Ace of Swords

The Ace of Swords tarot card is our third Minor Arcana card to be discussed in depth. With humble beginnings, we break open the box of the mind and explore what it means to have an unwavering willingness to follow our truth, beliefs, ideas, conversations, and principles down the road, being a warrior for the power and capacity of the truth to shape minds and change hearts.

In this episode, we take a deeper look at this tarot card in the light and in the shadow. All of the Aces within the tarot encourage a willingness and a beginner's mind. These tarot cards ask us to grow, to be autonomous, and to consider what it means to move again into something new with hindsight.

The main ways that I read the Ace of Swords tarot card are:

1. Conjuring and planting of new ideas, words, or understandings
2. Mental breakthrough- spark to ignite a new journey or take a fresh breath
3. Spectrum of choices – what is within deeper alignment

Listen to this episode to hear about how I read this tarot card in the light and the shadow and the symbolism of this card. You can find depictions of this tarot card from across my decks at the blog post, linked below. Consider booking a tarot reading while there! 

Wherever you listen, please follow and rate this podcast to help boost it to new listeners!

Links:

Blog Post

Background track is Overflow by Timothy Infinity

Consider booking a tarot reading with me! Click here to go to my store!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and thank you for tuning in to the Wolf Child Magic Podcast. My name is Ashley, your tarot reader, Rocky Mountain Witch, and overall Wolf Child, and I thank you for being here with me today. In today's episode, we are going to be continuing our deep dive into the tarot. This time, of course, we will be looking at the Ace of Swords. Before we get into the episode, though, if I can ask you to engage in the ritual of the algorithm with me, this is the best way for the Wolf Child Magic podcast to grow and to reach new listeners. I am at six reviews on Spotify. Can I get to eight? It would be beautiful. I would love and appreciate that so much. I also want to quickly mention the events that I have coming up. The events page is linked in the show notes so you can go and look and see if there is a day that coincides with your schedule. But on July 14th, I have my new moon event, which is done out of my house. So if you are in the Denver Foothills area, uh please reach out via email if you would like to come join. I'm obviously not gonna dox myself and put my address out there for everyone. Uh, but it is uh an event where we're gonna be looking at the Elder Futhark runes, this time the Uru's rune. And then we pull cards, there's snacks, there's drinks, we um discuss our intentions, and then we pull and make a spread together. It's a beautiful time. Next on July 18th is the Summerween Rocky Mountain Pop-Up Market. This is just like all the other markets with a different theme. They're so much fun, they're so engaging. Come down, support your local punk community, and just be in some amazing spaces. And then finally, we have Wolfpack with tree magic again out of my house. And then finally, I have my full Buckmoon ritual via Patreon. The full moons are becoming something that I really value. They mean so much to me, and I spend a lot of time on them. So if you're looking in any way to engage deeper into your own magic and you would like some supportive, uh like-minded people in that space, again, go to the link and become a patron at the Alpha's tier. It's $15. You get merch, you get discounts, you get voting rights, you get first looks, you get lives, you get so much shit with me. So um, yeah, go to those links and see if there's one that fits your fancy, and I will see you there. So, as the title indicates, we are going to be doing a deep dive into the ace of swords. I have already done a deep dive into all of the major arcanas, starting from the full to the world, which of course you can go and listen to, but I would definitely recommend also going and listening to the deep dives of the ace of cups and the ace of pentacles, because there you will see the similarity and the similar train of the numerology of one, which is our ace, but then you will see where the differences kind of take them in different directions based on the elemental association and where they kind of reside within a space for us to work with. So, for example, the ace of cups is all about our heart space. So that's gonna have a similar but different avenue or journey that it's gonna take with us in the tarot as opposed to today, which is the ace of swords. All of the aces are an offering, a gift, an invitation for us to consider. And here we're going to see at how we embark on a very tumultuous, empowering, transformative journey through the swords. The swords are no fucking joke in the minor arcana. They are probably the hardest suit to move through from ace to 10. And we're gonna see why again, starting here with our ace. The blog post is linked, and that is there to help you kind of cross-reference and cross-pollinate the same information, but into different formats of content that maybe you find a little bit more or less helpful. One of the great things about the blog is that I can show different depictions of the ace of swords from across my decks, and this way you can see what's the story in the card, what am I seeing? You can form some of your own intuitive understandings, and I always encourage that, always. I am also starting to do the deep dives on my YouTube channel. I am on YouTube