moderndayruth
A woman is taking a moment away from her sewing and watching through the window the flock of swans flying by.
The colors of this card are beautiful - the window and the swans are painted in the white and gray scale, while the woman's cloths are rich violet, blue and green - to me the colors of spirituality and renewal.
The accompanying story is Six Swans.
The tale:
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Six_Swans )
Six brothers have been turned into swans by their evil stepmother. They can only take their human forms for fifteen minutes every evening. In order to free them, their sister must make six shirts out of starwort for her brothers, and neither speak nor laugh for six years. A king finds her doing this, is taken by her beauty and marries her. When the Queen has given birth to their first child, the King's wicked mother takes away the child and accuses the Queen, and again with the second and the third. The third time, the Queen is sentenced to be burned at the stake. On the day of her execution, she has all but finished making the shirts for her brothers; only the last shirt misses a left arm. When she is brought to the stake she takes the shirts with her, and when she is about to be burned, the six years expire and six swans come flying through the air. She throws the shirts over her brothers and they regain their human form, except for the youngest brother, who is left with a swan's wing instead of a left arm (in some versions she does not finish the sixth shirt in time, and the youngest brother is left as a swan.) The Queen, now free to speak, can defend herself against the accusations. Her mother-in-law is burned at the stake instead. And the king, queen, and her six brothers live happily ever after.
Among the book meanings are: a journey of the soul; going quietly through a hard transition; believing that you will arrive at a better place though the journey may be sorrowful.
The colors of this card are beautiful - the window and the swans are painted in the white and gray scale, while the woman's cloths are rich violet, blue and green - to me the colors of spirituality and renewal.
The accompanying story is Six Swans.
The tale:
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Six_Swans )
Six brothers have been turned into swans by their evil stepmother. They can only take their human forms for fifteen minutes every evening. In order to free them, their sister must make six shirts out of starwort for her brothers, and neither speak nor laugh for six years. A king finds her doing this, is taken by her beauty and marries her. When the Queen has given birth to their first child, the King's wicked mother takes away the child and accuses the Queen, and again with the second and the third. The third time, the Queen is sentenced to be burned at the stake. On the day of her execution, she has all but finished making the shirts for her brothers; only the last shirt misses a left arm. When she is brought to the stake she takes the shirts with her, and when she is about to be burned, the six years expire and six swans come flying through the air. She throws the shirts over her brothers and they regain their human form, except for the youngest brother, who is left with a swan's wing instead of a left arm (in some versions she does not finish the sixth shirt in time, and the youngest brother is left as a swan.) The Queen, now free to speak, can defend herself against the accusations. Her mother-in-law is burned at the stake instead. And the king, queen, and her six brothers live happily ever after.
Among the book meanings are: a journey of the soul; going quietly through a hard transition; believing that you will arrive at a better place though the journey may be sorrowful.
