Ace of Swords. Standing up for truth.

     All of the Aces stand at the beginning of their own suit of elements. The Ace of Swords represents the element of air, of thought and mentality. It is a new beginning an influx of primal unsullied air energy being ushered into our lives.
      The suit of swords is often given a rather unfair descriptor of being one of the more negative suits. True, it does include a greater number of cards that seem outwardly negative, but without this element things would be a whole lot worse.
     The card depicts a large glowing sword being thrust forward, held by a divine hand emerging from a cloud. Swords themselves really only have one purpose...cutting. This purpose can be applied in several different ways and it can certainly be used for harm or evil purposes. Because of the fearsome power of the sword, this makes people afraid of it. But this awesome power can also be used for good and its power rightfully then belongs in the hands of those who would use it for that.
     The crown atop the sword is an indicator of its primacy, that it is used for rulership, hanging from the crown are two branches. One is an olive branch, the other a palm leaf. These two plants signify the dual nature of the sword. The olive branch is a symbol of peace, while the palm is traditionally a symbol of the successful vanquishing of the enemies of the soul. Often this was viewed in the context of spirit vs flesh, but I feel have moved past that archaic dichotomy. It truly symbolises spirit vs the misuse of power.
       The white and purple surrounding the card are symbolic of higher energies, typically those emerging from the crown chakra. That of universal mind. It suggests that this energy is in the employ of higher service.
        The Ace of swords represents the use of the intellect in the service of the highest good, that of universal mind. Too often the good are afraid of their own power and fail to utilise their own innate strength for fear of being like those who use their strength for misguided aims. This card is the pure essence of mentality and showing that it truly belongs in the hands of the good and if they do not grasp it, they cannot prevent its misuse.
      I have realised in my own life that not being prepared to use force to defend the good allows evil to triumph. That in itself is an evil. "All that is required for evil to triumph, is that good men do nothing". There is often a great fear that by accepting power it will immediately corrupt any goodness. But only the good will hold this thought in their minds as they wield power and be on constant guard for its misuse, both within themselves and in others. That is why it must be used by those who would call themselves goodly.
     Recently I have had to use this energy to create a new space in my life. I have had to accept that being brutally honest within communication sometimes is the only way to protect goodness. I have felt deep in my gut that something is wrong and I have used my intellect to find its root and to sever it without guilt or qualms. Just as a doctor may need to apply the scalpel to a cancer, any less measure than eradication is only going to allow the cancer to flourish. There is nothing inherently evil about this, even if it is a process that seems painful and severe.
     Talking with a couple of friends last night this conversation came up. A friend talked about several guys she knew who were too "nice" to complain about their food at a restaurant. Instead they griped and moaned rather than applying their power to change anything. This passive aggressive behaviour is not really good or nice. It causes those around them to suffer their petulance and creates an air of discomfort. By not grasping the power of truth and applying it, they perpetuate an evil...albeit a very minor one in this case. Aggressively pursuing truth is not an evil. By alerting a server to the inadequacy of the meal, they are doing themselves and the restaurant a service.  This of course is a minor example, but where someone fails in a minor way, they are not going to succeed in something major. Using the excuse that they are nice to not complain is merely covering up a personal weakness. Often they are afraid of any greater confrontation and the appearance of aggression.
      Applying aggression in the cause of goodness or right is not bad, in fact it is a greater level of goodness than mere passivity. But only when it is applied for the right cause. If you are not sure it is right, then do not use this power. Trust your gut and your heart, find what is wrong. Reason it out, find the best, most efficient and compassionate way to resolve it and apply your power. It may well involve cutting through someone's ego. That person may react as though you have cut them, but if you have followed your gut, applied your instinctual knowing you can be sure it is for the good.
     Allowing someone to use their ego to diminish or make another suffer is not a good action. That person may believe they are not hurting anyone else or that they are just being themselves. But people are not their egos. They are not their bad behaviour. Cutting this away may seem painful to them, but sometimes it is necessary. We all secretly love those who can speak openly and not stand for bad behaviour. That is a power we all have, one we should all be unafraid to embody. Imagine the good that could be done if people all stood up for their truth.

7 of Swords. Deceit and dishonesty.

