The Wild Unknown Tarot - X Swords

WolfSpirit

I hope my deck makes it across the pond to me soon as well.
Really looking forward to it! I think many people are getting their decks now because it was out of stock for a while.
I have not seen the 10 of swords yet, but from the sound of it I may want to replace it with a Happy Squirrel card or something :bugeyed:
 

Le Fanu

I have not seen the 10 of swords yet, but from the sound of it I may want to replace it with a Happy Squirrel card or something :bugeyed:
I was worried about this card but it isn't bad. The idea is pretty horrible and I'm very squeamish about these things but the worst part of the image is in darkness and it doesn't dominate the card and it is quite stylised too.

This deck continues to be the one I reach for when wanting introspective, comforting, sparse readings. I wrote a review on my blog last week if anyone's interested...
 

Alta

10 of Swords:

.....and now he is dead.
...becomes food...
...food for thought.....
Something to digest
Something to internalize
Something learned -
- the painful way.....
I see it that way... 'circle of life', 'ashes to ashes', those phrases are phrases because life does work this way sometimes. To say you have to have a happy squirrel (not personal, just an example) instead of a real aspect of life, well, it denies part of what tarot reading is.
 

WolfSpirit

I was worried about this card but it isn't bad. The idea is pretty horrible and I'm very squeamish about these things but the worst part of the image is in darkness and it doesn't dominate the card and it is quite stylised too.

This deck continues to be the one I reach for when wanting introspective, comforting, sparse readings. I wrote a review on my blog last week if anyone's interested...

Thanks, if it is stylised then maybe I can think of it as metaphorical swords, like I often see the 10 swords, at least in decks that are based on RWS.

I know the 10 swords is part of the tarot deck but I definitely do not want a card that reminds me of bullfighting in a nature-themed deck. Bullfighting is not natural, it is invented by humans. Nature is sometimes harsh too, but differently.
 

HuskyChariot

Everybody's really hard on that 10 of swords. Hey, 10 of swords is supposed to be a little dark. Dark things (like bullfighting, for example) really exist, so it seems to me that including it in this manner is quite appropriate. The fact that its a bit disturbing means its doing its job well.

10 of Swords:

.....and now he is dead.
...becomes food...
...food for thought.....
Something to digest
Something to internalize
Something learned -
- the painful way.....

I agree Reyan :) Why is it more disturbing to see a bull lanced than a person lying with 10 swords in their back?... I understand that animals are defenceless and it is very disturbing to see them harmed, but I'd feel pretty defenceless being stabbed in the back with 10 swords!

I love your interpretation Mi-Shell, fits with my impressions :heart:
 

Reyan

I agree Reyan :) Why is it more disturbing to see a bull lanced than a person lying with 10 swords in their back?

Yes, just what I was thinking
 

agviz

I agree Reyan :) Why is it more disturbing to see a bull lanced than a person lying with 10 swords in their back?...

It's the sword going through the eyes that makes me a little squeamish. Without that the card probably wouldn't seem much different from the RWS (for me).
 

WolfSpirit

I agree Reyan :) Why is it more disturbing to see a bull lanced than a person lying with 10 swords in their back?... I understand that animals are defenceless and it is very disturbing to see them harmed, but I'd feel pretty defenceless being stabbed in the back with 10 swords!

Because, although it is physically possible to stab a human with swords, the chance that this actually happens is extremely small. It is drama, something from a play by Shakespeare. I never took the ten of swords in the RWS litterally.
Bulls being pierced by swords, however, is a realistic thing, a torture that goes on regularly and that I have been fighting against for years.
Le Fanu's post makes me think I can take it away from the actual image and read it like I do the RWS 10 swords though, see it more metaphorically; I still wish they had picked a different image though.

I was hoping this deck could be my 'go to' nature deck, unspoilt by humans.
Maybe that is the 10 of swords meaning for me: humans have to spoil everything by wanting to have it their way, not being able to let a powerful animal be as nature intended it.
 

Starshower

Thank you for both your posts, WolfSpirit, which put into better words what I meant.

I detest deliberate cruelty to animals. This is something that I don't believe happens in nature, where killing is for survival - for food, mates, access to resources - rather than the sadistic enjoyment of inflicting torture, pain & suffering, which is only done by (far too many) humans.
That is why this card, & possibly the 9 of Swords too, spoil(s) this otherwise WONDERFUL deck for me. It seems out of kilter with the rest of the nature-based deck.

As a vegetarian, I don't see animal corpses as food to be ingested. I find the sight of slaughtered animals and the stench of blood sickening & nauseating; though I try hard to suppress this instinct if it's the only food the predator can get. In some places on the planet, this is the case for humans - which is entirely different in my view. And even people who choose to eat slaughtered animals don't eat bulls, as far as I know. Bullfighting is for the sick 'pleasure' in bullying & torture alone. :(

As the 10 of Swords, this image doesn't address the social idea of being metaphorically 'stabbed in the back', nor of 'overkill' / 'enough already!', nor yet of surgery, acupuncture, pins & needles etc that I also sometimes read from it.
However, I will take on board the idea in this card of being metaphorically 'blinded' by one's pain, & see how that works.

When I see swords killing people in RWS-based decks, I too take it metaphorically, to mean ott, melodramatic self-victimisation ... or sometimes as the lowest point for someone's situation & feelings. It isn't the sort of thing that happens for real, literally (unless you're Thomas-a-Becket, & even then it was only 4 swords.) So for me, there's a huge difference.