TWO

of SWORDS

This is a card of…

Stalemate

Indecision

Truce

Tension

Trouble brewing

“The problem, simply put, is that we cannot choose everything simultaneously. So we live in danger of becoming paralyzed by indecision, terrified that every choice might be the wrong choice.”

-Elizabeth Gilbert

The typical illustration on this card is a blindfolded woman seated on a stone block, her arms crossed before her chest, a sword in each hand pointing to ten and two o’clock. It looks like a position that requires sustained strength and focus. She has two options to weigh and does not want distractions or emotions to come into her sphere of thinking.

The Two of Swords presents a moment of tension between options, perhaps a truce that cannot last. A decision must be made. The choice is absolute. Whichever option is chosen will kill the other.

Resistance to making a decision is also implicated. Perhaps our blindfolded lady is hoping her arms will hold out forever. But as we can see on the RWS card, there is some choppy water building up behind her. Sooner or later one of those swords is going to fall. When this card comes up we should consider whether we too often sit in this place of tension until the decision is made for us.

Think also of holding the tension between opposites within ourselves, to not need to identify as being on one ‘side’ when it is possible to be on both. We can be individualistic and community-minded; intellectual and emotional; feminine and masculine. It is possible for both to live inside us and for the tension between them to enhance our understanding. Forcing our identity to always be rigidly just one can lead to the kind of discomfort we see depicted.

The suit of SWORDS:

  • Intellect
  • Ideology
  • Conflict
  • Law
  • Wisdom

The DUECES:

  • Connection
  • Charge
  • Duality
  • Imper-manence

Meditations/ Questions for a Two of Swords Day

Is there a decision you’ve been resisting to the point you’re almost pretending it doesn’t need to be made?

Is there a friend who ‘tells it to you straight’ who you consult when you need to make tough choices?

Are you okay with your identity being ever-changing or do you make your opinions and loyalties proof of who you are?

When we act decisively we are ready for the consequences, when we avoid decision the stress of it weakens us and both choices are made more difficult to handle.