  This card is called the card of dishonesty and is the latest in a run of swords I seem to be pulling out of the deck. This rather innocuous card has open up a Pandora's box of different ideas and emotions in me. Before we get into that, I would like to look at the general theme of the card.
    The suit of swords as been established is related to the mental realm, thoughts in particular. The large number of swords is at this point still an unwieldy amount and creates an element of density in thought. The character  in the card appears to be in the process of making off with a bundle of swords from a camp. He is clearly sneaking away while the others are gathered in the distance unaware of his actions. The colour of the card..a sickly yellow suggests cowardice and his polka dot robe is reminiscent of a clown's attire, or the spots of the pox.
   Rather strangely his eyes are closed and an expression of pleasure is pasted over his face, almost as if his deceit is giving him a thrill. His face is pressed close to the blades and his hands and fingers clutch the naked steel in a way that would likely cause cuts and pain. There is an air of sadistic pleasure from this betrayer as he steals away what is not his.
    He wears a rather unusual hat, similar to a Morrocan fez which adds to his somewhat comical appearance. There is definitely an element of the trickster in this card, although it is without the wisdom of that archetypal being. His closed eyes show that he is not conscious of his misdeeds and may in fact say it was a joke or that he was not meaning to do harm, although the glee evident of his face suggests a sadistic pleasure in taking the power of others.
   The card suggests trickery, betrayal and malicious mischief. It can mean dishonesty and in-genuineness in someone you are dealing with, or in the way you are dealing with others.
   I drew this card late last night, just before I went to sleep and was asking for guidance with an issue that I am discovering with the Sahasrara chakra (Crown) which is at the top of the head. I have felt a great deal of issues bubbling to the surface after I have open up to the kundalini energy more and started to feel greater motivation. Doing this blog also brings things up almost continuously for examination.
   The issue with my crown chakra goes back a long way and in all honesty I have grown so used it that I have somewhat ignored the issue. I used to work for a bank in the UK and it was a job that was very stressful, my job was answering calls relating to the bank software which was usually failing to run people's wages. This meant most people who called were already stressed from their employees wages not being processed and often I had to inform them it was actually their error in not using the software correctly. At one point I was moved to a new section for which I was not trained because of some issue within the corporation. I was forced to deal with high value payment transactions with a very small window of time to fix them. I got calls from major corporations, often from all over the world trying to trace their lost payments which usually were valued in the millions. I was unfamiliar with the software and with the protocols and there was little to no supervision with managers passing off the problem. These calls would come in continuously, one after another with no break allowed between.
      I woke up one morning to find my pillow covered in hair and realised that I needed to get out of there. I walked in and found the head manager and told her either I get moved to a new department, or I would walk out. She moved me to another section and the hair loss stopped. From that point on the hair on the top of my head is a little sparser than I would like.
     This is what was connected to the issues with my crown chakra, but I could not work out how to remedy it. There is no reason why the hair should not grow back. There has been instances of hair loss in my family due to stress and I had passed this off as being the same thing. They had not found solution by leaving the job behind and neither had I..I gave it no further thought. Until now that is.
     That this card would appear in conjunction puzzled me. I could see no immediate connection between dishonesty and my situation. Yes, the bank had treated me badly..but they were hardly dishonest in their actions (those actions anyway!). I could not see me being dishonest in this either. I poured over the books I have on the cards and one detail stood out to me which was about in-genuineness. Did I really genuinely believe it was the right place for me to be? No..I didn't. It was in fact as far from being genuine to myself as I could get. Coming from an artistic and creative perspective, it was nothing like what I would hope for myself.
    With that I realised that I was being in-genuine with myself and that has never stopped. Sure..I understand my tolerances a little better now and know when to lay off a job that is no good for me before it develops into illness or stress. But that is hardly being genuine, it is simply flying under the wire of dishonesty with myself. All I was doing was flitting from one ill fitting position to another until I became too stressed to continue in any of them. This was not remedying the problem, but simply avoiding letting the symptoms get to an unmanageable level.
   The hair will not grow back, until I find something that genuinely fits with me. I can feel the heaviness on my crown chakra and I have felt the stagnant energy flow passing through that region. This of course leads to want to find out what it is that IS genuine for me. I already have a clue simply by where the issue is located...the crown...and no it is not being a King...even if I am a Leo...