Ten of Swords

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 25 Mar 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Lady Mary	25 Mar 2003
Over a period for about three weeks I repeatedly got the Ten of Swords, when I picked my daily card. I was very frustrated about this card and I hated seeing it again and again. When I thought things were starting getting better I nevertheless got the Ten of Swords. This card also fell out of the deck. Once I picked the Queen of Swords, but when I looked closer, under the Queen was again the Ten of Swords. Somehow I got superstitious. A day for which I had picked the Ten of Swords had to be a bad, a very bad, day. Then I decided to stop picking a daily card. Now when I work with the Tarot I use spreads with more than one card only. Is there anybody with a similar experience?

Trogon	25 Mar 2003
Not me... I've never had any one card come up repeatedly like that, for me, over a period of several days. However, I have had cards repeat for me, just not over that long of a time. On the couple of occasions when I've had a card repeat, I tend to think of it as more of an advice situation. This card is trying to tell me something which I may need to be aware of in myself, or something I need to take care of, or work to change (again, in myself). In the case of the 10 of Swords, I can't help wondering if you're trying to deal with some sort of fear? A fear of failure perhaps? Then again, this could be different for the deck you're using... which deck is it that you use for your readings?

Lady Mary	25 Mar 2003
I use the Rider-Waite deck. The period when the Ten of Swords showed up wasn't a nice time for me. But somehow the appearance of this card made everything worse.

Aerin	25 Mar 2003
I've had cards come up over and over: then when it is time they just remove themselves from my spreads. I also do think that for me, if an issue has come up in my life then I really notice when a related card comes up - as if my unconscious is super-sensitised to it. The Ten of Swords doesn't always have to be seen negatively you know, here are three of the ways it has spoken to me: 'The worst is over and now you can let go, allow yourself to move on because this thing has run its course' 'You are over dramatising again. Ten swords in the back, for goodness sake: that's overdoing it. Take a step back, and stop making mountains out of molehills' 'You may not want to believe it, but that back pain is self inflicted. Pay attention to your posture girl.' ... and so on.... Aerin

Thirteen	25 Mar 2003
Aerin's made an EXCELLENT point! Here's another: Maybe the 10/Swords accomplished it's mission--to get you to stop picking daily cards ;) I'm serious. The card is about putting an end to mental anguish. And perhaps you were putting a bit much mental anguish into those daily cards. Maybe you thought too much about them, relied too much on them, worried over them during the day. They were ruining your mornings. So up comes the 10/Swords--"Hey," it advices, "I think you should stop doing daily cards, they worry you too much." You ignore it. So up it comes again. And again. And again. Until you finally got the message. That, at least, is my experience with cards with cards that come up again and again. The message is usually, in that case, not a warning about your life, but something having to do with you AND THE TAROT. The deck is trying to tell you something about it and/or your experiences with it.

Mojo	25 Mar 2003
Long about the 10th consecutive day that the 10 of Swords came up in a reading would be the day that I took 10 dollars and went down to the 10th street corner store and bought a lottery ticket containing the number 10.

Alex	26 Mar 2003
I can share with you that might help. The first one is that sometimes we think we are getting a card "too much" but in fact it is just the card that scares us. If you take daily notes of your cards you may find out that the 10 s is a bit high on the statistics but not *that* much. I often get a card repeatedly. It may have to do with the way you shuffle. Re-order the deck once and shuffle again, you will start getting a different "set" of cards. Alex.

Amythist	26 Mar 2003
I remember once having the 10 of swords in every readibg i did. I always see the 10 of swords as some kind of depresson In the book i use the swords mean. Things are bad at the moment you can not get much lower than they are and the only way from here is up. It will take you a while to reach the top. Maybe that will ring a bell. It is the worst card in the pack.

vermillion	26 Mar 2003
I don't see the ten of swords as a negative card, in fact, I see it as that time when things get so bad that one gives up, and the giving up and going inside ends the effort which creates the space for change and miracles. It is the moment when one stops listening to the mind and the outside world and the self doubt and opens to the inner answers. The message would be stop looking outside yourself for your answers. Sandra Thomson, in "Spiritual Tarot", which is my favorite tarot book, points out that in the RWS card the thumb touches the ring finger forming the mudra of good fortune or joy and the black sky of ignorance clears to reveal a yellow sky of conscious intellect and blue bountains that represent the wisdom of the Self.

The Ten of Swords thread was originally posted on 25 Mar 2003 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.