Thoth
Card name: Princess of Swords
First impressions
A young girl in a diaphanous blue dress – much of it looks green where the yellow light hits it (actually, she too is green.) She seems to be getting up from an altar; she bears a swords which she points downwards – she holds it rather oddly. Her left hand reaches back to touch the altar. Some kind of yellow swirls around her, and behind her is a massive swastika/pinwheel. There is smoke rising from the altar, and she seems to be standing in clouds. The sun is rising behind them.
From the Book of Thoth
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR DIGNITARIES
The relations between these Four Elements of the Name are extraordinarily complex, quite beyond the limits of any ordinary treatise to discuss; they change with every application of thought to their meaning.
For instance, no sooner has the Princess made her appearance than the Prince wins her in marriage, and she is set upon the throne of her Mother. She thus awakens the Eld of the original old King; who thereupon becomes a young Knight, and so renews the cycle. The Princess is not only the perfect Maiden, but, owing to the death of the Prince, the forsaken and lamenting Widow. All this occurs in the legends characteristic of the Aeon of Osiris. It is hardly possible definitely to disentangle these complications, but for the student it is sufficient if he will be content to work with one legend at a time.
It is natural that the Aeon of Osiris, the regimen of Air, of strife, of intellect, should be thus confused; that its symbols and formulas should overlap, should contradict each other. It is impossible to harmonize the multitudinous fables or parables, because each was invented to emphasize some formula that was regarded as imperative to serve some local or temporal purpose.
The Princesses represent the He’ final of the Name. They represent the ultimate issue of the original Energy in its completion, its crystallization, its materialization. They also represent the counter-balancing, the re-absorption of the Energy. They represent the Silence into which all things return. They are thus at the same time permanent and non-existent. An audit of the equation 0=2.
The Princesses have no Zodiacal attribution. Yet evidently they represent four types of human being. They are those numerous “elemental” people whom we recognize by their lack of all sense of responsibility, whose moral qualities seem to lack “bite”. They are sub-divided according to planetary predominance. Such types have been repeatedly described in fiction. As Eliphaz Levi wrote: “The love of the Magus for such creatures is insensate, and may destroy him”.
PRINCESS OF SWORDS
The Princess of Swords represents the earthy part of Air, the fixation of the volatile. She brings about the materialization of Idea. She represents the influence of Heaven upon Earth. She partakes of the characteristics of Minerva and Artemis, and there is some suggestion of the Valkyrie. She represents to some extent the anger of the Gods, and she appears helmed, with serpent-haired Medusa for her crest. She stands in front of a barren altar as if to avenge its profanation, and she stabs downward with her sword. The heaven and the clouds, which are her home, seem angry.
The character of the Princess is stern and revengeful. Her logic is destructive. She is firm and aggressive, with great practical wisdom and subtlety in material things. She shews great cleverness and dexterity in the management of practical affairs, especially where they are of a controversial nature. She is very adroit in the settlement of controversies.
If ill-dignified, all these qualities are dispersed; she becomes incoherent, and all her gifts tend to combine to form a species of low cunning whose object is unworthy of the means.
In the Yi King, the earthy part of Air is represented by the 18th hexagram, Ku. This means “troubles”; it is, for all practical and material matters. The most unhappy symbol in the book. All the fine qualities of Air are weighed down, suppressed, suffocated.
People thus characterized are slow mentally, the prey of constant anxiety, crushed by every kind of responsibility, but especially in family affairs. One of both of the parents will usually be found in the aetiology.
It is hard to understand line 6, which “shows us one who does not serve either king or feudal lord, but in a lofty spirit prefers to follow his own bent”. The explanation is that a Princess as such, being “the throne of Spirit”, may always have the option of throwing everything overboard, “blowing everything sky high”. Such action would account for the characteristics above given for the card when well dignified. Such people are exceedingly rare; and, naturally enough, they appear often as “Children of misfortune”. Nevertheless, they have chosen aright, and in due season gain their reward.
Images and Symbolism
Frieda Harris says in her essays:
The Princess of Swords = the earthy part of Air; the fixation of the volatile, or the materialisation of the Idea. She appears in this card in front of a barren altar, and has a helmet of Medusa on her head.
Also:
Princess of Swords.
This is air in the earth, the oxygen which promotes the growth of plants and the warlike rush of the figure of the princess is the incarnation of dynamic irruption.
