greycats
8 of Swords: New moon in Sagittarius
This arcana depicts an [highlight]American flag pierced[/highlight] with 8 [highlight]bloody swords[/highlight]. A [highlight]young nude woman[/highlight], seated among the swords, has taken one corner of the [highlight]flag and draped[/highlight] it over her head. She holds it in place by stretching the fabric across her face and anchoring it with her hands which also cover her ears. A fabric star is over her forehead and one eye. She seems to be looking ahead and perhaps slightly upward. Above her head is what I first took to be the explosion of a [highlight]fusion weapon[/highlight] but which is in fact the distant Sombrero galaxy dramatically magnified. Above the woman’s left shoulder is a bright star; other, smaller stars and constellations together with the night sky form the background.
So, what were your impressions when you first looked at Maat's 8 of Swords?
Myself, I said, “Oho, what have we here? The poster girl for Move On? This is going to be an easy week because there’s not much I can say about that.”
Which is precisely how the 8 of Swords can operate: it can check one’s ability to think. Look at the high-lighted words: “American flag” “pierced” “bloody swords” “young nude woman” “flag. . .draped” and “fusion weapon,” all of which are reasonably accurate descriptive phrases for the Maat’s 8 of Swords. And they’re highly inflamatory. They evoke emotional responses about politics, patriotism, and how women who are physically beautiful should be portayed. They put the reader/viewer right into the space occupied by the self-blinded woman. If your response was one of righteous endorsement or of furious outrage, then you were blinkered. THINK!!
How to interpret the Maat’s 8 of Swords? Well, obviously, it’s an easy metaphor for self delusion even without the political overtones. A young woman has worked herself into a very tight spot by looking no farther than the veil she has placed over her face. That the veil is a flag doesn’t matter. It could be anything. Moreover, she’s looking up toward a sky she cannot see, not down at the swords that are about to cut her. Further, she may be cut off from her “Strength” since she cannot see the low, bright star over her shoulder. ( In fact, she may be turned away from the sky altogether; we simply can’t tell.) With her nudity and graceful posture and with all the stars about, she reminds me of “The Star” in the traditional RWS. And therefore, oddly, of hope—as we sometimes find with people whose ideas are obviously killing them, but who survive after all by some grace that neither they nor we can see, but that they seem to sense despite all the barriers they erect. Which brings to mind another possibility I’d like to play with.
This interpretation is definitely perverse, but I’m going ahead because it allows me to make an observation about one thing that the Maat and RWS have in common: both picture women who have survived intimate contact with swords, and both women have survived without so much as a nick. RWS’s blindfolded and bound woman has managed to negotiate her way past 7 of the 8 swords and is on track to miss the last one. The only thing she has to worry about is the possibly slippery path that might sling her into misfortune. The Maat’s woman is in a more precarious position. She’s uncut so far, but if she moves her arms to take the flag off or if she tries to get up and leave the scene without removing the flag, she’s likely to suffer damage. So even if she did get herself into the mess she’s in, perhaps she cannot so easily leave it.
What sort of advice might she seek?
We see her weaknesses. What is her strength? Can she "see" in darkness?
Might the pagan notion of “ as above, so below” have any application to this arcana?
This arcana depicts an [highlight]American flag pierced[/highlight] with 8 [highlight]bloody swords[/highlight]. A [highlight]young nude woman[/highlight], seated among the swords, has taken one corner of the [highlight]flag and draped[/highlight] it over her head. She holds it in place by stretching the fabric across her face and anchoring it with her hands which also cover her ears. A fabric star is over her forehead and one eye. She seems to be looking ahead and perhaps slightly upward. Above her head is what I first took to be the explosion of a [highlight]fusion weapon[/highlight] but which is in fact the distant Sombrero galaxy dramatically magnified. Above the woman’s left shoulder is a bright star; other, smaller stars and constellations together with the night sky form the background.
So, what were your impressions when you first looked at Maat's 8 of Swords?
Myself, I said, “Oho, what have we here? The poster girl for Move On? This is going to be an easy week because there’s not much I can say about that.”
Which is precisely how the 8 of Swords can operate: it can check one’s ability to think. Look at the high-lighted words: “American flag” “pierced” “bloody swords” “young nude woman” “flag. . .draped” and “fusion weapon,” all of which are reasonably accurate descriptive phrases for the Maat’s 8 of Swords. And they’re highly inflamatory. They evoke emotional responses about politics, patriotism, and how women who are physically beautiful should be portayed. They put the reader/viewer right into the space occupied by the self-blinded woman. If your response was one of righteous endorsement or of furious outrage, then you were blinkered. THINK!!
How to interpret the Maat’s 8 of Swords? Well, obviously, it’s an easy metaphor for self delusion even without the political overtones. A young woman has worked herself into a very tight spot by looking no farther than the veil she has placed over her face. That the veil is a flag doesn’t matter. It could be anything. Moreover, she’s looking up toward a sky she cannot see, not down at the swords that are about to cut her. Further, she may be cut off from her “Strength” since she cannot see the low, bright star over her shoulder. ( In fact, she may be turned away from the sky altogether; we simply can’t tell.) With her nudity and graceful posture and with all the stars about, she reminds me of “The Star” in the traditional RWS. And therefore, oddly, of hope—as we sometimes find with people whose ideas are obviously killing them, but who survive after all by some grace that neither they nor we can see, but that they seem to sense despite all the barriers they erect. Which brings to mind another possibility I’d like to play with.
This interpretation is definitely perverse, but I’m going ahead because it allows me to make an observation about one thing that the Maat and RWS have in common: both picture women who have survived intimate contact with swords, and both women have survived without so much as a nick. RWS’s blindfolded and bound woman has managed to negotiate her way past 7 of the 8 swords and is on track to miss the last one. The only thing she has to worry about is the possibly slippery path that might sling her into misfortune. The Maat’s woman is in a more precarious position. She’s uncut so far, but if she moves her arms to take the flag off or if she tries to get up and leave the scene without removing the flag, she’s likely to suffer damage. So even if she did get herself into the mess she’s in, perhaps she cannot so easily leave it.
What sort of advice might she seek?
We see her weaknesses. What is her strength? Can she "see" in darkness?
Might the pagan notion of “ as above, so below” have any application to this arcana?