Knight of Swords

Like the meaning of any other card, the meaning of the Knight of Swords must be compared with the current circumstances and other cards in the spread. However, its appearance is rarely "incidental" – it reacts exceptionally accurately to the emergence of tense situations in the querent's life, and in combination with unfavorable cards, it indicates that the situation is desperate. The spread will suggest what the matter concerns – difficulties at work (Wands), personal relationships (Cups), financial troubles (Pentacles).

This Arcana marks rapidly developing stressful situations, vicissitudes of fate, being at the center of some twists and turns. Its appearance in a spread means that the querent (or someone involved in the situation) is simply "on fire" with their ideas and goals. One could say that they have their own reality now, in which they are absolutely convinced. It is not a fact that reality coincides with their ideas about it.

The Knight of Swords denotes frenzied, unquestionable confidence in one's own rightness, imperceptibly turning into righteous anger and a headlong, rapid advance. It is always something cold, sharp, carrying discord and disputes, capable of poisoning even those areas of life that have so far served as a reliable, cozy refuge. The cold symbolized by it can, of course, disperse the fog and bring to light everything that has seemed unclear so far, but most often in this card the element of air turns its negative side towards us. This means the cold of alienation, sharp debates, abrupt expression of disagreement, an evil tongue, and caustic irony. Therefore, the Knight of Swords often foreshadows a quarrel, a break in relations, fierce polemics, and sometimes human baseness. Its ancient meaning is someone capable of causing harm, humiliating and insulting, an open dangerous enemy, a bully.

Often predicts that some unexpected conflict situation will arise, as they say, out of nowhere. If the situation about which the question is asked is initially tense as such, then the Knight of Swords foretells that the matter will go very far, up to destruction and complete collapse. Under its jurisdiction from ancient times are dangerous positions, wars, fights, battles, and even death (obviously, one can think about the latter with serious indications in the spread as a whole). A milder version is some decision made not in the querent's favor.

Nevertheless, in an upright position, this card always indicates a high intellectual potential that can be used for "peaceful" purposes. Sometimes, phenomenal resourcefulness, quick-wittedness, and managing a thousand things in a unit of time completely unsuitable for this manifest under this card. The Knight of Swords is good when we need strength to resist someone or something, faith in our rightness, and a fearless striving for victory over some "monster." No one surpasses this Arcana in the art of duel, combat, battle. He rushes on his way, regardless of the weather conditions depicted on the Arcana – opposition, cold, and storm. Therefore, if "this is our last and decisive battle," the appearance of the Knight of Swords is timely (especially if nearby there are cards of a favorable outcome and reward).

Like all other Knights, the Knight of Swords can foreshadow a trip, usually urgent and stressful. The Knight of Swords speaks of events happening quickly and unexpectedly.

"The scoundrel is insane." To put it in NLP terms, this is a state in which the map replaces the territory for us. About a person in such a state, one can say "he has his own reality." Grim, malevolent determination, a hardened attitude, audacity, desperation, pressure, the ability to "bare teeth"... and blatant shortsightedness.

When we are in the mode of the Knight of Swords, it seems to us that we know everything and can do everything ourselves, however, by rejecting the help of others, we incur losses and produce absurd changes in life (the results, however, will be judged by other cards in the spread). This card indicates an increase in cruelty, aggressiveness, and assertiveness. Under the Knight of Swords, we are seized by the expectation of an "opponent" and an irritated readiness for mobilization. Under the jurisdiction of this Arcana are logical, authoritarian, unfeeling actions, "coming down hard" on others, uncompromisingness and aggressiveness, irritability and sharpness, nothing Christian, and readiness to fight with anyone. The ability to humiliate, insult, frighten, drive to a nervous breakdown.

Historically, the Knight of Swords is a rude, cunning, willful, and treacherous barbarian who has hardly transformed into a duelist and bully (but at least with some code). This is a "wild but glorious youth" – uncouth, tactless, impulsive, restless, unbalanced. If he has nowhere to put himself, he fiercely rushes forward, without thinking, often without special reasons, but with a great desire to accomplish something. How about jumping from this roof to the next on a motorcycle?! (a distinctive feature of the "airy" Knight of Swords – an attraction to walking on the edge of the abyss, he is drawn to height, open space, but also to speed, swiftness). About such a person, they say "off his rocker." This often complicates life for himself and those around him. For example, this could be a person with great intellectual potential who constantly starts nervous discussions, takes on projects without having material resources, not caring about the feelings of those who work with him. His ancient appraisal – not stupid, but a vulgar person, selfish, cruel, treacherous. He is cunning and active, does what he wants, tests his abilities, less scrupulous and more cruel than the King. Relying on him as an ally is asking for trouble, as a result one can suffer greatly.

