Swedish Witch / Jolanda Tarot - Queen of Swords

Sztar

This is possibly my favorite Queen of Swords in any deck I've ever seen.

The Queen sits in an icy cavern with icicles dangling over her head. She's wearing a white fur robe and a blue gown adorned with waxing and waning moon symbols. On her lap, she holds a crystal ball, which also represents the full moon. On her shoulder is the owl of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and the patron goddess of Athens. I mention Athens because I was puzzling over the wolves. In general, wolves symbolize intelligence, among other things, but there aren't any northern goddesses (i.e., goddesses associated with cold climates) that are associated with wolves that I'm aware of. (I could be wrong about that.) Therefore, with the Athena connection, the wolves reminded me of Athen's Mount Lycabettus--the refuge of wolves. The mountain is an impressive sight in the middle of the city, almost regal, which gives it a protective quality, like it's protecting its citizens, enveloping them--similar to the way the wolves appear to be protecting the woman on the card. Perhaps that's a stretch, but considering the possibility that she is associated with Athena, the connection makes sense to me. At the same time, white wolves are associated with colder climates, such as the one depicted on the card. I suppose the goddess is a universal symbol and has taken many forms throughout time and place. So who knows... I welcome others interpretations/associations.

As for the card's meaning, the Queen of Swords represents the watery (i.e., intuitive) aspect of air (i.e., intelligence). The Queen of Swords is an intelligent woman, but pure reason and intelligence can be a bit cold--a bit distant... To be truly wise you have to use both reason, represented by the sword, and intuition, represented by the crystal ball. Where reason fails or when you've come to the end of your conscious reasoning, intuition bridges that gap.
 

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Sztar

Also, this card reminds me of the Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson. Maybe that's another explanation for the wolves? Aspected negatively, the Queen of Swords could be the Snow Queen.
 

Sztar

Also, the Roman version of Athena is Diana--a Moon goddess--and the story of the founding of Rome involves Romulus and Remus who were raised by wolves. I love the celestial quality of this card--the moon, the stars... :love::love::love:
 

Rold

According to Jolanda the queen of swords is born in gemini or libra.She can be represented by the godesses Skade,Hekate,Astrarte or Maat.
She is a seer and she urges you to trust your intuition.She has the monogamous swan as her totem.Even though she represent the single woman ,the divorcee or the widow.
The goddess Skade,again, is a scandinavian winther goddess who may originate from the sami people,with which she has many similarities ,the hunting,the skiing,the shooting with the bow.
She was married with and divorced from the sea god Njord.He couldn't stand the mountains where Skadi had her farm Þrymheimr.Njord made a poem about the farm:
Hateful for me are the mountains,
I was not long there,
only nine nights.
The howling of the wolves
sounded ugly to me
after the song of the swans."[12]
 

Sztar

Skade! Yes, that would make sense considering the cold climate and Scandinavian origins of the artist and author. I'm inspired now to read through my copies of the Eddas. Also, the God's and Myths of Northern Europe is a great synthesis, drawing on a variety of sources.

Part of what confuses me is that in Northern traditions, the moon is associated with the masculine and the sun with the feminine, so at the very least, perhaps there's some blending of various traditions going on here? Also, it's been a while since I read the Prose Edda, but doesn't the author lay out a migration pattern or origin for the Aesir that has origins in the south (i.e., Rome, Greece)?

The passage you quoted definitely associates Skade with wolves, so that symbolism makes sense. But what about the owl? The owl is most often associated with Athena in European mythology (although admittedly, "European" is pretty broad). Also, was Skade associated with the moon in any way?

I'll definitely review the Skade associations and check back in later. I love how it's possible to see so many things in these cards. This is a very special deck.
 

Sztar

One more thing, I just entered "Hecate owl" into the Google, and Hecate is associated with owls. It's a long time since I researched Hecate. I spent some time traveling around Greece a few years ago, but for some reason I don't remember whether there were a lot of temples, art, etc, related to Hecate, so that's why Athena stood out to me.

I tend to view gods/goddesses as reflections of more universal archetypes that have evolved or changed throughout time, depending upon the invading, conquering, ruling forces, migration patterns, etc. So in that way, they all tend to be related in some way.
 

Rold

The moon is definitely male in nordic mythology and as far as I know Skade har no connection to the moon.
Concerning the owl it was a common belief that a witch could change into an owl.
But whether the moon and sun are male or female,I don't think it's the big question for Jolanda she happily shuffles a lot of traditions and then it's up to the reader to interpret the cards.and maybe thats the reason why she writes more about her personal quest in her book than the symbolism of the cards ?
About the aesir,Snorri Sturluson who wrote the younger edda thought that aesir and Asia was connected and that the aesir originated from there.
 

Sztar

But whether the moon and sun are male or female,I don't think it's the big question for Jolanda she happily shuffles a lot of traditions and then it's up to the reader to interpret the cards.and maybe thats the reason why she writes more about her personal quest in her book than the symbolism of the cards ?
About the aesir,Snorri Sturluson who wrote the younger edda thought that aesir and Asia was connected and that the aesir originated from there.

Yes, I love how the symbolism is so eclectic. I assume Snorri was talking about the Indo-European migrations. Lately I've been interested in the origins of the Aesir and Vanir, and how myths about the Aesir conquering and absorbing the Vanir are related to Indo-European migration patterns. All of these gods and goddesses are related somehow by trade, migration, or war. In my mind this really supports a flexible interpretation. One person's Skade is another person's Hecate. One person's Athena is another person's Diana.
 

rylla

In my mind this really supports a flexible interpretation. One person's Skade is another person's Hecate. One person's Athena is another person's Diana.

I like this approach.

Wolf: "The Wolf symbolizes free will, the ability to escape and therefore is called a lone wolf. " This fits with the Queen of Sword. I am also wondering if the wolves and the moon it's an allusion to the Moon card which is an emotional card (the Queen of Swords is emotional) and it can mean illusion (among others). The Queen of Swords is capable of creating illusion.