Thoth
Card name: Knight of Swords
First impressions
Seen from above, we have a knight in green armour, with a helmet with four wings (that looks for all the world like a helicopter…) In front of him he brandishes a curved sword in his right hand, and a short straight blade in the left.. He rides a golden horse, and they seen to be flying over water. Three swallows are to the right of him, and “below” him in the card.
From the Book of Thoth
(repeated section from the Princess, for completeness:
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 Knights represent the powers of the letter Yod in the Name. They are the most sublime, original, active part of the Energy of the Element; for this reason they are represented on horseback and clad in complete armour. Their action is swift and violent, but transient. In the Element of Fire, for instance, the Knight corresponds to the Lightning flash; in the Element of Water, to Rain and Springs; in that of Air, to Wind; in that of Earth, to Mountains. It is very important as a mental exercise to work out for oneself these correspondences between the Symbol and the Natural Forces which they represent; and it is essential to practical Magical work to have assimilated this knowledge.
KNIGHT OF SWORDS
The Knight of Swords represents the fiery part of Air; he is the wind, the storm. He represents the violent power of motion applied to an apparently manageable element. He rules from the 21st degree of Taurus to the 20th degree of Gemini. He is a warrior helmed, and for his crest he bears a revolving wing. Mounted upon a maddened steed, he drives down the Heavens, the Spirit of the Tempest. In one hand is a sword, in the other a poniard. He represents the idea of attack.
The moral qualities of a person thus indicated are activity and skill, subtlety and cleverness. He is fierce, delicate and courageous, but altogether the prey of his idea, which comes to him as an inspiration without reflection.
If ill-dignified, the vigour in all these qualities being absent, he is incapable of decision or purpose. Any action that he takes is easily brushed aside by opposition. Inadequate violence spells futility. “Chimaera bombinans in vacuo”.
In the Yi King, the fiery part of Air is represented by the 32nd hexagram, Hang. This is the first occasion on which it has been simple to demonstrate the close technical parallelism which identifies Chinese thought and experience with that of the West.
For the meaning is long continuance: “perseverance in well-doing, or continuously acting out the law of one’s being”, as Legge puts it in his note on the hexagram; and this seems incongruous with the Qabalistic idea of violent energy applied to the least stable of the elements. But the trigram of Air also indicates wood; and the hexagram may have Suggested the irresistible flow of the sap, and its effect in strengthening the tree. This conjecture is supported by the warning in line 6: “The topmost line, divided, shows its subject exciting himself to long continuance. There will be evil.”
Allowing this, the image of “the extended flame of mind”, as Zoroaster calls it, may well be subjoined to the former description. It is the True Will exploding the mind spontaneously. The influence of Taurus makes for steadiness, and that of the first decanate of Gemini for inspiration. So let us picture him, “integer vitae scelerisque purus”, a light-shaft of the Ideal absorbing the entire life in concentrated aspiration, passing from earthy Taurus to exalted Gemini. Here, too, is shewn (as in the Yi) the danger to the subject of this symbol; for the first decan is the card called “Interference”; or, in the old pack, “Shortened Force”.
Images and Symbolism
Frieda Harris says in her essays:
Knight of Swords represents the fiery part of air, wind and storm; the violent power of motion applied to a manageable element. He is represented as a warrior with a helmet bearing a revolving wing, and mounted on a maddened steed. He carries a Sword and a Poniard.
Also:
Knight of Swords.
Dashing through the air this knight embodies all the winds of heaven.
Well – at least Frieda says his helmet bears a revolving wing….
Snuffin describes the colour of the armour as “citrine” – the colour of air in Malkuth, and the horse as russet – fire in Malkuth. Together that gives fire of air – the elemental attribution of the card. He points out that there are six points on the helmet – two are short points and the other four are extended into wings which have written on them the names of the four points of the compass - something I had completely missed…! Given that – he is leaping towards the south-east. This means that he rides between fire and air; Snuffin says that “if he is oriented with the elemental attributions of the quarters as presented in the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, he rides between Fire and Air.”
The swallows represent Mercury, which rules Gemini. The two blades and the winged hexagram also indicate Gemini’s influence.