now, so please follow me there. And again, one of the great things with YouTube and the blog is that there is a visual stimulus and visual connection. Some people may like to just listen, like on their way to work, when they're doing laundry, when they're exercising, whatever. Um, but the way that YouTube and the blog can be kind of helpful is that visual stimulus that the podcast can't always give. So definitely go and check those links out. And that way, again, you can kind of cross-reference the same information, but in a way that works for you. Because as always, my goal is for you to be done with this episode or to be done with the blog or whatever it is, in a way where you more deeply understand how to work with this card and how to integrate it into your unique life. That is my goal always with the tarot deep dives. So, in this episode, I'm gonna be talking about how I read this card in the light, how I read this card in shadow, which is a fancy way of saying some obstacles or hardships that can come with this card or some things we definitely want to consider. I'm going to be talking briefly about symbolism and share some of the depictions that I have, which is again why the blog is a great reference point for the podcast. And then I'm gonna end in discussing some ways that you can just work with this card, just some things to consider when you're done with this episode. You have a few points of consideration for you to take this card and apply it into your life. So now let's begin discussing the ace of swords. So we are obviously still within the numerology of one. And the numerology of one, here is our ace, represents initiation, opportunity, new beginnings or potentials, and powerful independence. Aces are the seeds of the tarot. They are a seed that we plant and they represent the power within that seed that can emerge and allow us to thrive and grow and strengthen ourselves when the container is more adequate or appropriate for that seed. And now here we are looking at new beginnings within the brain. A quick tarot tip for you if you are brand new to learning. Um, one, I want these deep dives to be helpful for you, but a quick tip that I would say that can be helpful, I have found it helpful for me, is to start always with the numerology and then apply the suit. Because if you know the numerology, again, here with the numerology of one, it represents what I just said: beginnings, initiations, um, starting something new. If that is all you remember, you don't remember anything about the suit, but you remember that you can still give yourself or someone else a decent reading because you're recognizing that within the journey that we take through the minor arcana, here we are at the very beginning. And it doesn't matter where that avenue is in the form of the suit, the element attached to that suit, where it resides within the self, if you understand that an ace represents a beginning, an initiation of some kind, you can still take a lot of information from that and use that in a reading that you're giving to yourself or others. If you're trying to remember the suit first, and then you're trying to apply the numerology in afterwards, but you don't know the numerology, it can be hard to see where in the journey you or the querent is. So I would start with the numerology again, like here, ace, and then go ace of what? Ace of swords means beginning or initiation within the mind. Ace of cups, beginning or initiation within the heart. And that alone gives you even more to consider or to work with in giving um some powerful information either for yourself in a reading or for someone else. So the numerology, as I just said, beginnings, initiations, independence, starting off on the journey. And then the swords suit comes in, takes these themes with the numerology, and we apply it to that formidable part of our body that is connected to ego, truth, beliefs, morals, principles, logic, conversation, communication. We are now beginning something new within the mind. The Ace of Swords represents one of air, which means that there is a new idea, perspective, viewpoint, or new way of rational understanding with this card. Like our previously discussed aces, this one too shepherds us into some kind of beginning or initiation. The difficult journey ahead with this initiation as opposed to our previous aces is that as we move into the suit of swords, the journey becomes mastery of ourself, our ideas, our identity, our philosophies, and our beliefs. We learn at exactly how powerful the mind can be, both good and bad. So we will start to see this journey unfold as I continue to do the deep dive into each of the cards, into each of the numbers, and how we span across the four numbers and across the four suits. We'll start to see it how the journey unfolds. What makes the swords different though is that the journey becomes this battle with the mind and this essential overcoming with the mind. But whereas the ten of cups is this beautiful card, ten of pentacles is beautiful, and even the ten of wands represents this overcoming, as we will see again as we go through the deep dives. The ten of swords is the one iconically with the person laying on the ground, and there are the ten swords and the person's back. The journey from the ace to the ten through the swords is this battle in the mind. As we move through each card, we have this bigger, deeper challenge of confronting old narratives, old ideas, our very identity. And is that identity completely firm? Or do we need to surrender? Do we need to find ways to lessen and let go? And that is not