Welcome to Tarot Thursdays! This week we will be exploring the Seven of Swords and how it can be used as a prompt or brainstorming in our writing.

Tarot is an interesting thing. It’s based upon symbolism and metaphors through imagery. With these images the subconscious mind is tapped into through the story provided. Not everyone gets the same thing from a piece of art. Each piece will influence each person in a slightly different way.

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Introduction of the Card

The Seven of Swords is card number 56 in the deck and the seventh card of the Sword Suit in the Minor Arcana of the Tarot.

Let’s take a look at the following examples of this card below.

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Card Examples

 

 

 

Notice the similarities between them and take note of their differences. Do any of these move you more than the others? Take your time and allow these cards to tell you their story.

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My Analysis of These Cards

The only card here that doesn’t make sense to me visually is the Dragon Tarot card. I have no idea what this dragon is supposed to be doing. As far as I can tell it’s just there hanging out with a pair of daggers floating under it. I do not understand what the artist had in mind with this card at all. If someone else does and wants to explain in the comments below I would greatly appreciate it. I’m really lost with this card.

The other three cards clearly depict a thief type character doing what thieves do best. No confusion here. If anything it only makes me wonder more about the Dragon Tarot card.

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Themes of the Card

Each card has a set of keywords associated with it that serve as themes for its image. These keywords will vary somewhat depending on who you ask.

According to the Learning the Tarot website, the keywords associated with the card are:

• RUNNING AWAY
• LONE WOLF STYLE
• HIDDEN DISHONOR

You can learn more about what this site has to say about this card here.

According to the Biddy Tarot website, the keywords associated with the card are:

• BETRAYAL
• DECEPTION
• GETTING AWAY WITH SOMETHING
• SEALTH

You can learn more about what this site has to say about this card here.

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What this Card Means to Me

There are times in life when you do need to play things close to the vest, so I don’t particularly like how people give this card a negative connotation in a blank statement sort of way.

We all have that one person in our lives who will tear down our dreams if we give them a chance. These are the people that if we tell them our plans, they will tell us all the ways it can fail. Some of them may even actively undermine our efforts. This is the time to keep our plans under wraps and just do our thing quietly until it’s finished.

Now the reason this card gets such a bad rap is because it represents the act of behaviors behind the scenes and under cover. We do this when we don’t want to be found out. When we start behaving this way we need to check ourselves and ask why. Who and what are we hiding from? Will our actions cause harm to anyone?

Intent and motive is everything here. Keeping things secret as you’re planning a birthday party is not even remotely the same thing as plotting the downfall of someone in a position of power for example. So we need to always be mindful of intent and motive when addressing or depicting activity that is operating behind the scenes.

The keyword I choose for this card is: STEALTH.

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Music Playlist

In this spirit of all this, these are the songs I have picked out for this card.

 

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The Writing Exercise

This exercise is a free write. Permit yourself to write whatever comes to mind based upon the theme of this card. Choose a keyword or key phrase and run with it to see what you come up with.

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I would love it if you linked or pinged back what you wrote so I could see where you went with this.

Happy writing!

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Mythic Tarot by Liz Greene (Author), Juliet Sharman-Burke (Author), Tricia Newell (Illustrator) © 1989
Dragon Tarot by Terry Donaldson (Author), Peter Pracownik (Author) © 1996
Universal Tarot by Lo Scarabeo (Author), R. De Angelis (Illustrator), A. E. Waite (Designer) © 2001
Tarot of Dreams by Ciro Marchetti (Author), Lee Bursten (Author) © 2015