7 of Swords in the Connolly Deck

The 7 of Swords is a card that typically denotes some kind of sneakiness that we are witness to in some manner or other.

But what in the world does Ms. Connolly's 7 of Swords picture mean?

What is going on with the muscians? They are on a cliff, there are swords in the sky. WTF?

I've done some internet research and have come up with nothing as far as interpreting this picture for the 7 of S.

I've been using this deck for 9 years now and I trust it completely. This image is the only one that is inscrutable.

Musicians on a cliff. And one guy is playing two flutes tied together. Weird.

What does this have to do with sneakiness?

Here's a link to the card image:
http://www.tarot.com/tarot/decks/index.php?deckID=67&cardID=56

The Seven of Swords doesn't always have to mean sneakiness.

Another interpretation is poor planning, bad judgement, not taking possible consequences of your actions into account. Are the musicians showing good judgement by having their ecstatic music session right on the edge of a cliff? They think they are doing OK and that the swords are safely stuck into the ground, they don't see the ones overhead that could come down on them at any time. Flutes stuck together like that are called "Pan Pipes". Pan is associated with panic, frenzy, sensuality.

The RWS deck Seven of Swords is another example of a person showing bad judgement and poor planning. He is trying to sneak out of the enemy's camp with a huge armful of swords just as the sun is rising.

I like Myrrha's interpretation. The interpretation that I worked out for myself many years ago was that these people are trying to fool themselves, or fool others, into thinking that a bad situation is not as bad as it really is. The fact that all is not well is shown by the two swords stuck in the clouds (see the 3 of Swords from the same deck for a confirmation). The musicians don't see, or don't want us to see, that they are on the edge of a cliff. Finally, the piper's double pipes make me think of duplicity, i.e. "speaking with forked tongue."

I do think it's kind of strange -- and frustrating -- that Connolly never saw fit, in any of her books, to enlighten us as to what she had in mind when she created the image.

Lee, great interp.! They are trying to fool themselves. Great. I can go with that.

The "Key" for this card in her Handbook for the Apprentice is that things may not work out the way we have planned.


Maybe they want to play to an audience? A feeling of emptiness & frustration at playing to no-one, a the edge of a cliff, a dark cloud overhead?
Maybe it represents the times when we think we "have it all" and then come to the realization that we don't; that something is missing. Some of the swords are caught in the black cloud, as some swords in the RWS image are in the ground rather than in the figure's arms.

Hmmmm.... ? I am also confused... although I love, love, LOVE this deck, this is one of the tricky ones!

Love the interp, Lee.

Doesn't this card depict the Sirens lulling Jason and the Argonauts to their deaths?

Why not?

Lee said:

I like Myrrha's interpretation. The interpretation that I worked out for myself many years ago was that these people are trying to fool themselves, or fool others, into thinking that a bad situation is not as bad as it really is. The fact that all is not well is shown by the two swords stuck in the clouds (see the 3 of Swords from the same deck for a confirmation).

Click to expand...

I also see it like this. As the musicians from Titanic continued singing when the boat was sinking, just to mystify the danger.