10 of Swords : The Messenger

michellemd

Wow!

This hand issue has really blown my mind!!! Boy, I have never ever noticed the hand! Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Just goes to show, i must go thru all the cards again in great detail!!
 

michellemd

Another thought, in Hindu prayers, while doing a "Jap", one is supposed to touch the tip of the thumb to the tip of the ring finger. This, i am told, ensures that whatever energy you build up by doing the jap, stays within your own self and gets channeled back into your system. The energy does not get lost, but gets grounded back into your body, instead of going out of the body!! Just repeating what i've been told!!!
 

Fulgour

hi michellemd

michellemd said:
This, i am told, ensures that whatever energy you build up by doing the jap, stays within your own self and gets channeled back into your system.
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Yes ~ I think the hand "speaks" for itself ~ we needn't rush
to lable it as one thing only (Mudra, as above so below, etc)
but instead ~ open its meaning up to the realm of possibility.

The figure there on the card is the only one who knows...
but we can be sure that the message was very important.

My experience with the 10 of Swords has often been that
it signifies an aspect of "timing" in a situation yet to come,
a need to appreciate how commitment relies on dedication.
 

michellemd

Yep, Fulgour, theres a lot more than meets the eye in these cards and this forum is certainly helping me to open my third eye to these small details that i would've otherwise ignored! Thanks guys!
 

wizzle

Queen of cups

It seems to me that the cherub (?) on the throne of the Queen has two fingers up. What say you all? Is this another example?
 

mac22

wizzle said:
It seems to me that the cherub (?) on the throne of the Queen has two fingers up. What say you all? Is this another example?
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Quite correct!! :D
 

Flavio

Fulgour said:
"Don't kill the Messenger"
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Thank you for this metaphore Fulgor! just this weekend I was watching TV, a dialogue between a lady and his neighbor, during conversation the lady said something that was hapenning on the back of the neighbor but she tought he was aware of, the neighbor exploded and aggresively claimed to the lady why she didnt tell him before, she said "hey, don't kill the messenger" immediatly remebered this thread and saw the 10 swords as the harsh words the neighbor told her, it was a great Tarot, real life moment. Thnak you!
 

mythos

Fulgour said:
As for Pamela Colman Smith's own knowledge of Eastern views,
surely they were just as widely popular then as they are now.
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Certainly my great Aunts who lived in the UK during the GD era and later were Theosophists, and thus familiar with Madame Blavasky's version of yoga. Of course, she was a bit of a fraud, but that doesn't mean that you throw out the baby with the bathwater ... Theosophy is and was very oriented to Eastern, and particularly Hndu/Buddhist philosophies. It seems unlikely that Pixie and Arthur were unware of such influences.

mythos:)
 

job

The gateless barrier

Fulgour said:
I don't like to read the cards as if having "Don't..." messages,
so maybe here we are seeing something more like "Do..." take
care when your conscience bids you to deliver difficult news.

"Don't kill the Messenger" here could be "If you are going to be
the Messenger, be prepared for an unwelcome reception" and
remember you may need extra energy to recover from it all. :)

There's also always the question of "Timing" and preparedness!
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Oh we MUST kill the 'messenger'. If we don't... we'll be cast into the abyss and lost.
 

Fulgour

job said:
Oh we MUST kill the 'messenger'. If we don't...
we'll be cast into the abyss and lost.
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A monk asked Joshu, "Has the dog the Buddha nature?"
Joshu replied:

"Mu"

For the pursuit of Zen, you must pass through the barriers (gates) set up by the Zen masters. To attain his mysterious awareness one must completely uproot all the normal workings of one's mind. If you do not pass through the barriers, nor uproot the normal workings of your mind, whatever you do and whatever you think is a tangle of ghosts. Now what are the barriers? This one word "Mu" is the sole barrier. This is why it is called the Gateless Gate of Zen. The one who passes through this barrier shall meet with Joshu face to face and also see with the same eyes, hear with the same ears and walk together in the long train of the patriarchs. Wouldn't that be pleasant?

Then, all the useless knowledge you have diligently learned till now is thrown away. As a fruit ripening in season, your internality and externality spontaneously become one. As with a mute man who had had a dream, you know it for sure and yet cannot say it. Indeed your ego-shell suddenly is crushed, you can shake heaven and earth. Just as with getting ahold of a great sword of a general, when you meet Buddha you will kill Buddha. A master of Zen? You will kill him, too. As you stand on the brink of life and death, you are absolutely free. You can enter any world as if it were your own playground. How do you concentrate on this Mu? Pour every ounce of your entire energy into it and do not give up, then a torch of truth will illuminate the entire universe. [from Mumon's comments]

Has a dog the Buddha nature?
This is a matter of life and death.
If you wonder whether a dog has it or not,
You certainly lose your body and life!
 
An other way to compare the "Crackled Backs" Pamela decks Somewhere between the RWS and Thoth...