By Sarah Taylor
Full disclosure: I am writing with a bad head-cold and at the tail-end of a family emergency (which has passed, but continues to leave its mark). So today I am going to be brief — and for some reason, that feels fitting for a mid-ish-week reading that falls the day before a lunar eclipse. The cards reflect this timing, too. I am holding trust that you get everything you need.
Three of Swords, Ten of Cups, Princess of Swords from the Haindl Tarot deck, created by Hermann Haindl. Click on the image for a larger version.
The foundation to this reading is held by the card on the left: the Three of Swords. “Mourning.”
Something has been — well, if not lost, then it had the quality of confusion, an over-involvement by unwanted parties, or a compromise that has left its sting. You know that saying, “Too many cooks spoil the broth”? This broth — a hope, an idea, a belief pinned to your vision board — has indeed been at the mercy of one too many cooks.
Often, in cases like this, a swift, tactical maneouvre to extricate yourself from the immediate ensnarement and clashing of words is the best shot you have at restoring a sense of balance.
And, my goodness, it seems you’ve achieved that. The Three of Swords could have felt like a fleeting moment in the greater scheme of your life — a small scuffle, a minor “yikes!” (or a big “OUCH!” ) — but its effect is greater than that. The Three of Swords has paved the way for your current situation: the Ten of Cups. Haindl titles this card “Success,” yet it’s success of a very specific kind. As the final card of its suit, a Ten represents a fulfillment; the success refers to the coming together of disparate parts of yourself. It is an inner family reunion, where love has been the currency that has enabled you to return those disparate parts to the fold — the sanctum of your heart.
You’ve experienced complications that arise when you step into the complexity of interrelatedness; you now understand the wholeness that comes from that, as paradoxical as it may seem. In some way, you’d been working behind the scenes from yourself, contemplating the matter of love and what it actually means (and no, it’s not what you find in the movies). You have found your version of it — the one that works for you, right here, right now.
This is a place that no-one else can touch; it is dependent on no-one other than you. You have tended it — possibly with the kind of care that you weren’t able to offer yourself until recently — and enriched it so that it beats at your centre.
Time to move forward. This is as good as it gets for now. You may find you come around again and revisit what you’ve just been through in a different form, but it will never be the same — because you aren’t the same.
And as if to emphasise this moving on, the figure of the Princess of Swords in the final card — represented by the Ancient Egyptian goddess Isis — looks away from the two cards to her left, and greets what will be shifting into life, as yet unseen by you. As the Princess, you have the Ten of Cups at your back; as do you the Three of Swords. Your own Sword — your agility with ideas, words, and your laying down of the law in your life — is tempered with that beating heart.
“As mother [of Horus] and wife [of Osiris], as the heroine of the battle against Set [Osiris’s brother], Isis represented love, courage, and devotion. Pictures often showed her feeding her infant Horus, a scene like the Christian Madonna and Child.” [Rachel Pollack, The Haindl Tarot: The Minor Arcana]
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Love, courage, and devotion. As the Princess of Swords, your wisdom is focussed on nurturance — your own, as well as toward other people, and other things.
You are learning what ‘motherhood’ really means (and, again, it is not the stuff of movies). The mother is the heart-centred custodian of life. She is the wisdom that springs from that. She is clear-sighted in her commitment to it. She is earth, she is family, she is intuition. She underpins all things.
Isis is associated with both the Sun and the Moon — perfect timing given this reading marks the second of two eclipses. This not only anchors it into your psyche and the collective: it also gives you an indication of timing and what will be ushered in by the new cycle that is now being birthed.
Resonating as you are with the archetype of the mother, you are perfectly positioned to know what to do, and how to be, in the form she takes in your life.
Astrology/Elemental correspondences: Three of Swords (Saturn in Libra), Ten of Cups (Mars in Pisces), Princess of Swords (the earthy aspect of air)
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Thank you for this extraordinary reading, dear Sarah – so helpful, and much needed right now, as grieving for my mother plus old family dynamics, that I thought I had laid to rest a while ago, are hitting hard right now – and it feels as if I’m losing my grip. So sorry that you’ve been through the wringer yourself – and thanks for delivering this fantastic reading in spite of it all. Take good care of yourself. (((())))))
And you take excellent care of yourself too, Lizzy – my thoughts are with you.
LIzzy, I am late with my condolences, and I offer them to you now. The 3 of swords, mourning, may represent many things. Last week there were two deaths in my family, and many of my friends lost a parent or sibling last week. The energy beyond loss and grief is that they are passing the torch, and that implies the other two cards. What will we do with that torch?
On another level, it is as you say. Maybe things fell apart, or someone who we wanted support from undermined us, or we did it to ourselves. The greater vision, the power of LIfe, is stronger than these set backs.
Let’s go!
It seems that “Mourning” is being felt as a much deeper experience of physical loss from these comments, yes, Carla. My thoughts are with you too.
Given it’s a Swords card, perhaps a spotlight is also being put on our thoughts and beliefs about loss, how our mind responds to it, and what it calls into question for us – while in no way detracting from the emotional impact. The reading doesn’t dismiss the emotions at all, but rather it is saying, “What have you been thinking alongside your feelings? How have you approached this in terms of your mind and your discernment? What has kept returning to your mental awareness? What has needed to be dealt with in any and all of these areas to bring you to the Ten of Cups?”
