Tarot of Prague Cafe club - 2 Swords

Jewel-ry

This woman holds her swords up high, she is at a crossroads. You can see the tension in her swords. Has she got a difficult decision to make? Her body stands at an awkward angle, it points towards us and yet her feet and head point in another direction. Does this show her indecision? She may look peaceful but all the turmoil is going on in her head. In fact you can actually see the ripples in the water behind her too. Her blindfold shows her refusal to look or see what is happening.

She wears a crown with seven crystals on it. Sevens can represent a breakthrough or finding direction and it is the number of thinkers. She wears a dreamcatcher, I don't think this is to catch the good dreams but to filter out the bad ones! She is trying to protect herself. She has swords, a lion (who is actually petrified!), a dreamcatcher, and she has strategically placed herself so she cannot be attacked from behind.

Just look at the face on that lion, he looks so scared, anxious and worried. He conveys the message of the card so well. Lions represent strength power and justice, all qualities that this woman is trying to gather before she makes her decision.

J :)
 

Bean Feasa

I agree with Jewel-ry that this is an extremely uncomfortable-looking pose. It takes the traditional picture of two swords crossed at breast-level one step further, so that the woman with the swords holds her arms up high. Her head is turned away, as if she's rejecting sight, shaking her head, saying mentally 'I just don't want to see/to know.'
Strangely enough, though, there's a sense of power in her stance, an air of triumph that comes from the upraised arms perhaps - her arms look muscular, and I guess she's developed a particular kind of strength in order to stand like this. The card speaks to me of the prodigious amounts of energy we pour into a stagnant situation sometimes, just wanting to stay put, not wanting to have to move or change. There's almost a kind of grim contentment in it.
I think whatever pain the woman is repressing has been transferred to the stone lion at her feet who wears a grimace of dismay. The book points out that the lion by his nature is actually strong, but that he's paralysed by angst. So the woman has developed a false strength, and the lion has lost sight of his natural strength. A difficult state of affairs.
The glimpse of the city on the far side of the water looks sunlit and golden, and though the water looks a bit choppy it's not absolutely raging rough. Things are probably not as bad as they seem, and may not warrant all this excessive fear and strain. It's a very eloquent card.
 

WolfSpirit

I just pulled this card today - my first thought was: what a powerful woman - and then: but maybe a wrong use of power and energy, to just stand there with swords raised high.

In the classic 2 of swords, the woman is defending herself against what she thinks is coming towards her. This woman takes it one step further, and takes a powerful stand as if to say: don't even think about getting near me !!

Thanks for this study group, I will consult it more in the weeks to come. I only just started to use the Tarot of Prague - but maybe I will see something new that has not been covered yet :)
 

Alta

I drew this card today. In fact I had it come up in a reading I did for someone else recently.
To me, although indeed the position is uncomfortable, the image is of someone who has opposing forces under control, barely. It is a card of finding at least temporary solution to a difficult situation.
 

baba-prague

I hesitated to "bump" this thread, then decided I should, as I have mostly tried not to say too much here. Maybe I should say more but in many ways I feel that the deck means different things to different people, and I don't have any special knowledge. I also think that this deck does not have exact correlations in any case - more and more I find that I often read it visually and intuitively as much as symbolically.

The element in the Two of Swords that I often find significant is the "anxious lion". I have often said in jest that he looks like our British Prince Charles, but there is a little nub of truth in the joke. One gets the impression that he finds a certain kind of female strength a little intimidating?

To me, then, the lion represents an element of being rather afraid of the person who is strong. Of course, her strength is temporary, and it strains her - it isn't easy. But he, the lion, is just cringing - his regal dignity is lost and his crown is slipping. To me this is a reminder of the way in which some people actually don't want to be around the kind of person who can find strength in a crisis. Some people simply find this impossible to understand and even frightening.
 

annik

This is an unhappy card. The lion is scared and the woman have a defensive position. It seems to be a statu quo situation. Nothing goes forward, nothing change. Conflit resolution cannot be done. The woman have a blindfold and she is in an attitude of "see no evil, heard no evil, talk no evil". As if she doesn't want to face the situation up front.
 

sunflowr

Bumping this one up from a long hiatus! :)

I did a reading with this deck and another deck (guardians of wisdom, which has a phrase printed out on each card). Same spread. I then compared the 2, and much was similar. It was a relationship reading, and this card (2 of swords) and the 3 of hearts (from Guardians of wisdom) came up in the position representing myself in relation to the other person. The 3 of hearts says I have all I need emotionally, physically, spiritually. I have "plenty". And/or maybe I feel this other person is "all I need? So how does this tie in with 2 of swords? Here are my notes. Keep in mind I dont own the Tarot of Prague book yet.

"Am I not seeing (or wanting) to see things as they are? Or am I not seeing that I have all I need and I have the power to change my destiny (the allie/crowned lion)? Or maybe I have the blindfolds on and swords crossed to try and keep out negativity that hampers me and makes me feel insecure.".
 

Baroli

Ok, Baroli to put her two swords I mean cents in, LOL.

I see her as a very defensive woman, actually insecure because she is blinded to the truth of the situation that has come up. She in a sense is cornered, she has no where to go, being backed up against the river. She must make a choice in this situation, but which one??I think she is raising her swords defiantly as if to challenge the powers that be, and the Lion (love the analogy to Prince Charles, lol) is petrified she is going to make the wrong choice and send herself into the drink. The swords remind me of conscious/subconscious, or good angel, bad angel. Both are ready to go.

In the background is what looks like a bridge perhaps or a landbridge that leads into the light and bright building. It reminds me of the song title "Bridge ofer Troubled Waters" Perhaps she is having trouble deciding which way to go to get to that bridge and crossing the "troubled waters" to her safe haven of that bright building.

Baroli
 

Queen of Disks

The look on the lion's face is like he's saying "Whoa, watch where you're swinging those swords, lady! You'll hurt somebody!"

She is trying to make a decision and is trying to feel it out, but she is blindfolded, and is trying to go on intuition. But she needs to take off that blindfold and look around, or she will find herself in the drink, and maybe in worse trouble then she was before.
 

redlili

just to give a different perspective

to me this woman doesn't look uncomfortable at all,on the contrary she looks very steady and powerful,exultant,but calm,and her face is almost beautific.the first thing that came into my head when i saw this card is that it is a choice for her,to defend others(the river),to separate herself,and that the blindfold is a concious decision to make the process more of a challenge.maybe the lion is the cowardly lion,complaining about what needs to be done but too scared to make a difference,now the woman has decided to be brave he's there whining about how she's going to hurt herself.noticethe crowns too,the lions is illfitting,nearly falling off backwards,but hers fits perfectly and has seven points the number of magic and wisdom.i like her a lot