Cut That Shit Out with the 10 of Swords

It’s the day after the full moon in Capricorn, and I am feeling that worker bee energy. I love it. I’m also feeling the call to let some shit go. The full moon shined down on us big and beautiful, and is now in her waning phase, where she drops down step by step to the dark moon in about two weeks.

This means we’re all energetically supported right now to release, just as she releases her shine. Imagine it as a bowl of silver light, draining out, only to fill back when the moon begins to wax again. 

So it is with the energies around us. Release when she releases, refill when she refills.

Of course, you can legit do any kind of working at any time of the moon cycle. You’re a free agent! It doesn’t mean that your spell or manifestation will be any less powerful, or not work at all. But when we work in harmony with energetic tides that are bigger than us, we get more support from the Universe and Nature as a whole.

It’s the difference between walking headfirst into a strong wind, and feeling that same wind at your back while you take a stroll. Either way, you’re going to get where you’re going. One is just arguably easier (and more pleasant) than the other.

And truth, life is hard enough as it is. Let’s take as much struggle out of it as we can, yeah?

The card that wanted to be written about today is the 10 of Swords. I say it that way–wanted to be written about–because I had intended to write an article about the 10 of Wands and the Multi-Hyphenate. But when I made my calendar for the week, my fingers tip-tapped 10 of Swords into Google. Spirit works through all things, including our “mistakes”, and I’ve learned to roll with it.

The 10 of Swords speaks to this line of thought, as well. We see ten swords, stabbed through the back of a prone figure, along their spine. There’s blood on the ground, and the poor guy sure looks dead. But wait, there’s a sun rising on the horizon. Despite the heavy imagery, this is a card of hopefulness. If we can get out of our own way.

The sword suit talks to us about thought patterns and ideas. The workings of the mind. 

Our mind is an amazing tool, but it’s just that–a tool. Too often the mind is taken as the thing, rather than a tool the thing can use. This happens when an emphasis is put on rational, linear thinking to the exclusion of all else. 

Most of the information we get doesn’t come through that linear processing, though. It comes through subtlety, subconscious recognition, and intuition. When we negate that, it doesn’t go away. It just works on us without our knowledge. This is one way we get caught up in thought patterns that hurt us, and feel like we can’t escape.

Those thoughts get louder and louder, and we feel more and more afflicted and controlled by them.

The full range of information, however, works through a vertical channel within us. Information from the earth, from the gt, from the heart, from the third eye–running up and down our spine. Where are those swords, those nasty thoughts, piercing our fallen friend? 

Right down the spine.

Those thoughts are effectively cutting off the flow of information. The figure in the 10 of Swords no longer has access to the world. They no longer have access to life.

When we become rigid in our ideas of how things are supposed to be, we cut ourselves off from tons of incoming information, sent directly from Spirit. Each dogmatic adherence to “this way, not that” can act as a sword in our spine. 

I’m not saying every “mistake” we make is some great, Divine turning point that we have to go along with. That way of thinking is just as dogmatic as the alternative. What I’m advocating for, as always, is curiosity. Allowing space for the what if…

This applies not just to typos in your calendar, or buying a ticket for the wrong day. This also applies to those thought patterns running down your spine. Because as true and intractable as they might seem, they’re lies. I guarantee it. 

You are loved.
You are worthy.
You are beautiful, and intelligent, and cherished.

I know reading those words on a blog post might not do anything for you. I get it. Words from a stranger on the internet. So here’s what I want you to try instead. 

What if…

Reframe those thoughts, gently, slowly, and consistently. Start by saying it to yourself in your head, then out loud, then in a mirror, and finally to someone you love.

Take one thought that makes you feel like you’re lying facedown in a pool of blood, bristling with swords. Maybe it’s “I’ll never be good enough.” This is a classic, that can come in all sorts of iterations. The reframe would be, simply: “What if…I am good enough?”

Just that. Two little words, that can open up a little breath of space. And where there is one breath, you can find another. And another. Until you feel the swords come out of your lungs and you can breathe again.

This isn’t a magic bullet, or an instant fix. Nothing real is. This is a way to feel a little bit different, and start introducing possibility into the mix. “I’ll never be good enough” is hard and final. “What if I’m good enough?” isn’t a statement. It’s an exploration.

That bit of space, that’s the sunrise on the 10 of Swords. No card describes a static situation; they are all invitations into growth. The invitation here is to end the cycle of misery, pull those swords out of your back, and greet a new day.

Because you’re worth it.