easy for the brain to do. This journey through the swords that we are now going through is a reckoning with the truth and the truth in our mind. And where do those two things stack up? And that's ultimately what the journey kind of teaches us. Where do we find victory? Where do we step into our truth? Where do we be a warrior for truth? Where do we be a warrior for our principles, our morals, for um what we know is good in this world? But where does the brain fall short a lot of times? And how do we square that up? That's again not easy to do. And the brain wants to hold on to some of these narratives, even if they're not true. You can see that in so many personal and collective spaces right now. The people will hold on to things that are not true, that are factually not true, but they cannot let go of that idea that it's true, because then they have to reckon with the idea that it's not true, and that begins a whole new journey through the swords and through learning, unlearning, etc. So I say this just to kind of plant a seed, not to be punny, but I say it to kind of plant a seed for you here and now, to see it how when we come back to the two of swords, the three of swords, the four, and so on, how that specific journey starts to look and how it ultimately, again, like we start with the number, as I said, but then we see where the suit takes the journey in different directions. And we're really going to see that with the swords. So I'm inviting you to plant that seed here and now. The first way that I read the Ace of Swords is that it speaks to conjuring and planting new ideas, words, or understandings. When this card comes forward, it is an invitation to open your mind. It is an encouragement to broaden your perspective, it's a time to lift your eyes and connect to your own inner truth and have that willingness, that vulnerability to question, to doubt, to kind of let it all come in, which is again why I've now talked about how the swords kind of take us on a different journey than some of the other suits. Of course, they all have their differences and nuance, but with the swords and with the ace of swords, it's time for us to open our mind and to be willing to learn, to be willing to doubt, to be willing to question, to be willing to consider a bigger viewpoint. And it all starts here. The breakthrough begins right here with the ace of swords. The second way that I read the ace of swords is that it speaks to a mental breakthrough. There's this spark to ignite a new journey, take a fresh breath, to again begin in the space of opening, being willing to learn, to perceive, to deepen, to grow. And that's what all of the aces speak to. But here again, with it being in the space of the brain, it's this kind of mental breakthrough, it's this mental spark that encourages a deeper dive into learning something, into challenging something, into getting to know something, into anything that we can do to acquire more knowledge, more understanding, and a deeper perspective. When this card comes forward, something behind the veil of the unknown becomes clearer. We may need to sit in reflection or use a chosen creative method. I personally love uh free writing or just journaling because that's very swords-like, just kind of letting the thoughts kind of come forward. But doing anything creatively, it could even be dance, it doesn't have to be like words or something, it could be anything that helps an unknown become known. Whatever your chosen creative method is, maybe it's just sitting in meditation, maybe it's going for a walk outside, whatever it is, when we engage with the ace of swords, there is something that like a bolt of lightning will promote new insight, new inspiration, and a sense of clarity. And we need to just kind of let this unknown emerge. And so that's one of the challenges with all of the aces, is that we can't force anything. We're kind of in this space of beginning. So we need to just kind of let things move, become, you know what I mean? Because just like you plant a seed in soil, you can't force the seed to sprout, you can't force the seed to open and bloom. You create the container, and then with proper sunlight, with proper water, or in a creative method, proper time for reflection or whatever your method is, the unknown starts to become known. We can't force that though. We have to again just kind of let it start to emerge and be willing to just let the mental breakthrough kind of keep our mind open so that we can bring in the signs and the proof that this unknown is becoming known. This ace, like all of the other aces, again, isn't always action-based. The ace of pentacles is definitely the most action-based, but with all of the aces, again, it's kind of just this initiation. Not a lot of stuff has happened yet. Now, in our daily life, that can be a little bit more um tailored into very small things, or to say it another way, we can kind of place it in a sense where we can start to immediately do work because a lot of other stuff in our life is already known. So we're taking this first step and we can kind of integrate it into our life again through like a creative method with our ace of swords. Um, we can start to do some stuff to help that process get going more quickly, but we still just kind of need to sit and just let it all slowly start to take shape. The last way that I read the Ace of Swords in the Light is that it speaks to a spectrum of choices. When we have that mental breakthrough that I just talked about, we can see what choice we need to make that is going to be in our best interest. It's going to more