Forest Folklore - Four of Swords

[rcb30872]

Have you noticed the imp behind the sleeping lady looking forward?

The way the woman is sleeping makes me also think of the foetal position, sure, which makes me think of re-birth. The way she is curled up in a ball, and her hand is making the dress is covering her legs, makes me think this is a time of withdrawal, and perhaps the need for protection, well, not necessarily protection, not entirely sure.

Well, it seems like well the woman seems unaware, she is not really, she has the little imp looking out for her. I tend to see that the imps are not separate entities, rather than a separate part of the mind.

 

[Rede Seeker]

The Imp as Fetch?

The Imp could be the 'following spirit' of Northern European lore. I don't see the Imp as necessarily bad, either.

The four swords seem to form a fence between two tree trunks. She is protected, at least as well as she can for sleeping on the forest floor barefoot.

 

[rcb30872]

Well, anyway, I decided to look up imp in wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imp

An imp is a mythological being similar to a fairy or demon, frequently described in folklore and superstition. The word derives from the term ympe, used to denote a young grafted tree.

Some accounts of imps treat them as capable of being turned to good, because they are so desperately lonely they would do almost anything—even commit good deeds—to have a committed friend.

Imps were the common name given to familiar spirits that served witches in the middle ages. Imps were usually kept inside artifacts such as gemstone pieces or vials and summoned for service by magics. An example of such an imp is one that was supposedly under the service of the alchemist Paracelsus.