For the last card of this suit, the final 10, I will not be using another additional card from the Majors. Instead, I will look at the card from two perspectives.
Defeat. Exhaustion. You have reached the end of your tether, two options are available now, find the strength to break out of the cage and move outside, or be completely defeated and give up. When I look at the orientation of the two swords striking each other within the web of swords I think of a battle lost. One sword is broken, the other is not. Both swords come into the fray from between the blades, this is severe complications. The struggle has become so convoluted and intertwined, it is a veritable paralyzing web. This struggle has led to defeat, and in its most extreme case, death. As with all death there is irretrievable loss. The sword that is not cracked is slightly longer than the other, making this one the victor. There is a duality at play here. Of two opposing things, ideas, people, essentially the same but also different, fighting for supremacy. This fight has been long and arduous and the injuries suffered are evident.
When I think about key 13 of the Majors, the unnamed card, which is now known as Death, I think about the hint of a new beginning, the blank canvas that follows death. This blank canvas, plain and unadorned, holds the promise of a new reality and new creation.
From another perspective I think: truce. A truce that is forced because you no longer have the strength to continue fighting. You are injured and it shows. You have been defeated. The swords cross each other at the tips, so there is an accord to discontinue the fight. There is an agreement between victor and loser. Seen this way, I don’t think so much about death but about losing the battle and having to retire to tend to your deep injuries.
This is a battle that has been raging on for some time, and you have been in the fray for far too long. This is the final culminating moment, when there is no more battle left in you. You are forced to stop and you are forced to quit.
As with all journey’s end, there is a transformation, at least all journeys should end in transformation. Well, this 10 of swords ushers in a new suit, another exploration, a new beginning.
Happy reading.
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