deeply align us into that higher perspective that we're trying to get to. We can make choices with a more open mind, which means that we're willing and able to accept unknowns in a better way, but we're also able to more easily trust that the choice that we're making now is going to pay dividends to us down the road. It's going to provide some kind of benefit because we have hindsight. This precious gift is available with every single ace. And now we're going forward in this new journey, but we can and should use the lessons from the past to help steer us towards the future in a more in more aligned ways. And one of the most beautiful things about hindsight with the ace of swords is that we get to kind of be objective. We get to, and we will see that how it's a little easier said than done from the Ten of Swords. But once we're here, we really just get to begin again. We get to take the lessons that we learned, we get to be objective, we get to apply the reasoning, and let the ideas, the creative visions that we have for the future just start to kind of broaden because we're not going back, we're going forward, and we're stronger because we are going forward. We are also able to recognize and trust more deeply in ourselves through the journey, through that sense of the lessons that we've learned, through where we need to release ego, where we need to lean into ego, we're more able to apply ourselves to the situations at hand. We're more aware of ourselves, what we need, and we're more able to use those lessons in a way for our benefit. There's a sense of humility, I guess I'm trying to say, with this ace. One of the beautiful things about being in the suit of air is that we're dealing with ideas, thoughts, conversations, reasoning, and logic, and our beliefs are principles. So when we're able to kind of move forward in the sense of beginning again, but we're applying the lessons, we're applying that humility, we're applying the reasoning, the logic, the beliefs, the principles, all of that. But we're doing so in a way where now we're more choosy, we're more kind of aligned into I'm choosing this, I'm not choosing this. It starts to help us see how we kind of already are in that battle of the mind, but in a much more, again, aligned and attainable way. The Ace of Swords shows us that we have the power and insight to make better and more aligned choices. We have the capacity to use the past to see clearly into the future, and we have the sovereignty within to use our brain and our identity to meet whatever situation we face and find a sense of victory, understanding, or depth within the selves that will serve us going forward. But again, there's also that sense of humility. There's that sense of surrender, and there's that sense of kind of willingness to kind of go with the flow in a way. Like we're making more aligned choices, we're making more empowered choices, but we're also willing, once that choice is made, to not try to micromanage or force every detail to come forward in the way that we think we need. We're kind of then willing to let the journey take us. Because we've made the choice that we've made. The first way that the Ace of Swords shows up in shadow is a stubbornness or an unwillingness to learn or to grow or to evolve in any way. This is also kind of, I would say, a shadow aspect with all of the aces is just like a stubbornness or an unwillingness when we reject this opportunity because we would rather stay in a comfortable known from the past. But it means that in doing so, we kind of deny the chance for ourselves to grow, to evolve here to learn, to consider, to take on deeper truths, to wrestle with certain truths and say, is this a truth that is in alignment with me? Is this a factual truth that is in alignment with everyone? Like gravity, the earth is round, things like that. Um, when we start to reject the aces, any of the aces, we go into shadow in the sense of we don't have to make our journey look away that doesn't align with us. And the aces don't teach us that we have to just go and not have any sort of sovereignty or say in our journey. We absolutely do. But there is this shadowed aspect when we are not even willing to consider bringing this possibility in. We're denying ourselves something that could really help us. We're denying something that could shape us, that could help us evolve, that could provide benefit to us. When we're stubborn and kind of rejecting certain things because we think we know better, we're already, especially here in the Ace of Swords, we're already in a space of ego. We don't have to make the aces look any other way than a way that suits us. And the aces teach us that actually here we have maybe some of the most autonomy because with this beginning, we get to do it in a way that works for us. But like I just said, we then begin, we plant that seed, and then we let the journey start to unfold and we get to be in co-creation. We're not in complete control, but we're also not just this passenger along for the ride and everything's just happening to us. The aces actually teach us when we're willing to, like here, broaden our perspective and sit in this space of consideration, of humility and hindsight. We get to see where we get to be in co-creation and take up autonomy, where we get to be more sovereign, but we see where we can play our part, and then the rest of the world, the journey is gonna play its part. But if we're stubborn, if we are unwilling, or if we are rejecting it in some way, we're not even letting some of these beautiful potentials even happen because we've rejected