IN SHORT:
UPRIGHT: Deep psychological wounds. Betrayed trust, crisis and personal loss.
REVERSED: Resistant to inevitable conclusions and endings. Naive requests to fix that which is expired.
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IN DEPTH:
The Ten of Swords shows a man lying face down, as crowd of fellow protestors watch his life exit his body, through ten exit wounds. The group of students that witnessed the shooting circle around him. They are in shock, disbelief and a state of horror as the National Guard looks on with ambivalence and disdain.
The courage with which his peers hold this ground is an unmistakable indication of the high regard he held in his community. While the gas masks and the rifles on the hill appear ominous, and the sirens blare “Disperse NOW. This is now an unlawful gathering. Disperse now!”—this tragic moment lays bare the reality of the youths relationship to the government. At will, and on a whim the state will break the contracts it keeps with these civilians. If the people demand peace, the State will respond with Order, imposed through violence.
The Ten of Swords appears in a reading when a deep-seated social contract has been broken, when trust has been betrayed. This card evokes the feelings of outrage, shock, and having been stabbed in the back. The betrayal of the Ten of Swords can take many forms, the abrupt loss of a job or residence or malicious words and deeds that compromise a relationship. Regardless of the specifics, this wound strikes deep. However in the upright it is recommended that you turn tragedy into teachings, and let the hurt inform how you move forward. Now that you know who and what you are dealing with: you can move on and in doing so become stronger and wiser.
The Ten of swords is a bond that is broken and cannot be repaired. In reverse this can mark the trauma of waiting on justice or a solution that will never come. The Ten of Swords in reverse can bring a hurt that haunts for years to come, it marks a rupture in one’s sense of emotional and physical security in this world. This card in its reversed position sends the pain from these wounds back down, repressing and resisting the implications of what a world without justice might mean. If the Ten of swords presents itself upside down, beware pseudo-liberal naiveté and appeals to reform dynamics that are built on domination and violence.
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“These students are going to have to find out,” the general replies grimly, “what law and order is all about.”
–Jules Archer, “Kent State—the Tragedy that Shook the Nation,” •
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