Legend:The Arthurian Study Group - 7 of Swords

Lyones

Originally posted by Sophie-David
In the middle of the the Pegasus constellation on my Seven of Swords is a grey smudge that looks to me like a cross. This could be either a printing blemish or deliberate even-more-subtle-than-usual Legend imagery. Does anyone else have this celestial apparition?

No, I don't have a smudge on the dark blue bit either - but I think that's great that you do have ... a mirror image of the 4 stars which form a cross. I also thought the handle of the sword looked like some kind of animal, but under the magnifier it looks like a cross with a red stone in the centre - the hand-guards are like wings, or axe blades, with a larger red stone set inbetween them ... so I would think the smudge-cross symbolism is quite significant anyway David, even if it is unique to your deck.

I have a purplish bit up in the top right hand corner above the second castle turret, which to me looks like the moon behind cloud and emphasises the concealment and hidden/veiled element of the card, but I'm not sure if that's supposed to be there either - it makes the card 'darker', but emphasises the stars as the 'light', the guides, omens and hopes - as if these are all kept to ones self too.
 

Sophie-David

Lyones said:
No, I don't have a smudge on the dark blue bit either - but I think that's great that you do have ... a mirror image of the 4 stars which form a cross. I also thought the handle of the sword looked like some kind of animal, but under the magnifier it looks like a cross with a red stone in the centre - the hand-guards are like wings, or axe blades, with a larger red stone set inbetween them ... so I would think the smudge-cross symbolism is quite significant anyway David, even if it is unique to your deck.
Hi Lyones

Well, that is interesting - the more I look at it the more convinced I am that the cross is there intentionally. So maybe its just there for me! :) It could be that we have cards from different printing runs...

Lyones said:
I have a purplish bit up in the top right hand corner above the second castle turret, which to me looks like the moon behind cloud and emphasises the concealment and hidden/veiled element of the card, but I'm not sure if that's supposed to be there either - it makes the card 'darker', but emphasises the stars as the 'light', the guides, omens and hopes - as if these are all kept to ones self too.
No, I don't have anything unusual there. So I think we each got a special little gift: you have the moon and I have the cross!

Cheers
David
 

Lyones

Originally posted by Sophie-David
No, I don't have anything unusual there. So I think we each got a special little gift: you have the moon and I have the cross!

'Blemishes' can be a blessing in disguise then :), I wasn't sure if it supposed to be there, but because it is, it emphasises other things on the card for me - I guess it's much the same with your cross?

I also noticed that the river is quite peaceful before it reaches the waterfall, unaffected, no interference. Once it reaches the rock and the event which is about to take place, the water causes a bit of turbulance and rippling - in much the same way as the drawing of the sword will cause other events to take place and ripple out into the community. The churning is not particularly rough, as the water does not have that far to fall, it is fairly gentle and constant, causing a slight under-current and then flowing with the river into the unknown - in much the same way that our thoughts about something may disturb our immediate environment, have a slight effect on others and then becomes part of the greater whole. It flows towards us but not directly at us, and makes me feel as if I am also an on-looker, rather than a participant, and yet, I as the audience, am also being watched from the other side of the bank.
 

Sophie-David

Lyones said:
'Blemishes' can be a blessing in disguise then :), I wasn't sure if it supposed to be there, but because it is, it emphasises other things on the card for me - I guess it's much the same with your cross?
I won't read with these Minors until I've finished my card-a-night dream programming, but the cross is bound to influence my future readings. So the card embodies a crossover between the pagan or earth centred tradition - the rock and river - and the god of the heavens with the exalted transformational cross. Galahad stands rather precariously balanced at the centre of this dynamic, his knee on the rock, one foot in the water, with his gaze to the skies.