the possibility of them even happening. One of the next ways that the ace of swords shows up in shadow is the sense of just being blocked. And this happens to all of us. When we are blocked, like we're not understanding something, we're not getting it, or we're in a space where our emotions are starting to take over, and so our reasoning, our rationality, our logic is kind of being dampened. We need to not try to force it even more because we're blocked. We're we need to not keep hitting on the door, we need to go take a rest. We need to go take a beat, go touch grass, we need to go do something else that allows the harmonious balance of you know emotions and brain to kind of reset to a more baseline, again, willingness or consideration. We need to not try to force the blocked door in our mind to open. We need to do something else. We need to be gentle with ourselves. This is where ego can really start to take over because ego is like, I just want it in now. And the brain's kind of like, I get it, but it's not happening. And the ego's like, it's going to happen. I'm going to get this in. And the brain's like, no, no, you're not. And then we get frustrated and then we get angry. We start to have again that emotional response. When in reality, if we would kind of be like, Okay, it's just for 10 minutes, it's not happening. I'm gonna come back in a few minutes, I'm gonna go take a breath, I'm gonna go eat something, I'm gonna go outside and again touch some grass. Whatever I need to do to kind of let the block kind of come down naturally instead of trying to force it down because ego is already trying to take control. That is definitely another way that the ace of swords can show up in shadow. Following along the same lines as that sense of being blocked, which again happens. There's no shame, there's no judgment in that. There are some times where our brain is tired, there are times where it's just hard to learn certain things. And that's again, as we will see as we go through the journey, it's not easy. And so when we become blocked, we want to be very gentle with ourselves. And with that, another way that the ace of swords can show up in shadow is when we're already in a space of being too harsh, either with ourselves or with others. The aces provide this beautiful time of beginning. There's a sense of bringing a childlike mind, a beginner's mind, play, joy, and gratitude because we know that this opportunity doesn't always come. And when it comes, we should make the moment last as long as it can. Because at some point, we're gonna have to rise up into a bigger space. We're gonna have to go through growing pains, we're gonna have to be in uncomfortable situations, we're gonna have to rise into the collective in some sort of way. So when the aces show up, it's a time to soften. It's a time to be in that space of gratitude and play. And I don't want to say joy because, you know, again, I'm never gonna read the tarot where a feeling should be forced, but there's this sense of recognizing that this is a gift, even if we don't know what the gift is yet. Recognizing that this potential is here, so how can we make the most of it? How can we appreciate it? How can we integrate it into our lives? So when we're too harsh with ourselves, that is definitely a way that the ace of swords can show up in shadow, or when we're too harsh with others. Sometimes when we're already in the space of ego or superiority complex, or this is my choice and you must abide by it, you must follow it. That's not um the way that the aces work. That's not the way that just making choices work. For some of us, yeah, we need to hold to our truth and hold that line. But others, we have to recognize are free to make their choices. And when we're starting off down the road of our journey, starting at the ace, already being too harsh with ourselves or with others, that can make for a very, very unpleasant journey. And the last way that I read the ace of swords in shadow in a general sense, of course, there is nuance when it is applied to a very personal reading to a person and their specific needs or wants with their reading. But one of the last ways in general that the ace of swords can show up in shadow is the sense of following groupthink or trying to please others through our choices. Just as I said that the ace of swords and all of the aces present this opportunity and it presents this opportunity for us to consider and to find our autonomy to step into a space of co-creation. When we are trying to follow the well-worn path, when we're trying to have someone else's truth be completely our own, we have already again shot the potential with the aces down. And here with the ace of swords, that often can show up in the space of following groupthink, of just going along with the masses because it affirms and it feels good in a very kind of shallow emotional sense, but we're not willing to do the work of considering is this true? We're not questioning, we're not doubting, we're not doing any sort of research, we're not taking the opportunity to learn for ourselves. And then if it is true and we've done the work, okay, great. But if we're just kind of following uh again the well-worn path and following groupthink, because it feels nice, it feels fuzzy, but it's not actually true in our hearts and in our deepest space in our mind, then we've already shot that potential with the ace of swords down. Same with trying to please others through our choices. At some point, that is going to come back to bite us. Hello, Ten of Swords. Like when we are trying to please others through