Burn it down (& boundaries) 🔥🗡 The King of Swords and The Hierophant Reversed
Tarot for the week of 23/01/23: A two month catch up and a little polemic
Happy Lunar New Year, Y’all.
Another week another little card telling you what to expect.
As I write this I am getting ready for one of my final days at a wine bar where I took a winter job (honestly I’ll probably be finishing it up on shift). While I am ready to head back to the UK, the ending of this time in California has made me oddly nostalgic. Or maybe it was FOMO for not seeing as much as my work schedule allowed. But therein lays the rub, the toss-up between affording to live and just doing things.
Within the slow state of winter (even here in the sun) more time must be afforded to rest. To dream, to recover. Though I feel spring is just around the corner, or maybe I just want it to be, there is still time here in the darkness. In the stillness. At this time I have my eye on an event held by Seagrape Apothecary and the Money Witch on Dreaming Into Earthly Abundance. Just like my tarot readings, it is offered at a sliding scale rate and focuses on building the feeling of abundance within this liminal time. How are you all feeling? How has the winter been going? Are you itching for spring or settling into rest?
Ok, enough faffing about cool-sounding workshops. I pulled two cards for the reading today for no particular reason other than I wanted to. So yay! Bonus.
And for all my babes signed up for the membership tier, I’ll be sending out a quick tarot reading tomorrow for the lessons of the Aquarius New Moon that happened on the 21st. If you know someone interested in getting more in-depth tarot forecasts, lunar or otherwise, you can gift them a subscription.
Tarot for the week of 23/01/23: The King of Swords and The Hierophant Reversed
What a combo. Two months ago the King of Swords showed up reversed and here it is again. Only upright. Think about where you were at the end of November. What’s the first thing that came to mind when you read that? What made your stomach flip? What was the vibe? Now is an amazing time to check in on that feeling again, that problem. That moment might have made you feel like you had less autonomy.
Two months on, how have you reset your boundaries? Your bones?
When thinking of swords and their monarch card, we see the combination of thoughts and actions. Swords symbolise the element air and the realm of ideas, thoughts and intellect. When in the upright position, the King of Swords, as I spoke of before, is all about keeping your thoughts above the tides and the mire of the everyday. There may be clouds around the king’s feet but their head is clear. And their throne, so heavy and unmoving compared to the element air, is crossed by the central figure and the sharpness of their swords. This is a reminder that over time consistent thoughts, choices, and motivations can wear away even the strongest stone. Rocks exposed to the elements eventually break down. That is the power of your thoughts.
Not to get all toxic positivity on you, but the power of thinking can’t be stressed enough. This is not to say when we have problems, physical, mental, or material, that we can conquer them all with positive thinking. But more that, our thoughts can set us free. Like a butterfly carved in stone, as seen on the king’s throne. to only ourselves but powerful thoughts can set others free. Why do you think people burn and ban books?
And this leads so well into the Hierophant reversed. The rigid columns of tradition flank a dictating figure. In its upright position, this card denotes traditions and beliefs. Think of age-old institutions like the church, the state, and houses of learning. When I think of my time at university this card comes up. It crushed me a little but at least I’m out now. This card speaks of hierarchy and the lengths we go to enforce it. It’s the racist imperialist cis-hetero patriarchy if ever I saw it.
Thank fuck it’s reversed.
When turned on its head the instability of this system is brought into stark relief. All the vibrant colours are balanced on the tip of the crown. With only words and malice to keep them in check. And what rings through is that those at the “bottom” of the card could outnumber those at the top. That the situation is able to change. This way up The Hierophant is all about rebellion, unconventional systems and vibrant change.
What I find striking is the comparison between these two cards. Where the king of swords is flanked by air, by freedom, the Hierophant is flanked by stone. At the centre of it, they are a blood-red figure bringing colour to the grey. The King of Swords on the other hand works with the sky and blends in, knitting themselves and the environment together with their red cloak.
This week we will find our boundaries, those that we have worked on over the past couple of months, put to the test. Especially when it comes to privilege and those who operate with it. Opportunities will arise to pick a side. To discern with our thoughts and our unmoving convictions what is the right way to be.
This makes me think of the killing of the activist Manuel Esteban Paez Terán in Atlanta as he protested the creation of “Cop City”, a planned gigantic training facility being built in Weelaunee Forest. There is the status quo, the creation and fueling of the hateful fires of policing and those brave enough to stand up to it. To fight for life. To oppose tyranny. Do we want to live in a world where training more cops is more important than keeping our planet alive? If not, how do we fight this?
So this week is one to ask yourself what you’re fighting for. How can you take your convictions into the world and make tangle change?
Journaling Prompts for 23/01/23
This week ask yourself:
What boundaries have I put in place over the past two months? How have they worked for me? How have they protected me? Are there ways they have not? What thoughts are guiding me through these changes? What convictions do I hold? What am I willing to grind away at? To improve over time?
What systems of oppression am I actively benefiting from? What actions can I take this week to trade the privilege I have for the benefit of another? How can I get involved in subversive or underground action? How can I work towards dismantling systems that oppress others? What traditions can I change? What institutions can I raze to the ground?
As always, I would love it if you would let me know how this resonates with you.
I am available for Written and Zoom Tarot Readings. Readings via voice note are also available. If you’re interested in getting a reading but have no idea what to ask here is a selection of questions I have answered in my time to get you thinking. And here is a quick reel I made of the wonderful reviews from former clients.
Answering your questions is such a pleasure and I would love to help you work through things with a fresh pair of eyes. Interested? All my offerings are sliding scale to make them as accessible as possible. I am also always available to chat and always open to trade etc.
Catch you in the ether,
M
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Edits: Iona Glen
Photos: Giorgio Trovato
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