09/12 Two of Swords

galadrial

I'm feeling fairly thoughtful today (I drew the High Priestess, the Queen of Cups and the Hermit), and this card really caught my attention. It reminds me of Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken". My thinking of late has been centered on choices from the past, how they are impacting the present, and how it truly is well worth the pause to reflect before making a choice between clearly divergent paths, as much of both one's future joys and sorrows will derive from it. The nine on the die and the helpless doll make me think that it helps to draw on the Hermit's introspection, and also have compassion for those who have no say in your choice, but will be impacted by it, before making a choice of particular magnitude. I like how the arches seem to go on and on, as though showing that the impact of this choice will carry far into the future. The black and white squares seem to denote that a point has been reached where there is no grey, no blending or compromise possible; the swords that clear, sharp thinking is required to not fool oneself otherwise; one must acknowledge this crossroads and accept responsibility for the choice about to be made.

Graham's booklet says: "We stand at a point in the Labyrinth confronted by two entrances. Do we follow our head or our heart? Do we live our lives logically or emotionally? Does the die invite us to travel along a path of restrictions, or a path of understanding? The abandoned doll may fill us with a sense of being needed, or may represent a path of loneliness.
Divinitory Meaning: The Two of Swords is the crossroads, the turning point in our lives, and asks the question, "Which way should we go?"
Reverse Meaning: Refusing to see, running away from our responsibilities."

Edited to add Mr. Frost's poem as my son informs me it is no longer as well known as it was, and I also edited the title which it turns out is not "The Road Less Traveled" but "The Road Not Taken":

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

By: Robert Frost
 

Kyrea Gold

I also immediately thought of Robert Frost's poem when I saw this card.

yet the two paths look almost identical. we spend so much time fretting over our choices in life when in actuality no choice is ever wrong and we are always exactly where we are supposed to be and will always end up in the right place. if i see this card it tells me to quit making so much of it all.....what door do i feel most drawn and excited by...well, follow that one! you can't get it wrong.

kyreagold