Weekly Tarot - Two of Swords

I mentioned yesterday that I’m going to be experimenting with incorporating my ongoing study of the Tarot into the stuff I’m producing for Patreon. This is the first in a series of brief weekly analytical posts I’ll be writing on individual cards. I’m clearly not getting as deep into them as someone more knowledgable in the full occult history and symbolism of the Tarot would be able to, but I think this is a useful exercise for myself and hopefully you might find it interesting. 

What I’m including in here is not authoritative, and like all Tarot interpretation, it’s highly subjective and particular to me. You may get different things out of the same card or have different understandings of what it means. That’s fine; I’m of the opinion that there’s really no wrong way to do Tarot. Or at least I’m not interested in arguing about what the right way is. 

I’m drawing the cards at random. I decided to do it that way rather than start with the beginning of the Major Arcana and proceed from there because it’s more interesting to me to not know beforehand what I’ll be writing about in any given week.

I often get asked about my deck, since I prefer to eschew the more conventional Rider-Waite deck (I just don’t vibe with the aesthetic). It’s the Ethereal Visions deck by artist Matt Hughes, and it’s available all over the place online for a pretty reasonable price.

Two of Swords

I have a lot of feelings about this card when I see it pop up—in readings for anyone but especially readings for myself (okay, I have a lot of feelings about a lot of these cards but anyway). The Two of Swords, at least for me, has the most immediate connotations of blockage and willful ignorance; it’s not just about not letting something in but also about willfully obscuring something from yourself, whether or not you’re aware that you’re doing it. 

Obviously the two big visual elements here are the crossed swords and the blindfold. Swords are a weapon and can therefore signify aggression, but in this context they primarily signify defensiveness—defensiveness to unhealthy excess. If one is going to defend effectively they have to see what they’re defending against; the blindfold prevents that. The Two of Swords is defending against everything without any distinction regarding whether what they’re facing is actually a threat. The entire world seems to be a threat, is threatening, and therefore it’s better to know as little about it as possible. This attitude absolutely precludes any possibility for progress or growth, and is deeply self-isolating. 

When this card comes up for me I try to reflect on what I might be feeling overly defensive about, or otherwise not allowing myself to deal with, preferring to isolate myself and not move forward. The biggest question I ask myself when I see it is: What am I missing? What about this situation am I concealing from myself? But also: Is what I perceive to be threatening actually a threat? Or am I making things out to be worse than they are by denying myself the knowledge I need to evaluate what I’m dealing with? 

The swords of the Swords suit can bear a multitude of meanings. They can mean pain and suffering, but they also mean strength and courage in the face of difficulty, and in addition they signify the act of cutting through confusion and ignorance with the sharp edge of rationality and mindfulness. Swords, therefore, are weapon-as-tool: potentially constructive or destructive depending on how they’re used. 

I try to find positive meanings even in cards that appear to be negative, and I think the sword itself is a guide to that in this case. The swords the figure is holding have edges, and she’s holding them; she’s using them poorly but she does control them. If she wanted to, she could choose to cut off the blindfold and turn to the vista behind her, the water and land and open sky. Freedom is in her hands and at her back if only she allows herself to see it. In that sense, the Two of Swords is a warning to reflect on yourself but also a sign of opportunity and a reminder that one always has agency. 

Incidentally, there are a few cards in the Tarot deck that can signify various kinds of conflict, and I think it’s also interesting to note that three of these cards (the Five, Seven, and Nine of Wands) are, well, Wands cards. 

In the occult symbolism of the Tarot, elementally the Swords are associated with air, and astrologically with Air signs—in positive terms, clarity, rationality, self-reflexiveness, knowledge. Wands are associated with fire, and also with the Magician in the Major Arcana—Wands are creative, active, lively and vivacious, and represent the mindful exertion of your will on the world around you. In that sense, Wands are inherently more combative than Swords. Sword cards that signify conflict tend to be much more about conflict with the self, about self-destruction and suffering, or abuse on the part of others (when we get to the Eight of Swords I’ll talk about its relationship with the Two; they’re a lot alike but different in some significant ways). 

So yeah, while it’s not great to see the Two of Swords appear in a spread, it’s also oversimplification to say that it’s a wholly negative card. Like the rest of the Tarot, you have to dig into it to really get the most benefit from its presence. 

(Did you get something out of this? Please consider becoming a supporter; at the $1 tier and up you’ll get the full writeup of the Celtic Cross spread I’ll be doing once a month!)