Snuffin points out that she wears winged shoes (those wings are VERY small) and the helmet of Medusa, with serpents (again, I am finding this very hard to see !) The winged shoes tie in with those worn by Perseus when he claimed the head of Medusa (the Aegis – protective armour - of Minerva – who is associated with this card in Book T).
He refers to the yellow swirls as the Princess’ scarf, and says her colouring is that of air – the scarf is yellow, her dress blue and her skin is green and yellow. The sword represents analysis, and she stabs downwards with it. The smoke rising from the altar is the earthier side of air, and this is reinforced by the circles (discs) decorating the altar. There is an archway in front of her (well, two solid green “rays” converging !) and the rising sun (Tiphareth) is seen between them.) She holds her sword as if she is defending herself against it.
Crowley and Frieda) refer to the altar as barren, and Banzhaf picks up on this; Crowley says her stance suggests she wants to avenge its profanation. Banzhaf suggests that this attitude contradicts the altar, which symbolises the intellect and inner maturity, where she is combative; the sky and clouds angry, and the Medusa is on her hear. She comes over, to him, as immature and impulsive – the inner child.
DuQuette even describes her as an avenging angel – and says that we are lucky the helmet is turned away from us, or we would be turned to stone ! but he says that “fixation of the volatile” is part of her role.
Meaning (cribbed from Wasserman)
Princess of Swords. Represents the earthy part of air. A young woman, stern and revengeful, with destructive logic, firm and aggressive, with great practical wisdom and subtlety, dexterous in management of practical affairs. III-dignified: Woman filled with low cunning and frivolousness.
DuQuette
Wisdom, strength, acuteness; subtlety in material things: grace and dexterity.
If ill dignified, she is frivolous and cunning.
Traditional meanings – From Thirteen’s book of meanings:
PAGES
The first court cards are the Pages (also known as Princesses). It is always best to imagine them as young, and with a letter or scroll in hand. The element of the pages is "Earth" indicating something young, growing, a seed planted. So the Page of Wands would be "Earth of Fire" - the seed of fire, so to speak. Pages most often stand for children, though they can also be said to be the "Fool's" alter ego, meaning that they are very new to their "element," a student or apprentice.
Thus, when no children seem to be involved (the person you're reading for is childless, has no friends with kids, etc.), then the Pages can indicate that the querent is about to receive a message, or that the querent's (or someone in the querent's life) is at a new stage. They feel new and excited about it, but also are likely to make mistakes. They are immature.
Page of Swords
As a Message: Page of Swords signals messages relating to information or problems. It is sometimes about illness and often rumor or gossip. When the querent gets the Page of Swords, they should be warned to check it out. They should not pass on the message until they're sure it's true. Swords are words and thoughts, and neither may have any validity behind them.
As Time and Environment: This is a time of new ideas and thoughts. They not only seem new, but unique, special, and there is a great deal of chatter, talk, and discussion. It may not be very mature, but it is rapid and developing fast.
As a Child or "Child-like" Person: You can't shut up the Page of Swords. They want to know everything, be told everything, and, even more alarming, anything they hear, they'll repeat. This is the child that will go up to Aunt Hazel and say, "Are you carrying a baby? Mommy says it looks like you are...." This card could warn the querent that they or someone else might blurts out something they heard that they shouldn't be blurting.
On the positive side, this child or child-like person could be quite a prodigy, good at puzzles, quick to learn. The card can signal absorbing new information quickly, or solving problems fast, also using a computer.
Warn the querent, however, that being "immature" this person will be prone to argue. Not only is there a risk of this Page/Swords being a tattletale, but they tend to think they know-it-all when they don't. This can be a card about boasting, gossip and lying, either knowingly or unknowingly.
(I include Thirteen’s meanings here, but the way, as while someone else was adding them to her Thoth posts, I found them enlightening in context, even though the descriptions are way different !)
My impressions (appearance of the card):
Strangely, I thought at once of the fool on his cliff. But she does look like a child fighting for its “rights” – and the way she is posed with the altar suggests to me that she is leaving it behind. I don’t see how she balances in the clouds – though given that the shoes (apparently) have wings, that could explain it. I don’t see the “archway” either – it looks more like shards of light, to me.
My take (what I make of it/what I might see in a reading where I drew it)
I’d say the querent was almost in a tantrum. Fighting her corner but not in the most sensible rational way, not the way that is likely to bring results. She’s got the equipment, but needs to learn how to use it better. So the advice would be to stop and think – there is a better way to do this.