Lyones said:
I also noticed that the river is quite peaceful before it reaches the waterfall, unaffected, no interference. Once it reaches the rock and the event which is about to take place, the water causes a bit of turbulance and rippling - in much the same way as the drawing of the sword will cause other events to take place and ripple out into the community. The churning is not particularly rough, as the water does not have that far to fall, it is fairly gentle and constant, causing a slight under-current and then flowing with the river into the unknown - in much the same way that our thoughts about something may disturb our immediate environment, have a slight effect on others and then becomes part of the greater whole. It flows towards us but not directly at us, and makes me feel as if I am also an on-looker, rather than a participant, and yet, I as the audience, am also being watched from the other side of the bank.
Taking this in a slightly different direction, Galahad and the sword in the stone create a vortex, an irrevocable change in the thread of time. We are downstream and part of that influence, whereas Arthur and Guenevere are upstream, static and historical. When we read with this card we are influenced by it - it may be part of our past, present and/or future - as readers we may well change our behaviour according to our reading. We may try to select the best course from among our future potentials, or the message of the reading will in a more or less subtle way change who we are. The energy vortex within the card thus crosses into our reality and alters it, just as surely as the release of the sword unfolds in the mythic dimension that is the story of Arthur.
 

WalesWoman

Lyones said:
I also noticed that the river is quite peaceful before it reaches the waterfall, unaffected, no interference. Once it reaches the rock and the event which is about to take place, the water causes a bit of turbulance and rippling - in much the same way as the drawing of the sword will cause other events to take place and ripple out into the community. The churning is not particularly rough, as the water does not have that far to fall, it is fairly gentle and constant, causing a slight under-current and then flowing with the river into the unknown - in much the same way that our thoughts about something may disturb our immediate environment, have a slight effect on others and then becomes part of the greater whole. It flows towards us but not directly at us, and makes me feel as if I am also an on-looker, rather than a participant, and yet, I as the audience, am also being watched from the other side of the bank.

I'd just finished my thoughts on the six swords and then read this post...and it just hit me like a sledge hammer. What I'm not quite sure I can describe, but it's the that turmoil we are trying to get away from in a sense. That feeling of unease that comes and whether it is grounded in anything or not, or comes from frustration that it does affect us, our ways of behaving, of feeling or what drives us and sets everything else into motion, until it changes everything and everyone around us. This can be good or bad. It could be something as simple as that "Pay it forward" movie, one good deed changing the world, one person at a time. Or being carried away on the negative...it all depends.


That's it for my deep thoughts tonight.
 

Sophie-David

WalesWoman said:
I'd just finished my thoughts on the six swords and then read this post...and it just hit me like a sledge hammer. What I'm not quite sure I can describe, but it's the that turmoil we are trying to get away from in a sense. That feeling of unease that comes and whether it is grounded in anything or not, or comes from frustration that it does affect us, our ways of behaving, of feeling or what drives us and sets everything else into motion, until it changes everything and everyone around us. This can be good or bad. It could be something as simple as that "Pay it forward" movie, one good deed changing the world, one person at a time. Or being carried away on the negative...it all depends.
WalesWoman, I'm not sure if we're thinking of the same thing, but I think of this dynamic as creative tension, the burning desire to express oneself in the media to which one is called, knowing that only in that art will the need be satisfied. All other considerations are secondary, life is lived in that moment. But this creativity, this art, extends to more than just the typical arts, for life itself is an art, and love is its highest expression. In both kinds of art the impulse starts as a selfish one, but in its expression it blesses the world.

Shortly after the union, I was aware of this restlessness, this unease: always a joy, but not always a contentment or a happiness. My mentor explained it somewhat like this, "I never told you about that did I, with all the wonders of wholeness comes the drive of creative tension, welcome to your new world". I replied, "Like in The Matrix, maybe I should have taken the blue pill". :)

Cheers
David
 

WalesWoman

I was looking at this card tonight and noticed something again...this time it is the way he stands against the rock, notice that his legs create a 4 like the Hanged man (RWS). Also the stars are in two groups, 4 in one , 3 in another, Emperor and Empress...and they are also Arthur and Gwenever standing on the river bank cheering him on, giving him their nurturing stability to complete this task. Basically he has created the foundation and this is the successful completion of his task.
 

Sophie-David

Oh, that's neat, yes, the RWS Hanged Man and the three stars/four stars combo. Its amazing how much we have extracted out of this card.

I also notice for the first time that there is a little tributary stream that is joining the river just above the falls on the left, just under a tree. It is coming from a higher place than the main river. I'm thinking that it may represent the new, pure and energetic life that Galahad is bringing to the Round Table. The main river seems to be associated with the three-star/four-star combo in the background and with Arthur and Guenevere on the banks. It is full and wide but relatively sluggish. The little creek that is near Galahad seems to speak of the new dynamic of love and honour that the young knight is blessed with.
 

WalesWoman

7 Swords...
 

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