Tag: conflict

Tarot Post – Nine of Swords

 

Nine of Swords (Cruelty)

 

Nine of SwordsNine of Swords (Cruelty) by G A Rosenberg

 

Waking to despair
Swords of fear pointed towards you
Acceptance brings hope.

 

Awake with the horror
of what may happen
of what did happen
and feeling unsafe
and unwell
frightened and lost
It’s all in my head
that does not stop the visions tho
Why do I do this to myself?
All these little things that can happen
I pick them apart and find still more.
self-doubt, anxiety
circle like sharks
hungry to feed
It all can be lost so easily.
What if it is?
What if every disaster
I can see so clearly
were to happen?
What remains when all
the fears have run their course?
— G A Rosenberg

 

The suit of Swords represents thought, ideas, plans and conflicts. The Nines represent a coming to completion of the energy involved if not the completion itself. These energies come together in that dark night of fear and anxiety. The night that many of us experience when we lay awake with every doubt, fear and recrimination that we can muster. During these nights we tear apart every event in the past and milk it for shame. We look at tomorrow and see every possible misstep that we can make, every disaster that can happen and every way in which we feel unsafe. We clutch at straws looking for temporary safety, fully realizing that that is what we do. Eventually we give up even trying to do that. It seems that only way through this dark night is eventual resignation to whatever is to come.

 

Astrological Correspondence – Mars in Gemini – This energy loves to keep busy. As long as there is a lot to do, Mars in Gemini will run around getting the job done, figuring out the next step on the fly all while engaging in vigorous debate on any subject with anyone they encounter. It is when it is in rest that the difficulties come. The same mental acuity that is used to get the job done turns inward and enervates itself in downtime. The same rapier with that it uses to win discussions and debates become poniards with which it stabs itself.

 

I Ching Correspondence – 6) Sung – Conflict –

_______
_______
_______
___ ___
_______
___ ___

 

The Trigram for Heaven is over that of Water, two energies moving farther and farther away from each other leading to further rifts. This hexagram speaks of one who is always looking for conflict either with legitimate claims of injury or with an underhanded sneakiness and wit. When this is applied within, it leads to a constant undermining of the self where no matter what plan of action we have come up with, we immediately come up with all the ways in which it can fail. This can have its uses. If we know all of the possible arguments against our plan of action than we can learn how to counter them and avoid outer conflict. It is a matter of harnessing this energy in a positive way rather than using it to forever make us feel lesser than we are.

 

When the Nine of Swords turns up in a reading it often points to a lot of anxiety and sleepless nights. It can possibly be pointing to unresolved guilt from the past or a feeling that we deserve whatever abuse has come our way in the past. It can mean that we are going through what is known as the “dark night of the soul” where we are facing our shadow selves the most intensely. It may mean that we are torturing ourselves for the problems that caused a recent relationship to break apart. When this energy comes up for us, the best course of action is to let these feelings flow through because the more we feed them and try to argue against them, the longer and more intense the conflict may become.

 

The Nine of Swords reversed can mean that our inner conflicts have come to an end and we can now give ourselves a bit of a break. It may also mean however that we have been acting cruelly towards others perhaps without even realizing it. The Nine of Swords reversed may also mean that someone with cruel intentions is acting uncharacteristically nice to us to catch us off our guard.

Tarot Post – Five of Wands

Five of Wands (Conflict / Strife)

 

Five of WandsFive of Wands (Revised) by G A Rosenberg

 

 

Conflict Has Risen
Voices Cry Out To Be Heard
Defend Your Passion

 

____________________________________

 

 

Let’s Play War
We’ll make forts
and attack each other
with sticks and shields
rolling around we’ll wrestle
until you’re pinned
then we’ll get up and do it again
Our energy cannot be contained
Want to have a go?
After all its only a game
Isn’t it
and in our youth we are invulnerable.

 

Wands deal with force-creative, spiritual, and vital. Fives stand for conflict, change and a breaking through to higher thought. With the Five the spiritual force that was so uneasily contained in the Four breaks through.
Much in the way that adolescent energy in a teenager breaks through with lots of energy that needs to have an outlet. These outlets can get a bit aggressive such as fighting with sticks but they are games and a means of directing the energy externally, testing one’s power or force against that of another.

 

Astrological Correspondence– Saturn in Leo – Saturn in Leo energy has a strong need for recognition yet does not necessarily seek the spotlight. It is a very autocratic energy who’s main lesson is learning how to compete fairly with others instead of ‘winning at any cost’. It is an energy of absolutes and can be pretty inflexible, preferring to fight (and win) rather than yielding. The Saturn in Leo energy can also be the force needed to jar us out of our complacency when we have been too long in a situation that needs changing, especially when the situation involves how we view ourselves by bringing it to a breaking point.

 

I Ching Correspondence – 49) Ko – Revolution

____ ___
________
________
________
____ ___
________

This Hexagram is comprised of the trigram for Joy over the one of Fire. As anyone knows, when fire is underneath water, things will soon come to a boil. The two are opposites so there is bound to be some conflict and yet we harness the combination to work in tandem all the time especially in cooking, using the two opposing forces to good effect. Nature often seems to made up of forces in a very natural opposition to each other (ie the changes of the season with its interplay between light and darkness) Indeed without this natural opposition of forces life would become stagnant.

 

When Five of Wands shows up in a reading, there may be conflict or competition underway in the person’s life but it is more playful and creative conflict rather than a full-out war. It is good to keep it light and playful because in such situations, it is easy to misunderstand and start taking things way too seriously and make it about winning rather than about resolving the conflict at hand

 

When the Five of Wands is reversed in a reading, conflicts have gotten out of hand, what may have started out playful has become bitter and nasty and all rules have been thrown out of the window.