Tarot Spread: Lightning Strikes
Many tarot readers I encounter, even veteran readers, feel the least connection to the Swords cards. That’s not really a surprise. The Swords typically depict more negative scenes and represent more negative energies than other cards in the minor arcana. In the Waite-Smith deck and its successors, there are multiple blindfolds, there are broken hearts and people crying, and of course there’s also a sarcophagus and a stabbing. And in the middle, the cards of Aquarius (5–7), are some real puzzlers. In the Thoth’s pip-ish system, the card titles aren’t all that great either: Peace and Truce and Science seem good enough, but then there is Sorrow, Defeat, Futility, Cruelty, and Ruin, along with Interference. There are more negative than positive energies on the surface at any rate.
I realized only recently when doing a reading with the Linestrider Tarot by Siolo Thompson that I was heavily inspired by that deck when thinking of this photo as demonstrative of 5 of Swords energy. It’s one of my favorite 5 of Swords cards!
And for structural readers who don’t stick to the surface, there’s some real lack of clarity in a suit associated with the clear thinking element. Unlike the elemental purity of watery emotions in the Cups or the fiery ardor in the Wands, some of the Swords seem less about the intellectual part of the mind than about emotions wreaking havoc on the mind. So as a whole, it can be hard to characterize the Swords with the same coherence seen in other suits. (Real talk: All of the suits are actually more complicated than those elemental categories, and the Swords have a lot of coherence through abstract air associations, but the Swords can feel the hardest to grasp, much like air.)
But I love the Swords. Maybe it’s my contrary 5 of Swords nature, but I’m happy to work with them and help others understand them better.
As I mentioned in my recent deck interview for the upcoming Pocket of Peers Tarot by Jamie Sawyer, I was chosen/volunteered to represent the energy of the 5 of Swords in that deck.
For those interested in that story: It came about after considering and being selected for a more obviously positive card because I didn’t feel comfortable representing that card visually. I tried to imagine staging such a shot and it felt … douche-y. So when looking through some photos of myself that I like for their ability to evoke meaning, I realized that most of my recent photos—favorite or not—were of me absolutely destroyed after an intense workout. It was very 5 of Swords and 10 of Swords energy. The only ones that weren’t like that were cheesy tourist photos that could have been anyone at X trendy spot. (I don’t take a lot of photos of myself or of people in general, except for photos to help capture exercise form.) That’s more information than you need to introduce this tarot spread, but it’s important to me that you understand that this version of the 5 of Swords is important to me.
When Jamie and I talked about the 5 of Swords and what imagery to use, we talked about my post-workout photos in terms of the desire to push oneself and test the limits. It is “Defeat” in that we always fail when we come up against that upper limit. If we don’t, it’s because we’ve given up early: we could always have pushed harder if we wanted or needed to reach that point of failure. Of course, thanks to Smith’s illustration for Waite and most people’s desire to use tarot for interpersonal concerns, the card is often associated with disagreements or the tendency to fight for no good reason. This, too, I find familiar. I will argue for the sake of arguing. And I will stand on some really dumb hills, ready to “die” over something I’m not even sure is accurate because I’m playing devil’s advocate. That’s all part of the card of course, but since the deck is a deck of voices / advisors, I wanted to offer some useful and productive aspects of the card that might not be as obvious to people familiar with its negative connotations (and I wasn’t going to put myself out there only with bad energy).
So I thought on the Aquarian aspects of the card—it’s Venus in Aquarius by the Golden Dawn organization—and I was struck by this idea of it (at its best) as lightning in a bottle, a form of brilliant energy that is incredibly powerful. But genius can be dangerous to the status quo, and it is often antisocial up close—however much we idolize geniuses for their ability to advance humanity, they’re usually not the most fun people to be around (and there are evil geniuses too, as we all probably know). That kind of energy comes on quickly and grows, and it has to be discharged before it explodes in your hands. Venus draws others into our atmosphere, but when you direct that lightning at someone else, it can easily become a weapon. It becomes a source for arguments, a form of patronizing superiority, or a threat to what’s known and comfortably familiar, even if it’s for “their own good” thanks to Venus.
Aquarius at its best is all about making big change on behalf of the greater good, but people generally don’t love that kind of change, however much it’s needed. It can look more selfish than Leo, especially if it comes with some know-it-all righteousness, and especially if they really do know better than us. (Ugh. That’s the worst. But it’s also the best because it’s so important for us.) That kind of effect is powerful, so most of us probably won’t just let that potential go when we realize we hold it in our hands. If you already love the Swords, you know that they are a suit of ambition, not just suffering: the power behind that moment of genius and that (explosive) power to make significant change is seductive.
For those reasons, you’ll see that this spread isn’t about disagreements, per se, because those can be pretty easy to spot when the card shows up in a reading that way. Instead, this spread is designed to help you identify the good along with the bad and the ugly so that you can use the energy in a way that can have positive impacts and so that you understand what healing may be required after that energy has been discharged.
Lightning Gathered: What new energy or idea is ripe for me to activate?
Gleam in the Eye: What precautions must I take so that I use it pro-socially?
Clouds on the Horizon: How do I put this energy or idea into a context others understand?
Broken Earth: Where can this energy be applied to shake things up and allow new growth?
Debris: What will need to be picked up and put back together after lightning strikes?
And in case you’re curious, here’s the thirsty post-workout photo on which Jamie’s illustration was based.
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