Revelations Tarot - 10 of Swords

from the website...

[intepretation]
He lies in a pool of blood from being stabbed ten times. He now knows of a defeat so extreme or as definite.

[reversed]
He remains defiant even till his end, always looking upwards for hope.

[symbols/images]
The idea of being taken down by swords represents the metaphor of being ruined by slander and by bad reputation - pain inflicted by words or ideas.
His pale green skin has lost its colour, as he has long accepted this fate. His faced covered to hide his shame.

The card does pose a positive side to it though - once you've hit rock bottom, the only way is up.
The reversed side shows a man pierced as well, but his fists are clenched and his head turned upwards-indicating defiance against the situation.
The warning there is takes the situation and to turn it on it's head and keep fighting back.

Click to expand...

So the green man is dead, he is defeated and becoming one with the soil in the final kinda way lol. The flames of the background seem to swirl inwards, swirl in a self-defeat kinda way. He lets the bad words, the slander etc sink into his being, and he believes it. He is becoming depressed, and the red flames burn further and further into his being, his self-confidence, belief, ambition. There is no balanced or clear perspective anymore, his mind is foggy with distrust and failure. But the key thing to note is how this failure isnt really caused by others, but by his self.

The reversed man, the red/pink guy seems to have his back arched, his arms in tight fists and screaming the agony of the mind. He feels the flames licking up at him, wanting to devour him yet he screams, he moves, he pulls to get away and prevent the flames from getting back at him. He can pull himself out of this, you just need to look for that other perspective, turning the frown upside down by any way he can. I can imagine him using his communicative power to give himself a pep-talk, to say how amazing he is, how he has so much to fight for and pull the swords out when he can. The swords facing the red/pink dude are far more ornate, more positive and full of that awesome cutting power to remove the depression and pull him out of his sprial of destruction. The green dude has fairly boring swords, they reflect his mood in that he thinks they are only there to hurt him, it doesnt matter what they look like only that they will hurt me, will kill me, ohh woe is me because I'm not even worth nice swords to die by. There is a self-defeatist attitude as he spins further and further down into depression, where it will take him longer and longer to crawl out of or inplode one day.

This card doesnt have the usual nice hopeful image of a dawn on the horizon, all isnt lost - attitude. Its more realistic, more truthful saying yeah you can resist this, you can be the phoenix from the flames, but you've got to build yourself up to pull out the swords before you can 'move on'. It reminds me of the 'no pain no gain' phrase your mum would say as she spread over the stinging antiseptic on your grazes. The Reversed 10 of swords suggests that that you can heal yourself, you can get yourself out of this rutt, but it'll get worse before you get better.

This deck doesnt believe in sugarcoating

Sezo
x

He has let go, given up. Taking the puches life deals him. He looks defeated.

Reversed he is resisting, fighting.

This is one of my favorite cards in the deck. I like that it's not sugar coated, but that it offers two mirror image ways of handling the situation--acceptance or defiance, and even in them there is duo meanings. Is the acceptance humility or surrender? Is the defiance a form of bold rebellion or futile struggle against the inevitable?

I very much like the way this card makes the reader/querent think about the very different ways we handle real, terrible and unescapable defeat. A the very worst of moments, when we are farthest away from victory or hope or salvation...what do we do?