Seven of Swords
The Seven of Swords represents cleverness, mental agility, and the use of unconventional tactics to get where you need to go. It encourages thinking outside accepted rules and being true to your unique approach, especially when external pressures demand conformity. Yet this cunning can devolve into secrecy, deceit, and paranoia, prompting mistrust and fear-driven actions. The magpie imagery reminds you that you already possess what you need and urges a return to honest stewardship rather than building safety through trickery.
Keywords
Keywords
Cleverness, strategy, thinking outside the box; subversion, mental manipulation, fear-driven acts.
Meaning
Primary Interpretation
The 7 of Swords is a tricky card, which is only fitting as that's what it's about: trickiness. This card is about mental agility, cleverness, and thinking outside of the box. When it appears, it's a clue to employ some unconventional tactics and step off the straight-and-narrow path. Who made the rules, anyway? Just because a rule is a rule doesn't mean it's a good one! If we're feeling pressure to conform to external standards, this card tells us to go our own way and be our authentic and eccentric selves.
Shadow Aspects
However, the subversive 7 of Swords can tilt into deceit and manipulation. This is a mind that questions everything, and while that's essential for coming to our own conclusions, it can also lend itself to mistrust, secrecy, and paranoia. We may start thinking that others are out to get us, or that we need to steal and sneak in order to make sure we have what we need. This card asks us to examine our perceptions and disentangle our fears from what's real.
Symbolism
The magpie on our card is a bird as famous for its smarts as for its thieving. Folklore is full of tales about magpies stealing shiny objects to hoard in their nests, but here, their baubles are secondary to their eggs. We already have what we need. Instead of acting from paranoia, this card invites us to bring our eyes back to the nest and take stock of what's right in front of us. Cleverness is useful, but trickery isn't. Our nest would be safer if we'd stop building it out of swords.
Trailing Punctuation
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Visual Description
A cluster of eight ornate scissors and shears stand upright, their blades plunged into a pale surface, gathered close together. A long white ribbon weaves around and between the handles, and a single pair of black-handled scissors hovers above the group. A shallow purple puddle pools beneath the scissors and the Roman numeral VIII is printed at the card base; a faint watermark reading 'FIFTH SPIRIT © CLAIRE BURGESS' is visible across the lower area.
Fifth Spirit tarot
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