Banzhaf says that he moves across the heavens – I had seen the blue as water, but of course, it must be air… with stratus clouds. The propeller blades signify lofty thoughts – and then Banzhaf refers to his being over the “ocean of devotion”, and says the swallows fly just above the water of emotion (suggesting that instinct determines direction).
Sky or ocean ? DuQuette says “driving clouds”. Maybe it is supposed to be ambiguous…
Duquette then says that what we see at first as propeller blades are actually wings sprouting from his back. NO, I don’t think so. They are quite clearly a part of the helmet. He says they are transparent and veined(the veins, of course, are actually words !) like dragonfly wings - and he suggests that perhaps there are only two, moving so fast that they look like four; like me, initially, he seems to have missed the words on them. He does tie them in with the geometric figures on the other swords cards, but them becomes dismissive:
“It has been suggested that these figure represent magical sigils drawn from planetary kameas, or magical squares. Anyone familiar with the extent (or should I say the limits) of Lady Harris’ magical education at the time would not even suggest such a thing.”
I wonder where she did get the idea for them… The original crest in the GD description is “Winged hexagram” – DuQuette even says that himself.
Meaning (cribbed from Wasserman)
Knight of Swords. Represents the fiery part of air. A man, active, skillful and clever, fierce, delicate and courageous but often unreflective. III-dignified: A man incapable of decision, deceitful, tyrannical and crafty
DuQuette
He is active, clever. subtle, fierce, delicate, courageous, skilful, but inclined to domineer. Also to overvalue small things, unless well dignified. If ill-dignified, deceitful, tyrannical and crafty.
Traditional meanings – From Thirteen’s book of meanings:
KNIGHTS
Knights or princes are the spirit of the teenager, all about changes, movement, action. Knights are never still; as the pages/princesses suggest messages, the knights suggest travel and spreading what they know. They are also, as Knights, about engaging in battle.
Elementally, they are Air moving and flowing. As a person, they're likely to stand for a young adult or someone who acts very like a teen. Their beliefs are purer than of an adult, less cynical, more fierce. And like their element, they are prone to argue and fight for what they believe. In this they are most knight like: powerfully, almost unquestioning loyal to a kingdom or cause.
Knight of Swords
As Travel: Travel by air.
As Change and Movement: This is a card that indicates a time and environment of rapid changes. In the positive, there are rapid thoughts; ideas fly, problems and challenges quickly appear and are quickly solved. In the negative, there might be too much thinking. This is the most "Knight" of the Knights, meaning things will feel restlessness, will change direction in a blink, or go from zero-to-sixty in a second. There will be an inclination to argue. It could be frightening and worrying, but also mentally stimulating.
As a Teen or "Teen-like" Person: Too smart for his own good, the Knight of Swords is also too talkative. He/she is the sort to get into a dozen flame wars on a dozen internet chat sites. This is the sort of teen/teen-like person who will questions his teachers (bosses), likes to play devil's advocate, and argue with his friends and family just for the sake of arguing.
Cool and logical, he can be very smart and amazing at problem-solving. This, however, can make him arrogant, cold, even cruel to those he views as not so bright. This sharp mind and sharp tongue can also lead him to spread gossip or nasty rumors just to see what will happen. He may be an internet troll or hacker and likely to cause serious trouble or get into serious trouble because of it. He fails to consider the consequences of his words, and can be uncaring about others feelings.
He is, however, a good Knight to have on your side, as he will find clever ways to win in battle. If there's anything this knight will fight and die for, it is for freedom of information and speech.
(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):
It really does look like a horse-shaped helicopter. I am still not sure whether we have water or air below; it could be water below cirrus clouds, or blue sky. Whatever, the overpowering impression is of reckless, unstoppable speed. The expression on the face of the horse is – not happy; it may have had enough ! He also seems reckless in holding out both those blades – leaving him only his knees to cling to the horse with – risky at that speed…
My take (what I make of it/what I might see in a reading where I drew it)
Reckless speed without thinking it through – this leaves you at risk of “falling off”. Slow down and think it over. Act first, think later is not the best approach.
