Tarot Spread: Pressing the Advantage

A spread for creatively rethinking the 7 of Swords

Before we get into this spread for understanding the complexity of the 7 of Swords and seeing how to use its energy to your advantage, I want to give some insights into the card because it seems like one of the most underappreciated cards in the decks. One of my goals with this series of tarot spreads has been to help see the nuance and distinction between cards, as well as the potential that can come out of the cards, for good or bad.

The 7 of Swords is one of those cards that tarot readers seem to hate, whether they’re new to reading tarot or they’ve been reading for decades. The 7 of Swords is one of the few cards in the deck that points to sneaky behavior, and since many tarot readings involve burgeoning or troubled relationships, it can be the clearest sign of infidelity. (Emphasis on the word can.)

Clarity and specificity in a reading are fantastic, but having such clear information will usually be painful for a querent long before it becomes helpful, if they ever see it as helpful. And seeing fears confirmed in a reading can make querents react in ways that sometimes causes even seasoned readers discomfort. The rapport may be broken as fear shuts down understanding, and in extreme cases the querent blames the reader for trying to ruin the relationship (or the querent’s happiness) rather than looking at the questionable behavior.

Spread using the Jolanda Tarot (or Swedish Witch Tarot) by Jolanda den Tredjes and Hans Arnold

Beyond the heavy burden of identifying infidelity in love readings, this card is also a sore point for many readers because of this card’s relationship to ethics and the potential signs of moral relativism.

The tarot readers I most respect put ethics at the forefront of their practice. This industry is tainted by charlatans, both real scammers and people’s fears of scams. For years, I couldn’t take credit card payments through this website because “psychic services” and anything even remotely related was considered a financially high-risk business. (To be clear, I stayed very far away from the term psychic at the time because of the ethical implications and the moral responsibility that I feel need to accompany that term, or with people’s misinterpretation of the term psychic. Still, tarot was automatically dinged.) I almost gave up because being able to process credit cards for online payments is kind of important.

And all of this was part of the work before scammers started impersonating us on social media. To say that many of us are haunted by other people’s bad behavior is an understatement. So when we see it, it can be a trigger. The 7 of Swords often looks like that kind of bad behavior.

But the 7 of Swords, like so many of the Swords and the 7s, is more complicated than it first appears, and it’s much more complex than just one common context.

The 7 of Swords is Aquarian in its astrological associations, so it’s going to confront the proverbial “common wisdom” and assumptions about how we should think or act, about what’s right and what’s not.

It offers a test of the mind as well. As I discussed in the blog post for my tarot spread Heartfelt Visions, based on the 7 of Cups, the 7s numerologically are moments to demonstrate mastery and maturity before moving into the higher vibrations of 8, 9, and 10. Thinking numerologically and in terms of suit, the 7 of Swords is a card of intellectual experience and applying the gifts of the mind in challenging scenarios.

I’ve heard T. Susan Chang and M. M. Meleen call the 7 of Swords the Odysseus card, the clever genius who would use his wits to solve problems when everyone else reached for their swords. Sure, it may not be honorable to trick your opponent, but if you’re fighting, why should the guy with the biggest arms win by default? Why are mental tricks any less fair than direct force?

Such genius and wily thinking also tie this card for me personally to the Fox in the Lenormand system of cartomancy. The Fox is a trickster card that takes advantage of situations, usually at the querent’s detriment. But why shouldn’t they take an opportunity when they see one? Modern interpretations of the Fox tie it to work and survival, of making ends meet in an unfair world, and it’s why it has the oracular property of Opportunity in the Life Line Lenoracle (Lenormand + expanded oracle) I created. Some may also see the clever Snake as a relevant comparison too, as the Snake has the capacity to get away with sneaky behavior and is usually seen as having a clever mind. Both trickery and clever manipulation can be gifts in the right circumstances. (The oracular property for the Snake in the Lenoracle is Manipulation, a broader term than most assume.)

But this is why the 7 of Swords can seem like such a problem.

When we see the card, it feels like it’s happening to us because we rarely think of our own behavior as unethical or sneaky. (And if we do, we usually get uncomfortable that the card is calling us out.) It rarely appears neutral or like an opportunity. But what if we intentionally used it to think differently? What if we thought in terms of taking advantage of opportunities, rather than people? That’s what this card is about. Sometimes that means unethical behavior, but it doesn’t have to.

This spread taps into opportunity and prioritizing certain things over others. You can’t get what you want without making sacrifices. And you can’t take it all with you. What’s available? How can you think differently? What’s within your own ethical practice, regardless of others’? What’s your way out? These all go into the spread.

And while this spread is inspired by one of tarot’s minor arcana, you can use it as an oracle spread as easily as a tarot layout. It’s just a set of questions and card positions for divination and reflection, right? Use whatever tools you want, even just your own brain and a journal if you want.

The Chance: What opportunity is ripe for decisive action?

The Booty: How will it help me get where I want to go?

The Sacrifice: What will I have to abandon in the process?

The Trial: Where will my integrity be tested?

The Wit: How will unconventional thinking help me make the most of the situation?

The Vigilance: When might I have to cut and run?

The Survival instinct: What’s my exit strategy if things don’t work out?

Want help creating your own layouts?

You’ve got options! Join the semester of tarot and take advantage of office hours, where we can talk through your ideas and how best to ask the questions that matter most and create a custom signature layout for you.

Can’t wait? Sign up for my intensive fundamentals course for new and experienced readers, Read Tarot like a Nerd, where we get into the heart of asking questions that matter, along with a dozen or two other valuable topics to take your tarot readings beyond the basics. Or check out my Saturday seminars, including past recordings of Reading the Big Picture and Getting Intentional, which will help you create your own spreads.

And if you’re curious about the astrology of tarot, I have a course for that!