rachelcat
Another new thread--I hope I'm searching properly! Here's my IDS on the Princess of Swords.
Earth of Air, hence all the swirling dust clouds. And the season of winter (Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces), but she’s not dressed for it. She has angular insect-like wings and a pom-pom on her helmet. She and her clothes are green. Her altar has smoke rising from it, but we don’t see anything burning or any flames. Is that the sun rising behind her? Her sword is pointed/stabbing down.
I have a personal meaning for this princess. The Queen of Swords holds a severed head—she separates the mind from the body. The Princess of Swords, since she is EARTH of air, puts the mind and body back together. If sometimes it’s necessary to separate the mind from the body (look at things without being influenced by desires), it’s also very necessary to put the mind and body together (be mindful of what the body needs, especially heathwise, and what the body can tell us about what we want to know, visceral knowledge). Of course, these can both be read in the negative—Queen of Swords, you’re stressing your body and not listening to it; Princess of Swords, you need to think with your head, not your other body parts!
Oh, it’s not a pom-pom. It’s the back of Medusa’s snaky head. She can turn things to stone, fixing the volatile (earthing air).
Crowley says her altar is bare. So maybe it’s just dusty clouds, not smoke? She’s stern, revengeful, destructive, and angry, and clever and dexterous.
DuQuette says she is the warrior of the ego mind that springs into battle to defend the false idea of a separate self (whenever we start to get the correct! idea that we are all interconnected and not separate at all).
Snuffin points out the disks on the altar to show the earthy part, and that this card has all three kinds of clouds shown on the other three swords courts.
He says she seems to be defending herself against the sun as Tiphareth, the sephira of the Higher Self/HGA! So she IS fighting for the small self and against the higher understanding of self! (Don’t you love it when things come together like that?)
Crowley gives us hexagram 18, Remedying Decay, mountain over wind. The main idea seems to be that even though it looks grim, there are ways to remedy the mess made by earlier generations. This seems to fit with the vengeance of the gods role for the princess. This warrior will make sure corrective steps are taken!
The sixth line of this hexagram is famous (to Chinese people, I guess!). “Serve not the mighty. Keep your goals lofty.” It counsels that the wise will not work for someone just because he is powerful. They will instead do what is right in obscurity. Maybe that points to the independence of the princess. She can’t be influenced, but will do her duty no matter what.
Crowley interprets the hexagram much differently. He says it is a symbol of troubles and anxiety, especially about ill/decrepit parents that need assistance. And he interprets the last line to mean the Princess of Swords can at any time just throw it all away in a bid for freedom. I guess that is the flip side of the independence I was talking about.
In a reading: You or someone you are dealing with is very clever and very determined in practical matters. He/she/you may be looking for some kind of revenge or payback for something, deserved or not. Beware of ignoring your physical needs while in pursuit of some “loftier goal.” It’s time to get the mind and body back together.
Earth of Air, hence all the swirling dust clouds. And the season of winter (Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces), but she’s not dressed for it. She has angular insect-like wings and a pom-pom on her helmet. She and her clothes are green. Her altar has smoke rising from it, but we don’t see anything burning or any flames. Is that the sun rising behind her? Her sword is pointed/stabbing down.
I have a personal meaning for this princess. The Queen of Swords holds a severed head—she separates the mind from the body. The Princess of Swords, since she is EARTH of air, puts the mind and body back together. If sometimes it’s necessary to separate the mind from the body (look at things without being influenced by desires), it’s also very necessary to put the mind and body together (be mindful of what the body needs, especially heathwise, and what the body can tell us about what we want to know, visceral knowledge). Of course, these can both be read in the negative—Queen of Swords, you’re stressing your body and not listening to it; Princess of Swords, you need to think with your head, not your other body parts!
Oh, it’s not a pom-pom. It’s the back of Medusa’s snaky head. She can turn things to stone, fixing the volatile (earthing air).
Crowley says her altar is bare. So maybe it’s just dusty clouds, not smoke? She’s stern, revengeful, destructive, and angry, and clever and dexterous.
DuQuette says she is the warrior of the ego mind that springs into battle to defend the false idea of a separate self (whenever we start to get the correct! idea that we are all interconnected and not separate at all).
Snuffin points out the disks on the altar to show the earthy part, and that this card has all three kinds of clouds shown on the other three swords courts.
He says she seems to be defending herself against the sun as Tiphareth, the sephira of the Higher Self/HGA! So she IS fighting for the small self and against the higher understanding of self! (Don’t you love it when things come together like that?)
Crowley gives us hexagram 18, Remedying Decay, mountain over wind. The main idea seems to be that even though it looks grim, there are ways to remedy the mess made by earlier generations. This seems to fit with the vengeance of the gods role for the princess. This warrior will make sure corrective steps are taken!
The sixth line of this hexagram is famous (to Chinese people, I guess!). “Serve not the mighty. Keep your goals lofty.” It counsels that the wise will not work for someone just because he is powerful. They will instead do what is right in obscurity. Maybe that points to the independence of the princess. She can’t be influenced, but will do her duty no matter what.
Crowley interprets the hexagram much differently. He says it is a symbol of troubles and anxiety, especially about ill/decrepit parents that need assistance. And he interprets the last line to mean the Princess of Swords can at any time just throw it all away in a bid for freedom. I guess that is the flip side of the independence I was talking about.
In a reading: You or someone you are dealing with is very clever and very determined in practical matters. He/she/you may be looking for some kind of revenge or payback for something, deserved or not. Beware of ignoring your physical needs while in pursuit of some “loftier goal.” It’s time to get the mind and body back together.
