Up until yesterday, the 7 of Swords was one of my least favorite Tarot cards:

7SwordsMeanings routinely include:

* Being unable to let go of past, as embodied by little guy looking over his shoulder at the two lonely swords left behind.

* Inability to recognize personal limitations. Dude clearly has his plate full, yet you get the sense he’ll try to pick up two more.

* Possible theft. Is he skipping town with a bunch of swords he stole? He’s looking over his shoulder…is he hoping the villagers haven’t seen him?

* Carrying a burden in such a way that is damaging to oneself but being unable to recognize that. The guy is holding sharp blades with bare hands….has anyone ever noticed that??? Yet he’s not looking at his possibly bleeding palms. Maybe he’s so calloused that he can’t care anymore? GAH!!!!

The Tarot lends itself to interpretation, but the 7 of Swords doesn’t leave a lot of room for readings indicating transformation, a new perspective, financial success or meeting the elusive Soulmate.

Yesterday, I read for a client whom I had not seen in a long time. At the beginning of her reading, I had her pull a single card to give us an idea of where her Soul Journey is at present. 7 of Swords was her card.

It made sense. She is the mother to three small children and she is running her own business, while still looking for ways to expand her enterprise and her personal work. The swords in the character’s hands represent her responsibilities, but the character looking back over the shoulder at the last two swords represent her looking for ways to add to what she is already struggling to juggle.

In this context, the first interpretation was that it is time to focus on 7_swordsthe immediate and not try to go beyond that when the timing is not right.

My client recognized that this is something she struggles with–adding more when what is on the plate is enough. We built the rest of the reading around addressing the problem. How can she organize? What does she need to set down? If she could talk to the little character in the card, what would she say? What is her true goal at the moment and do her responsibilities support that?

The biggest question in the reading: How can she drop the chaos?

As the reading developed, there was an increased look at her overarching Soul Journey–meaning, what would be her legacy? What was she sent to this world to do? How can she manifest it?

The reading indicated that she has a great contribution to make to the world. Her work will change lives. She is part of something much greater than herself that would eventually help reroute humanity’s path toward healing.

It was a big message. But how can she possibly do the work when she is so bogged down with the 7 of Swords energy? How can she be free to manifest her destiny?

We pulled a few more cards but only found vague snippets of answers. How to “drop the swords” seemed far more complex than one reading could answer. We set the question aside as time was running out. My client shuffled and re-shuffled the deck for a good five minutes, meditating on a new question: What did her life at present mean in the context of manifesting that wild destiny of hers?

I cut the deck and pulled one final card…and burst out laughing. The 7 of Swords had returned.

Hello!

“Hello!”

For all of our good work and intention, my client did not need to fix a thing. Somehow, the chaos she lived in was not a problem to be solved. Somehow, this crazy-time was part of her overall destiny and although she felt like she was “dropping balls” everywhere she went, she was doing exactly what she needed to at exactly the right time.

As Practitioners of Magick, we’re always looking for ways to renew, transform, improve. Maybe that’s just what being a human is all about. However, what I learned from 7 of Swords yesterday is that sometimes the mess has a purpose and chaos is not always a monster to slay.

The last thing my client pointed out before we finished the reading is that the character in the card may be overburdened, but he is smiling!

Thanks, Universe! You’re the Greatest.

(One more thing! I’m almost to 500 “Likes” on my new FB page! Once I get to 500, I’ll start giving away readings to people on the page! Please go here and Like Away!)