queen of swords

Translation by Kitos Digiovanni from smallcabin.org

synthetic meaning

Represented by a woman turned towards the left, with white hair, crowned, sitting on a large throne and tall throne and holding a red sword upright, the Queen of Swords symbolizes the all-powerful role that enlightened intuition plays in judgement, to which mental activities must subordinate themselves when they are exercised over matter.

analytic meaning

The Queens signify passivity, subconscious intuition, that is to say, mental and animistic assimilation, which permits enlightened and inspired understanding, because they wear a crown and, with the exception of the Queen of Coins, they have white hair spilling onto their shoulders.

The crown, with its shape suggesting radiance, has its source from subtle planes. With its flowers, centers of attraction, it reflects cosmic principles and shows that the Queens have access to the Universal.

Her white hair represents a complex and synthetized radiance of mentality, while its scattered locks denote a great willpower, without being dominated by one side or the other - that is, by the left pole over the right or vice-versa.

The passivity of the Queens is expressed by their sitting position and, except for the Queen of Batons, by their orientation towards the left. This posture is more boldly expressed by the Queen of Swords, since her incubation is deeper than that of the other Queens, and it is reinforced by the close fitting of her clothing, signifying that her workings are confined to within.

In sum, her pose and attendant characteristics underline the specifically mental nature of the card.

specific analogies

The sword which she holds indicates that her role is to judge, since a sword slices, decides between two things, symbolizing judgement, and this must be impersonal and inspired by synthetic points of view, as the Queen's white hair defines it.

This sword is red, because we ask it for solutions in the material world, and its hilt guard is yellow in order to show that intelligence must intervene by avoiding judgement subservient to the material world. Her gaze directed towards the red sword on the left equally indicates that she must dive into herliabilities, that is to say, into her achievements in the physical world, to develop the elements of her decision.

The points marked on her crown, collar, and belt recall her accordance with the cosmic properties and her affinity with the Majors, being the same in number. Those of the crown, numbering 12, connect it with the first 12 cards and make it more active when it is with one of them; moreover, 12 forms a complete evolutionary cycle, and a judgement is satisfactorily made only when it embraces the entire evolution of the question.

The 8 points of her collar and her belt show her affinity with Card VIII, and present with it similarities of fate; but as appertains to the Minors, that is to say to elementary principles, its action is less copious, less extensive, less powerful, and less concrete than that of Card VIII. The points on her collar have the sense of animistic judgement and those of her belt, a practical sense.

meanings as they relate to the three planes

MENTAL. Judgement obtained through intuition.

ANIMISTIC. The protection of feelings through an intimate sense of their consequences.

PHYSICAL. Absence of action, because it comes from the mind and its passivity prevents it from bringing change, such as for example in a dispute. In a business matter, it offers nothing. In a health issue, it shows that the doctor or the remedy is acting for the best, without giving any result.

INVERTED. Very bad, because she is submitting to all injustices, to all judgements, to slanders.

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In its Elementary Sense, the Queen of Swords represents the obligation for Man not to act without having consulted his intuition, awaking through the concentration of knowledge on the question forming the object of his mental activities.