Scanner wrote: ↑04 Dec 2020, 07:56
Ace of swords: Idea
2 of swords: Doubt
3 of swords: The doubt’s consolidation
I'm not sure what you mean exactly by "doubt's consolidation."
For me I read the cards each time in the context of the question and the spread. Fixed meanings are a place to start, but it 's too limited to apply them over and over the same way.
Think about for example a facial expression, like a raised eyebrow. Doesn't the meaning of that raised eyebrow depend on who is doing it and in what context? You can't just say "A raised eyebrow
always means ..." We can all agree on what it
usually means, but even
that meaning is coloured by the context and the person doing it.
Scanner wrote: ↑04 Dec 2020, 07:56
As far as advice goes, this card tells me to get more solution-focused. Just fix the problem and stop making a drama of it, stop making it worse with over-thinking, dwelling, gnashing the teeth while going on about the unfairness of life.
What makes you think this way?
I think it's because, as you point out, it just seems so completely hopeless. It appears to me as it is just taking itself WAY too seriously. And as I said before part of that is because of the use of a heart-shaped heart. It comes across to me as kitsch. Like a bad actor over-emoting.
I could replace that 3 of swords with this meme:
Merrick wrote: ↑03 Dec 2020, 19:35
I feel it’s worth pointing out that this is close to an exact copy of the Sola Busca three of swords:
Merrick makes a good point here. That PCS most very likely did not originate the general style of the 3 of Swords but rather nicked it from the Sola Busca which was on display at the British Museum at the time. The Sola Busca image however is not so drab and sad and drippy as the RWS one.
Now, the Sola Busca famously has no official guidebookk to the meanings of its cards making it a total enigma. But the guide I have with mine (made by people who have studied the imagery and symbolism used wrote this meaning for the card:
Pierced heart on a garland. Facing sacrifices serenely. Altruism. Suffering for a noble cause. Voluntary expiation.
That is kind of in agreement with what I had written in the sense it's about pulling yourself together and getting on with it. Otherwise you end up looking like over-dramatic cat.
Other cards in the RWS deck speak more clearly and sensitively to real sadness, trouble and grief. The Fives of Cups and Pentacles for example. And obviously the 9 and 10 of Swords. Even the 4 of swords, where the person has 3 swords dangling overhead.
How does the 4 of Swords play in your sequence after "doubt's consolidation"?