal to think about what was right in front of me did me no good. It helped no one.

Tarot's Swords can bring unthinkable events. They can spur unmanageable conversations, behavior, and feelings.

You pull the Five of Swords, and an ex who dragged you through the mud texts "hey stranger." You find the Nine of Swords and all the terrible memories come rushing back.

You pull the Ten of Swords, and something or someone dies.

There are cards in tarot's suit of Swords that can feel like a bespoke hell. Traditional meanings may itemize Swords' disappointments, but they all boil down to "change"

An unwelcome message interrupts a static silence. A stable mental state, whether comfort or crisis, yields to a less predictable mood.

You grieve what and who you lost.

This is one way to think of the work tarot's Swords are doing.

A change of mood can also be a sign that our environment is safe for big feelings. The reminder that someone who hurt us exists can be an opportunity to set boundaries we didn't have in the past.

Death is life's great and final truth. It'll happen to everyone, and there's nothing we can do to fight it.

Through free thought, by which I mean attention to detail, inquiry, and understanding, we can see that the work of tarot’s Swords isn’t good or bad.

Through free thought, we can see the role systems play in our limited ability to see the truth and accept reality. Our unwillingness or inability to think and scheme freely limits our capacity for action.

It all but ensures that we will act without thinking, and reap the consequences about which the Swords warn.

Swords can cut away what doesn't serve us. This includes ancient feelings tucked away in our bodies like spoiled food in the back of a fridge. This includes being angry at the dead.

Swords shake us up. They make us think. That's their work in the world.

But sometimes Swords just cut.

They don't always feel good.

Out of the four suits of tarot's minor arcana, people tend to fear Swords the most.

Why do we fear the truth? Why do we fear thought? Why do we fear death?

Tarot's Swords show us how pushing away a thought out of fear can keep us from growing.

When we embrace tarot's Swords, we respect that some questions respond better to logic. When Swords appear, we must admit there is more to life than our feelings.

"What do tarot's swords represent?"

This question is common for those new to tarot. The answers are less than satisfying.

Tarot's Swords represent the element of air. It moves quick. It can kick up with no notice.

It revitalizes us, and we cannot live without it.

The actions in the suit of Swords can be piercing, cutting, and even life-altering.

Unlike other suits in tarot, Swords are weapons.

Tarot's Swords align with the suit of Spades in playing cards. This is part of why Swords’ meanings can feel more severe than other tarot suits.

The Spades are the suit of the soldier. They are ready for battle. They won't get too caught up in emotions once they've decided what's right.

This is one of the things that makes tarot's Swords so hurtful. They are full of careless or calculated choices, changes, and words.

There's a tendency to intellectualize our feelings when Swords are around.

Like Spades in playing cards, tarot's Swords can show us the consequences of our decisions.

The predictions of the Spades are less abstract than those of tarot's Swords.

Both Spades and Swords bring the truth to light. Both cut right to the heart, like the image on the Three of Swords suggests.

Harsh truths

Sometimes stagnation feels better than change.

But can stagnation bring you closer to your goals. Can stagnation make you feel more comfortable doing your work in the world?

Can stagnation push you to be a better lover, or a better friend

Tarot's Swords act like wind in our sails.

We may miss what we leave on the shore. Yet we understand that security and possibility can be a trade off.

If we've poured our time and resources into planning this trip, we might as well travel. There's no use in resisting the shifts in environment that Swords create.

Swords bring a different type of change from tarot's Wands.

Wands burst into our lives, causing change before we can comprehend it. Wands are a catalyst.

Tarot's Swords signal change where our egos may have wanted longevity.

Swords force us to communicate. Swords ask us to reevaluate. Swords show us the truth.

Swords can also appear when we are faced with the truth about the world and our place within it.

When we realize our boss has promoted a white colleague over us, yet again. When it dawns on us that most of our taxes go to war. When we accept that a closeted lover may never come out.

These are the realities of tarot’s Swords. Truth hurts.

Change Your Life, Change the World

I'm a child of the Black 90's.

There was a saying that seemed to be everywhere while I was a kid: "you can't be what you don't see." It was so corny.

TV shows, after school specials, parents, pastors, and coaches seemed to all say it at once. "You can't be what you don't see."

But unfortunately, they were right!

If you can't dream it, you can't be it. If you don't see it, it's unlikely you'll think something is for you.

It makes logical sense. This is the problem with making decisions based on feelings alone. That sometimes we must free our mind through understanding the patterns and systems that govern our lives.

Sometimes a theory that helps you understand why you're suffering sets you on the path to liberation.

It can also stop us from mystifying the source of the harm we’re experiencing.

Are you lazy, or does capitalism demand an unjust level of productivity? Are you bad with money, or are wages stagnant?

You can't accept the truth until you admit someone has duped you.

Such thoughts inevitably knock against our feelings in unpleasant ways. It can be painful to take a long look at ourselves.

Thought and change are the blessings of tarot's Swords. One often gives birth to the other.

When we reread tarot's Swords as an opportunity to embrace what’s real, we accept that we are responsible for changing what we cannot accept.

We acknowledge that we cannot move through every day with Wands energy. We can't run around knocking things over and think we'll never have to clean up our mess.

Swords are the suit that alerts us to that mess. Through thought, logic, and embracing change, we can start to reorganize our lives.

Thought gives us the opportunity to ask why something is what it's become.

We are mentally ready for inquiry, theory, and debate when Swords are around. "Why"s seem to be everywhere when you pull Swords. It's your job to answer them.

The power of tarot's Swords comes from honoring our commitment to self-improvement.

With Swords, we can accept when we are wrong. We can change our lives. We can change the world.