X of Swords: The Darkest Moment is Just Before the Dawn

The X of Swords is an apropos card for the period just before the new moon, and on a new moon that is conjunct Pluto, Lord of the Underworld, no less. With Pluto's influence we are digging up the deep psyche in order to make a transformation - death is coming to the old so that we might begin life anew.

Swords is the suit of the element of air, which represents our intellect and mental activity.  Tens represent excess.  What happens when our thinking mind turns on us?  This is when we are overrun by circular thinking, either reliving the traumas and hurts of the past or projecting worry into the future. This is when we might repeatedly cause ourselves pain.  Beliefs are the underlying foundations out of which your thoughts grow from.  What beliefs do you need to unearth now in order to stop painful mental and emotional patterns?  What beliefs do you need to adopt in order to become the creator and not the victim in your life?

That is what the X of Swords, and this dark moon is asking you.  

The man on the card lies face down, completely subdued and pinned to the ground by the ten swords, devoid of any resistance or fight he may once have had.  There are ten swords, when just one would sufficiently do the job, symbolizing the theme of excess.  The sky is black, the darkest of dark, but if you look in the middle ground of the scene, you can see that the sea is now calm (it is depicted as choppy in many other cards) and there is the hint of a golden glow over the mountains, suggesting that the trials of the dark are over and a new day is dawning.  The man's right hand makes the same symbol as the Hierophant does in card V of the Major Arcana.  The Hierophant represents conforming to a path that you have found yourself on because of society or due to the expectations of others, and also spiritual teachings.  

It is possible that through the suffering brought about by his beliefs and thought patterns, this figure has reached some spiritual truth and a place of self-realization.  It is possible that what we see here is the death of the old consciousness, ruled by the old belief system, and with it the death of the mental anguish he has endured.  It is possible that the calm sea and golden sunrise then represent the birth of a new consciousness, the birth of a new self, that is more aware, more authentic, and acting from the truth and integrity of the entire being, so that the person is truly at peace with himself and all of life.

Today we allow death to come to the old ways of being that have brought us suffering, so that tomorrow we may begin again and create a new life from the death of the old.