Maelin
Gazel said:Speaking of turning hurt into acceptance and knowledge - The one card personalising this process and state of maturity must be the Queen of Swords. It occured to me last night after writing about other Swords having to do with the hurt of knowledge.
... To me she is the wisest of the Queens, I've always thought life must have taken its toll on her.
Around the left wrist, she (in the RWS version) has a band or a scrap of a rope. Something has tied her, maybe she's been in the Eight's position, but has used her intellect and skills to free herself from whatever that was.
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What a wonderful insight into the Queen of Swords - I've always had an affinity to the card, and felt that the typical characterization of her as mean and hurtful or unemotional was superficial - I have never noticed the rope, and love your connection to the 8..
It is like your suggestion about the three of swords (with which I agree) Hurt and heartache is part of the process of gaining wisdom. Those two swords in the RWS 2 cannot stay there balancing forever, they need to pierce us, and hurt us, so we can move to the introspection of the 4 and on, to other stages of maturing with our intellect.