4 of Swords (RWS)

[Joan Marie]

Asleep, Dead or Meditating?

Sometimes you just have to chill out even if you do have 3 swords dangling directly over your head.

We have an elegant Knight here laying upon his "tomb" (according to Waite) but the position of his hands would indicate he is not dead, or asleep but in a kind of meditation. The card is uncharacteristically monochrome except for the stained glass window.

I see in this window a nod to the 6 of Cups (the two figures facing each other, one tall one smaller) and the 5 of Pentacles where a stained glass window figures prominently.

There's a lot of discussion about if this guy is dead or not. So much so that when you look into it that it starts to feel like a "McGuffin" like something we think is important to understanding the card but isn't really yet it tends to affect (reflect?) our perceptions.

I googled McGuffin (the above link) for the benefit of anyone who was unfamiliar with the term and I read the oddest thing. It says,

The use of a MacGuffin as a plot device predates the name MacGuffin.[3] The Holy Grail of Arthurian Legend has been cited as an example of an early MacGuffin, as the desired object that serves to advance the plot.

So am I on to something? Waite says this man is "an effigy of a Knight." So not an actual Knight, but rather a carving, a sculpture of one. These kind of tombs often appear in old European churches next to stained glass windows.

From St Vitus Cathedral, Prague

So what could possibly be the point of this card? Could the 3 dangling swords be unfinished business? Has it something to do with the elusive Holy Grail?

I think a popular interpretation is "take some time out, get some solitude, think things through" but why that? I am really curious about other people's thoughts.

[Nemia]

I think one solution lies in the esoteric underpinnings of this card. Waite knew them as well as Crowley did but hid them behind narrative theatrical scenes. What do we have in the Four of Swords?

We have the cardinal Air sign - the last decan of Libra - ruled by Jupiter - and we're in Chessed, Jupiter's sephira. There is an inherent contradiction in the stability of the number Four and its function in the decan system - as "mutable" decan of a cardinal sign. And there is the added inner contradiction of a stable Four in Air. But double Jupiter forces it all into some kind of harmony.

The gisant knight is an interesting choice. In the Middle Ages, sarcophagi reminded people of the fact they'd have to die, and death was a grisly punishment by God for the original sin (ancient Greece and Rome had a different concept of death). You can see such a warning sarcophagus on Masaccio's famous fresco.

Sometimes, the skeleton appears alone, but often, it's combined with or replaced by a recumbend effigy of the dead, a gisant figure like in the card. This expresses the hope for resurrection in Christian iconography, in a way a kind of reconciliation. The dead wait peacefully and death loses some of its horror. That's a Renaissance concept - influenced by the sombre but non-grisly Greek and Roman funerary art.

Why did Waite and Smith choose this meditative image for the card? The dead knight doesn't have to fight any more. We, as observers and querents, still have to take up our swords sooner or later and continue the fight. And if we see the knight not as dead but only as resting, the message is still the same. Right now, nothing moves - like the stable, even static Four. But the next challenge is already in the air - we'll leave Libra, and the next card will be the difficult Five of Cups in Scorpio, ruled by Mars.

How do you paint a card that strives for harmony like Libra, is under the benevolent double rule of Jupiter, is quiet to the point of static like the number Four but contains the cardinal Air energy of early Autumn, and will soon move on to the realm of Scorpio, i.e., death?

I think when I retro-engineer the card that way, the iconography becomes clear. Waite was steeped in Christian iconography, that's the art he knew. Smith thought in theatrical scenes and narratives - stories and theater are her inspiration. As opposed to Crowley and Harris, they didn't want to REVEAL the esoteric underpinnings but disguise them. And they did that very well. If we didn't know from other sources, the image would tell us neither about Libra nor Chessed, the way the Thoth openly does.

You're stepping towards the acknowledgement of death, i.e., the movement of time - you have a blessed meditative moment blessed by divine benevolence - you feel death's presence as harmonious but also static - and you know that you have to move on.

Isn't it interesting? Air moves quickly - the Four doesn't like to move - and Jupiter is quiet slow - and for one moment, everything comes to a standstill.

[Amoroso]

The 4 of Swords for me stands for total rest, recuperation, and healing. It represents a willful suspension of mental effort. After the stress and tragedy of the 3 of Swords, I guess some quiet me-time is just what the doctor ordered. One should focus on recovery, on rebuilding one's strength so that when they re-enter the game they'll be fresh and as good as new.

If it appears in a weekly spread with a Pentacle or earth Major beside it (since earth is the element that stands for the corporeal), I interpret it as a warning that I may be overdoing my workouts. I should scale back a bit and watch my form if I'm to avoid an injury. If it's reversed and surrounded by inauspicious cards it's a warning of impending burnout. If it's reversed with mild cards around it might mean tension or restiveness.

[Lucifall]

How do you paint a card that strives for harmony like Libra, is under the benevolent double rule of Jupiter, is quiet to the point of static like the number Four but contains the cardinal Air energy of early Autumn, and will soon move on to the realm of Scorpio, i.e., death?

Big bow for Pixie /-\
How well she did this!

I am (only) reading cards for twenty years now. Always i was very Waite-minded.

He, the big creator of worlds most sold/read deck: the Rider Waite.
He, the instrcutor for the Major Arcana.