our choices, not only are we removing that autonomy that this is our choice, we need to be pleased with the choice we make. And we can't live a life where we're just trying to please others. That's not a life to live. Because as much as it feels awesome when others validate us, witness us, love us, see us, uh approve. Sometimes the choices that we need to make the most are the ones that honor ourselves, are the ones that honor our own inner truth, and people are gonna disagree. And then we also start to see at how we can't please everyone. Someone somewhere is gonna be upset at a choice that we made, and at some point we have to be willing to just let that be the case, you know, and relinquish the sense of that this is mine to hold. If I truly cared about what everyone thought about my decisions with my business, with the way that I run my business, I would be completely at the whims of what other people say. And I definitely don't want to do that, especially when the mascot of my business is all about freedom and wilderness and living on the fringe and having that energy, that co-creative energy of the wolf in the ecosystem is this beautiful essence of the wildness within. But it also, as we see in the real world, unfortunately, people hunt the wolf, they chase the wolf, they try to kill the wolf because they cannot fully control the wolf. And so for me, I had to be willing to be like, oh, you know, this is just what I'm gonna do. And I'm not going to try to just make it match an algorithm, I'm not gonna try to just make it match followers. I'm going to start to really honor the choices that I make. And those who naturally see, witness, love it, approve of it, like it, want more of it, they will find me. The ones that don't like it, they won't find me. When we start to follow that sense of groupthink or trying to please others with our choices, we're already giving away our power, we're already giving away our control. And more than that, we're going to learn again the hard way that we can't please anyone, everyone anyway. So the more that we try to just please ourselves and allow that alignment to kind of follow suit, allow the gears to go in motion from our choices, we're going to live a life that relinquishes us from guilt, from shame, but also aligns us into deeper truths, into a sense of love for ourselves, and into a sense of appreciation for the teachers who have taught us how we want to be, that have given us a truth that really sits with us, and the teachers who have shown us definitely what we don't want to be. There's power in that. And when we start to embrace that here at the Ace of Swords, we're already starting to follow that spectrum of choices that aligns us into what is right for us. So again, that is the way that I read the Ace of Swords in the Light and in the Shadow. Nuance does, of course, come into play when I'm sitting with a person, with a client, and they have, you know, specific needs. There's nuance, there's complexities because they are a whole person, and I'm so grateful to sit with my clients, each and every one of them. So let's quickly talk about the symbolism that we see here because the symbolism always kind of comes into play, at least for me it does, and I allow the symbolism to also apply some of that nuance and some of that complexity as well. And you can find these cards again in the blog post that is linked in the show notes. But the one at the very beginning is the Rider Weight. The aces from the Rider Weight Tarot are just they're so perfect. I just love them. This isn't one of my favorite decks overall, but I love the aces so much. Just kind of this hand that just shows this offering, this gift, this invitation. You can't beat it. So in the Rider Wait tarot, we see this hand again emerging from a cloud. And the hand holds a sword upright, and the sword has been crowned and adorned with greenery that symbolizes this kind of need for balance. Google says it is adorned with an olive branch that symbolizes mercy and a palm branch that also symbolizes severity, reminding you that truth must be balanced with both compassion and strength. The background is clear and free from distraction. The little gold flames or kind of flickers towards the hand represent divine blessings, the opening of intuition, and a connection to the lover's card, which is so gorgeous because the lover's card honors choice so deeply. So I just love the connection. It also highlights this need for fairness, emotions, and clear choices. And the mountains show both the challenges and the victories on our journey ahead and how we need to use our rational mind to meet each situation. The last depiction that I want to discuss is a few scrolls down on the left-hand side. It is from the Ostara Tarot, and every single picture does have a caption that tells you the deck that it is from. But in this picture, everything is gray and bleak. There's no leaves on the trees, everything is in this very brown, grayish tone. And then we see this person or this human skeleton on the ground, and we see what has caused this person to fall. It is this giant sword that is protruding out of the rib cage. And then on the hilt, there's this tiny little mouse standing and has a little crown above his head. What I love about this depiction so much is that this card symbolizes that truth, sovereignty, and mental clarity are the true victors. That is true strength when we lead with truth and for truth. Again, when we are willing to be in co-creation, when we're willing to learn, when we're willing to grow and evolve for truth and from truth. That is