Mary El Tarot - Eight of Swords

[Bat Chicken]

http://www.mary-el.com/swords2.html

This is a card in which I see new things in every time I view it. That gate is at once a barrier. I want to know what is on the other side. Who is waiting at the door of the tower? Is it the Tower on better days?

The gate itself is tipped with the hilts of 8 swords. The gate arch has a series of glyphs on it. At the apex of the gate there appears to be a sun with the numbers 12 and 21 on either side of it. The sun itself appears to be made from an 8 sided figure pattern that also appears in some variation in the following two cards as well – the Cups and Disks. On the left pillar is at least one rune, birch. The other glyphs I am less certain of. One “Y” shaped glyph looks like the Pythagorean symbol for life’s path and the choice between good and evil. The vvvvv (read as a continuous zig-zag!) symbol is almost universally water. Others still look like runes or ogham, but I can’t be certain enough to make a guess.

There are three blackbirds on the gate, a white lily (Moon) in front and a red rose (Sun) in behind. Reason may be the way out, but intuition is the way in. It would seem that it is some kind of way of thinking causing the block. Letting go of rigid thinking in favour of something more creative might be in store. Something has to change in order to change!

Thoughts?

[Flaxen]

I wonder which perspective we are supposed to view this from. Are we trapped and looking out to black tower beyond? Perhaps, thinking about all the dualities in this deck, we are on the side of the white pillar. Or are we the person inside the gate, standing by the door of the black tower? Either way,, we are trapped in only one perspective. A gate bars the way to the other side - our left and right brain cannot be united unless we open the gate.

The gate doesn't appear to be locked though - it looks as though you could just push it open. So what is it that prevents us from stepping across? XII and XXI - The Hanged Man and The World are the cornerstones of the stone around the gate. Is this the key?

[missy]

A walled garden and castle - A place where one is excluded because one can see it, but one cannot reach it. A beautiful, lovely place where one wants to be, but one cannot get to. It isn't just a garden; it is a castle and a destination. Yet when I peer closely at the gates, they are not locked! There are two gates with an opening in the middle. They only appear locked ... can I in fact get inside this fenced in area? Are there options / opportunities open to me that I am not seeing? Are there roads to travel that I am overlooking?