Now, more and more i feel that Pamela must have had a bigger infuence on the cards then we might have thought.

She, the Artist.
She, who really tells the story in pictures.
She, who makes the connectiong between knowledge and the picture
Pamela, the story teller.
And... keep in mind... Artists always have changed History..

Waite was steeped in Christian iconography, that's the art he knew. Smith thought in theatrical scenes and narratives - stories and theater are her inspiration.

I think Pamela Colman Smith is one of the most under-estimated woman in Art ever.
At least SHE is the most copied Artist ever.
F.E.: How many clones of her 78 Art-works have been made?
Isn't it time the deck should be renamed in PCS!?

Anyhow : I was wondering what might be the connection between the Queen of Wands and Four of Swords.
Queen of Wands: Cancer - Leo :
On this cards you see two 'worlds' as in Four of Swords.
The side of the piramids is golden and yellow. (Sun - Leo) This side seems bigger.. The cape of the Queen is glowing yellow.
The same cape is grey on the right side of the card, The lion here seems to have problems with the eye.? (Why?) The colours are quit different and more 'waterly'

Is there same symbolism in these cards?
Is the (red-orange) animal of the Queen's neckless guarding the knight in deep meditation?
The Queen of Wands is wearing a Neckless(Fox or Lion?)
On Four of swords i see the same animal (in grey) (under the 'strip of the window) as the neckless of the Queen is pointing to the knight.
Do others see the animal also on four of Swords?

[jiacovelli]

I have been doing Venn diagrams of the minor arcana 2-10 cards -- the ones that RWS was basically the first to illustrate with non-abstract designs. The diagrams trace the astrological/qabalistic/elemental influences to specific divinatory meanings and graphic elements.



I take it there's not a lot of activity in this particular forum section, which is the main reason that I'd like to post one of these graphics to find out if there's interest in the diagrams. They're all Creative Commons, which is something I'm fairly passionate about: they're all based on public domain documents, so I think the result should be freely shared. I also do a write up/commentary (also Creative Commons), but I prefer to post the Venn diagram without that, so that someone reading the diagram can arrive at their own conclusions before reading mine. I typically just leave it with a short summary of my conclusions, and if anyone wants to see more, they can find the full post at my site. (Though I won't include the link at this time.. not unless I find that there's a lot of interest).

I noticed that the last post in this forum area concerned one of the cards I've already done (I've done 12 thus far). My summary:

The Four of Swords’ depiction of the tomb of a Knight outwardly conveys soldiering and death. Yet if we look at the upper left, we see a scene that is likely to be an Annunciation scene: a scene of birth. The astrological influences include strong life-giving entities in Venus and The Empress. The female deities, then, are key to understanding the Four of Swords. The Transit of Venus is a celestial event at which time Venus changes identity from evening star to morning star, from preceding the Sun to following the Sun. Venus’ movement is the metaphor for the Divine Feminine rising-–Aphrodite rising from the sea at Cypress. Waite’s divinatory meanings communicate a fork in the road, a bi-directional path for his soldier. He moves forward by falling behind; by putting down his weapon so that he can pray. In Chesed, the qabalistic influence, we see the “mechanics” of the process. Chesed can be said to represent another “bi-directional” arrangement: a contract between God and the people. This is the “piety of people towards God, as well as grace, favor or mercy of God towards people.” The card is a “snapshot” of two vectors in the “lives” of the dead Knight. And the transit of Venus is a metaphor by which we can depict two opposing vectors in the same snapshot; or two opposing divinatory meanings.

[TheLoracular]

There was so very much deep and wise things said in this thread so far. My contribution is going to be minor by comparison.

Everytime I look at this card, I contemplate the way the three swords hanging on the wall make me feel like they are the very ones piercing the 3; there's a reason they are hanging point down on the wall while the fourth serves as a foundation or anchor for the knight's effigy. I can't look at the stained window where a very Hierophant (to my imagination) figure is giving benediction or alms. And I feel like the stained glass is meant to be seen within this sanctum rather than admired from outside.

This is exactly what the four of sword is for me. A sanctum, a place for meditation, prayer, rest. Not for the Magician's ritual magic, not for using one's Will. A place to recover from stress, pain, grief, outrage and everything else that cripples our resilience and ability to activate our will.

I can't look at this card without reflecting on the 5 of Pentacles though. I feel like the impoverished characters in that card are being denied sanctuary (and a sanctum is a sanctuary) for reasons that aren't just. So I always feel good in readings where the 5 of Pentacles is followed in a positive way by the Four of Swords and its allegorical promise that even if those sick and disabled folk haven't gotten to the door of that sanctuary church yet, they are going to be admitted and get the help they most need.

[A-M]

If I put this card next to the symbolism that can be found in the Bible, I see this:
The three standing swords are the three aspects of man: body, head/mind/thinking and heart/feelings/emotions.
When Jesus is tempted three times in the desert, his body, head and heart are tempted.

The fourth aspect/sword would then be the soul.
This card says the soul 'rests' in God, is connected to the divine.

In the Bible the body is looked at as a tomb. Jesus resurrecting from his tomb, is on a symbolic level a 'resurrection' from a spiritual state of unconsciousness/'death' and being bound to the body/matter.