From Touchstone TarotTM by Kat Black
Ten of Swords
Meanings
Pain and panic. Tragedy may strike, but keep your response in perspective. One sword would have struck a fatal blow – were ten any worse? Over-reaction will not help. All things must end.
Reversed (?)
Acceptance of loss. Time to move on. Tragedies occur, but the true measure of spirit is in how you deal with the aftermath. You keep a clear head, and help others out of the darkness.
Description
A man lies dead on a beach with ten swords thrust into his chainmail. A black dog looks up at the swords, on which a butterfly rests. The sky is dark and stormy.
Artwork
- Sword hilt, blade: GENTILESCHI, Artemisia, Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1612-21, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
- Sword grip: VOUET, Simon, Magdalene, 1614-15, Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome.
- Storm: PEETERS, Bonaventura the Elder, Shipwreck, 1600s, National Gallery, Prague.
- Landscape: WILDENS, Jan, Winter Landscape with a Hunter, 1624, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden.
- Man: RENI, Guido, The Triumph of Samson, 1611-12, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna.
- Dog: BERCHEM, Nicolaes, Jupiter Notices Callisto, 1656, private collection.
- White butterfly: AST, Balthasar van der (aka BOSSCHAERT, Ambrosius the Elder) Basket of Fruits, c.1625, Staatliche Museen, Berlin.
The dog looks appropriately alarmed.