6 of Swords (TdM)

[Charlie Brown]

Suit & Number Keywords
To my mind, the 6 of Swords is one of the more difficult and enigmatic pip cards in the Marseille. This is because the number 6 and the suit of swords are a somewhat awkward pairing. Concepts associated with the sixes, such as harmony, health, or community, aren't the most immediate or intuitive partners with the swords' conflicted and tumultuous side.

Of course, swords as ideas and mentality do make for easier combinations. Mental and/or intellectual harmony is an obvious one. In the advice position, it could mean something like "Get your mind right, buddy." I find the combination of community + ideas especially interesting. To me, at least, community ideas strongly suggests something like a "body of knowledge." That gives us at least a passing nod toward the Thoth's "Science" attribution. Through this same logic, the card could, in the right context, signify the group of people within an academic department or discipline. The organization itself would probably be better represented with the 8 of Swords.

Visual Cues
Looking at the card, we see six curved swords (in two groups of three) forming an oval. A flower blooms in the center. Based on the keywords, Sixes and Swords should be, and are, an ill-fitting, unnatural match. But when we look at the card we see the Six of Swords is actually a fertile, productive space. The flower thrives there even if it shouldn't. This, I believe, is the root of why Yoav Ben-Dov defines the card as "Adaptation."

Sequential Cues
One thing we do know about the Six of Swords is that it comes after the Five. If the Five of Swords breaks the peace that was established in the Four, and if sixes in general are related to harmony and balance, then the Six of Swords must, at least in part, represent some kind of recovery in the aftermath of the Five of Swords' turmoil. Having failed to fully annihilate each other, the opposing forces need to arrive at a new balance. Looking at the card in this context, certain keyword combinations might begin to make more sense. Harmony + Conflict doesn't translate to harmonious conflict or some such oxymoron. Rather, it suggests the act of harmonizing the conflict, the creation of truces and compromises in which each side adapts in order to coexist with the other.

[uscss.Nostromo]

Sequential Cues
One thing we do know about the Six of Swords is that it comes after the Five. If the Five of Swords breaks the peace that was established in the Four, and if sixes in general are related to harmony and balance, then the Six of Swords must, at least in part, represent some kind of recovery in the aftermath of the Five of Swords' turmoil. Having failed to fully annihilate each other, the opposing forces need to arrive at a new balance. Looking at the card in this context, certain keyword combinations might begin to make more sense. Harmony + Conflict doesn't translate to harmonious conflict or some such oxymoron. Rather, it suggests the act of harmonizing the conflict, the creation of truces and compromises in which each side adapts in order to coexist with the other.

further to this I see the six/swords as establishing a balance between intellect and emotion, hence achieving adaptation.

[fire cat pickles]

The six is slap in the middle of the pip series. For me, this means it can forward or backward. But which way is forwards and which way is backwards?

With the short suits (cups and coins), the series moves forward from the Ace to the ten. In the long suits, the movement is opposite, from the ten to the Ace. Would it help to think of the six as a manifestation of the seven instead of the five?

If the six is moving toward the five, there is a relaxation instead of a building of the tension that our thought processes builds up. I look at it (the six) as part of "growing pains". The chopped off flower doesn't look pleasant at all. It's dead. (Consequently, I see the image you posted as a reversal, as the flower in the upright card is hanging in order to cure). Cured flowers bring us medicines, food, potpourri, any number of products with healing properties. The six is the correct path, it is our aide in time of distress brought to us by the higher ranking swords, seven through ten. These are necessities in life, especially when we get to the five of swords (ill-health), four of swords (period of rest), three of swords (calm before the storm), two of swords (dilemma), and finally the Ace, or final destination or decision.