10 of Swords hand gesture

Abrac

I recently ran across something in Waite's The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross (1924), which has revealed a possible meaning of the hand gesture on the 10 of Swords. Waite is describing the "Laws of the Brotherhood" as presented by the German Adept, Sincerus Renatus (Sigmund Richter); in one part, "The Solemn Pledge of the Order," it says: "I, Frater Non Nobis (vel nomen aliud), do swear by the Living and Eternal God that I will never reveal the Mystery which has been unto me communicated (uplifting two fingers) to any human being whomsoever; but will preserve it in hiddenness, under the natural seal, all the days of my life."

Interestingly, there's an article at Wikipedia which describes a similar hand gesture used in Germanic Europe when swearing an oath in court, and also in Heraldry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwurhand

This person could have met his demise while protecting his oath; it brings to mind the Hiramic legend. Waite says it's not necessarily a card of violent death so it might be a type of symbolic suffering.