The Three of Swords could speak of unfinished business – or even a matter just started or coming into awareness – because it appears early on in the suit. This lies in the recent past. It’s influence is very much there, but the inner environment (and maybe the outer) is now shifting.
And the Ten of Cups is a different matter.
Let’s go!
Bless you, dear DivaCarla, for your kindness, and for the immense strength and wisdom of your words, which I will put in a safe place. I’m so sorry for your recent losses. Yes, this is a time of many people passing on – and we’ve been rocked by the latest waves of attacks in the heart of Europe. But as you say, “The greater vision, the power of LIfe, is stronger than these set backs.” Thank you!
Sarah,
Please allow me to be among those offering both gratitude for your work shared here, and sympathy for what you are going through.
Thank you, Len. We’re fine here now, and easing down from a situation that was traumatic for two people very close to me. I wasn’t there at the time, but returned home to its aftermath, and got down to the business of creating some normality and stability again – or as much as can be done when neither is guaranteed.
Which, now that I write about it, is summed up in the Three of Swords and the Ten of Cups precisely.
I like that the Princess of Swords is looking ahead; also that she looks at ease in her strength. The energy of this eclipse I have felt since awakening this morning; I have much hope that it ushers in great trust in each of our hearts, not only in ourselves, but in life and the re-birth that comes with spring. Lizzy and DivaCarla, you’ve both touched my heart: how else are we to do this dance without honest-loving-kindness and reinforcement? Thank you Sarah; I so look forward to your readings and I hope all is healing soon.
The Princess is indeed at ease in her strength – and that strength feels abundant and far-reaching.
Thank you, Dorothy!
This is a wonderful reading, I can actually feel the insight and clarity of message contained here. Thank you, Sarah 🙂
You’re welcome, Sue 🙂
I, too, offer my condolences Lizzy, DivaCarla and Sarah, for your loss. It is painful. I know this personally, and as much as we try to make sense of it all, grieving hurts. Yet grieving also heals, for it flushes the soul with honor and love in mourning for the loved one lost, and from it we somehow rebuild and grow differently, with a bow to all things living, knowing that all mortal things will also die, including ourselves. It is our own mortality that we also face when we face the death of a loved one, and to some extent that fact can bring us hope because knowing that we all share the same fate can also offer some comfort. And, depending upon your belief there can be an acceptance that all is as it is, to everything there is a season, as there is now, during the Spring equinox. The presence of memory and spirit of our lost loved one eventually is allowed to become enough to sustain us in our new relationship to our loved one. It is triumph over the reality of what is (the ten of cups) by accepting the reality of life’s mortality. At least this is what I am seeing/feeling and offering at this moment. The Sun and the Moon of Isis is also the Yin and Yang of life force, in a manner of speaking.
Blessings to all of you and us, as we witness the pain and suffering in our own lives and those of others, especially the victims of Belgium. The senseless taking of life is always the hardest to accept and although terrorists themselves are suffering through their own causes of pain and grief, their weapons of choice to inflict pain and grief on others in an effort to change societies’ public behavior, should force us to dig deep in our souls to either surrender to their wishes or trust in the timing of the universe as to when our own on life will end when we make our choices as to how we will interact and conduct our daily lives. But we must also consider why they hurt so much to go to so much extreme infliction of pain on others. I do not condone their behavior. I only challenge our leaders to dig deeper into their motivations and consider peaceful, humanity-honoring approaches to addressing their problems versus an “us or them” mentality that surrounds our foreign policy efforts so often. The sword approach is always the easy alternative. Their are other ways, other approaches but the efforts take work, which is why King Solomon (Sulayman- Muslim) was considered wise by both the Jewish and Muslim (and of course, by extension, Christian) faiths. Namaste’
Thank you, Pisces Sun, for your calming, compassionate, and wise words.
Thank you for your beautiful comment, dear Pisces Sun. I so agree with what you say about grieving and mortality. There’s a tenderness and sweet spot at such times – which can be touched by allowing the feelings to be, and, as you say, accepting what is. Thank you dear.
I don’t know how you do it, but your reading is poking at me to pay attention to my mothering in relationships, and how I need to turn my back, or maybe integrate that nurturing of others into nurturing myself. I’ve been so bombarded with relationship matters and needy clingy men lately, I’m ready to scream and run away. But, enough about me, I’m so sorry for your loss……….
Speaking entirely personally, Roni, I think it is the mothering (or lack, or aberration thereof) in relationships that holds the key to our greatest wounds, and our greatest healing. So it’s a significant step to start to become aware of this, and to act differently. I’m thinking of you.
No physical loss here, but my thanks all the same and my thoughts remain with Lizzy and Carla too.
Sarah……………….I can relate to this piece of work……..pondering underway…………Sorry things have been rough for you and yours………..glad things are better……………Love and light to you and yours…………and the same to you Diva Carla as well………..Lizzy …peace to you…………all of you …take care
Thank you, Barbara!
Lizzy and DivaCarla, you both continue to be in my thoughts and I want to let you know that.
My heart sincerely goes out to both of you in your moment of loss; I’m sorry I didn’t express that better in my original post. From deep within, you are gathering every beautiful force you need for this new dawn; I have learned that those we so love are never truly far from us. To each of you, all the strength and all the best.
Thank you so much, dear Dorothy. Your first comment was beautiful, too. xxxx