Elements of the Minor Arcana Suits: Swords

Ruled by the element of air, swords stand for mental energy and thoughts.  You can’t see air and you can’t pin down a thought.  By its nature, sword energy is fast, elusive and cutting.

Compared to the fiery passion of wands and the romantic abundance of cups, a high number of swords in an array can talk volumes about a person having to deal with life through their wits and intelligence, about huge amounts of mental activity and about events that – well, that cut like a knife.

This is nothing to be afraid of.  Remember, the Warrior Angel, Archangel Michael, carries a sword which he uses to protect and uphold divine order. Sometimes it’s necessary to cut to the chase, to slice through illusion or to trim the fat.  After a visit from the swords, you know where you stand.  Nothing de-clutters like a sword.

But all that mental energy does need to be tempered and grounded or you can be left whirling around in your own mind with no apparent way out.

Swords Meditation

Sit quietly and become the observer of your own thoughts.  Some say that just this one seemingly simple thing can take a lifetime to learn how to do effectively.

It’s hard because we tend to think our thoughts are us, or that they just happen or – most deceptively – that they represent some kind of reality of experience.

When you first start to create a gap between you the observer and the thoughts that you have, you can be amazed at the sheer number of thoughts that fly around your mind and their insistence that they be taken seriously.

This is what the Zen masters call the ‘monkey mind’ – the stream of consciousness that wildly jumps around.  Notice how much of that mental chatter detracts from your sense of peace and abundance.

Go on a thirty day mental detox – bless and gently usher away any negative self talk. Realise it’s only just talk, not fact. Realise that we live our lives in a cause-effect relationship that needs switching around.

Instead of our thoughts being the cause and the actions we jump to as a result being the effect, practice putting your higher self at cause and the thoughts at effect.  You can, literally, change your mind.

Article written by Michele Knight – first published in Spirit and Destiny magazine