[afrosaxon]

4 Rada -- Agwe (rx) [4 of Swords rx]

http://alpha.mxat.ru/WWPCM/decks05/d02446/d02446s4.jpg


Agwe is the lwa of the sea; he is married to La Sirene (the water form of Erzulie, lwa of love). He guarantees safe passage when placated or honored, and may lead you to a watery grave if he isn't.

In a reversed position, this card speaks to me of "wind taken out of sails"; surprises? Or thoughts, ideas not coming as freely as before.

T.

[Grip Dellabonte]

Agwe: This is a soothing card. The boat is tilted and there is wind in the sails, so I think that suggests movement. There is no land to be seen anywhere but the people don't appear nervous or threatened.
I can't really tell what the three people on the left side of the boat are doing. It looks like they are trying to manuever a tray with food and bottles on it. Another person is playing a drum. Party atmosphere for being so far out to sea. It is also calm weather because everyone is in warm temperature clothing.
I think the card does well getting the meaning across....smooth sailing despite what one might be worried about - everything will be fine.

A long, long time ago when I was but a tender twig, this is what I said about Agwe upright.

Reversed, I get much the same feeling as you do, afrosaxon. Wind taken out of the sails. The doldrums. Caught in limbo. Also, you can imagine that being stuck at sea with 20 of your closest - and stinkiest - friends....after a while tempers get short, things get said. People get stressed. So the nice party atmosphere dissipates until the sails are full again.

[afrosaxon]

I went back and looked at the card again: the people on board are initiates, and the people on the left (with the food) are getting ready to drop an offering in the sea to Agwe, as a guarantee of safe passage.

So reversed could also speak of UNsafe (mental) passages...like you said: stuck with people for a longer time than ordinary and things better left unsaid just come out, which are a reflection of thoughts that most people tend to keep under wraps.

Kinda like Survivor and Lost combined...or any sci-fi movie that requires an unlikely group of people banded together for survival purposes.

[Water Pixie]

This card to me has a link to the 17th century slave trade. From what I have read and heard they would pray to agwe to deliver them across the seas safely. So maybe you feel as though you are in a challenging situation which is almost totally out of your control. You must have faith. Reversed I think this signifies a lack of faith either in oneself or in general.