what is true strength. That is what is a true warrior. And so from the most humble of creatures can come the most authentic power and ownership of truth. What I love about this depiction is that it shows that it's not what it looks like on the outside that counts, you know, because here was this great warrior who has fallen in battle, and everything again is very bleak. There's no growth, everything's gray and brown, but here's this tiny little mouse that is standing victorious, and that's what really matters. The truth, our morals, our principles, our ideas, the words we speak, that doesn't need to look a certain way, other than what the truth just is. It kind of removes us from this space of needing to put the facade on because the truth just kind of speaks, and that can come from even the most humble of creatures. And this also reminds me of the quote in The Hobbit where Gandalf says, Sarahman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I have found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay, small acts of kindness and love. And the reason that I think of this when I see this depiction is that when we are talking about things like truth, morals, principles, values, beliefs, growing, evolving, um, stepping into truth, honoring ideas, all of these things, philosophies, you know, when we are working with that, we're all warriors for that. Even if we feel like the humble little mouse, and many days I feel like that humble little mouse, and yet I know that I still need to speak my mind. I know that I still need to use my voice because others um don't have the power, maybe the privilege that I do. And so I'm going to use my voice in a way that honors what I believe, honors my morals. And we all have that power. We don't have to be a philosopher, we don't have to be a scholar. Certainly, we should do things like research and let science speak and follow truth and follow facts again, but we all have the power to speak for the truth, to be a warrior for that. And that doesn't need to look a certain way. And that brings me back into what we were talking about following groupthink or trying to please others when we're humble and just speak from our truth, when we just use our voice, when we just allow our mind to grow. That is really what is a warrior for truth and for logic and for reason and for science and for all these beautiful things. And finally, this depiction just highlights um kind of the dismal nature, at least for me right now, in relation to our politics and into what's going on in our country and of course the world, when we have a man who is so fucking weak that he will never admit that he's wrong. When we have someone who cannot accept the truth, who lies, who constantly tries to gaslight, tries to blame others. The buck will never stop with him because he cannot take the ownership and the power of the office that he's in and use that power to follow the truth, to be a warrior for the truth, to uphold the truth. He can't do that because he is corrupt, he's wrong, he's evil, he's immoral. We're seeing the opposite side of this card depiction play out right now, where there is someone who is not strong. Man can't even handle when SNL makes fun of him, and yet he wants to say that he's the strongest person ever, which is of course bullshit. But when we see someone trying so hard to distract us, to gaslight us, to lie to us, it actually makes the truth all the more clearer for those who have the courage and the bravery to really sit with that, to really look at it, to be objective, to question again, not to follow into groupthink, trying to please others, or just make excuses. You know what I mean? We're seeing the opposite depiction of this card right now. And I think that's what makes this card speak so strongly to me again, is because not only do I love this depiction because it's, you know, adorable and it's so powerful, but it shows you that the people who are truly strong, who are warriors for truth, that shows up in their actions. That shows up in how they honor the truth and how they're crowned with that truth, even from the most humble of places that can happen. And then the people who try to take and steal and lie and gaslight and um buy their way in or be corrupt or whatever, um, at some point that bill is gonna come due. And a lot of people can already see through the facade already. And that's one of the beautiful things about the Ace of Swords is that when we're willing to remove some of our shallow or more immediate emotions, again, we're willing to sit, we're willing to be objective, we're willing to follow the threads of truth to our own conclusion. That's where great things happen. That's where the power really shifts, and that's where change is really made. So I just wanted to share that with you. Thank you so much for listening. I am so grateful for you being here with me. Of course, please go and check those links so you can see the images that I'm talking about. Also, maybe book a tarot reading while you're there if you like the way that I read tarot and you would like for me to speak on something that's going on in your life and be a channel with me and my cards. And I would finally like to thank my patrons. Bobby McDermott, Lisa Zimmerman, Tracy Lanham, Kim Harnett, Chris Ree, Miranda Snow, Colleen Twee, Charlie Ruggles, Shannon Konendike, Danica Favorite, and Jess. Thank you all so much for your support in me and in Wolf Child Magic for being a part of my pack. It means the absolute world. And to you, my dear listener, thank you as well. And until next time. Take care of you, you know.