The Knight of Swords is a worthy offspring of his not-so-simple symbolic parents, the King and Queen of Swords, who is not alien to dreams of omnipotence. This is a stubborn and willful know-it-all who does not take others into account and has great difficulty (or rather, does not endure at all) weaker play partners (they all seem to him "slow" and "not getting it," in full accordance with the symbolism of this galloping Arcana). In a kind of individualistic frenzy, he isolates himself from everything else. Sprays poison, irony, and sarcasm, which sometimes charms his "followers," but in essence, there turns out to be no one and nowhere to follow.

The Knight of Swords is not a team player. This is a lone hero, and sometimes a "hero" in quotes. He alone is capable of stirring up such a mess that not even a regiment could sort it out later. Dealing with the consequences of his actions is usually only within the power of his symbolic parents and lords – the Queen and King of Swords. This is an energetic and dexterous person, however, lacking those qualities that would allow him to become a leader. He is quick-witted, but his mind lacks the depth and breadth characteristic of the King of Swords. Often this is a "chess player," viewing any situation only as an opportunity to outplay the opponent, and even better – to win over him.

At best, this is a person simply "without a king in his head" – hot-tempered, impulsive, and prone to sacrificing excellent plans for a momentary mood. At worst – this is the type of a brawler, unbearable in peaceful life, or a person with criminal tendencies, living in his own reality of permissiveness and impunity… for the time being.

The Knight of Swords embodies the "airy" aspect of Air (while the Queen is the "watery" and the King is the "fiery"). Doubling the influence of the leading element stimulates him to create purely mental concepts, detached from reality. These are principles for principles' sake, ideas for ideas' sake, and if suddenly facts contradict his theory, so much the worse for the facts. Peremptory and militant philosophies (Nietzsche, Fichte, Schopenhauer…) certainly correspond to this Arcana. Sometimes the Knight of Swords is his own worst enemy because he stubbornly refuses to retreat from that image of the world and that perception of the situation which he has thought up for himself. He believes one should not bend under a changing world – and is ready to fly at it head-on with his brightest dreams or misanthropic sermons, sincerely confident that the world will turn away first. He wholly, fully, and totally believes in the victory of justice (as he understands it) and the triumph of the convictions he shares. In spirit, he is a true crusader, an irreconcilable fanatic. Archetypally, this is the knight who swore to kill the dragon. His campaign may be noble, but at the highest level, the Arcana poses the question – are there any righteous wars?

The Knight of Swords personifies the extremely activated mental plane. His task is to break through with his sword through the web of ambiguities and the fog of hints and mysteries. He is like a detective investigating a crime. While he is not yet capable of doing this by pure deduction without leaving home (or without rising from the throne – that's already the level of the King of Swords), thanks to tirelessness and fearlessness, he gets to the truth, simultaneously making a bunch of ill-wishers.

"Air of Air" obliges one, like no other, to remember that the map is not the territory. There are models of reality and reality itself, which they describe more or less successfully, but never – entirely. The Knight of Swords is an exceptional master at creating mental models, concepts, ideas about reality (colloquially sometimes called "cockroaches in the head"). At the same time, his highest task is precisely to break through old models of perception, destroy stereotypes and limitations, and gain a new clear vision. This Arcana teaches that we do not just accidentally fall into certain situations (especially – complex and difficult ones, which it symbolizes), we create them around ourselves based on our beliefs about reality. If we examine more closely those aspects and qualities of ourselves that do not satisfy us, we will see that each uncomfortable and unprocessed situation serves to mirror to us our own incorrect notions and models of perception. As soon as we see them soberly, as they are, we can discard them and move on, freeing our thinking and spirit.

In a deep sense, the Knight of Swords is like The Tower. He is the essence – the storm. To what extent the air will clear and warm after it will be shown by other cards in the spread. The Knight of Swords harbors the wildest dreams, realizes the most seemingly impossible ideas. He is possessed by the spirit of invention. Creative thinking requires unlimited freedom, so the Knight, without hesitation, severs any connections and ideas that limit his advancement or pull him back. In armor, with a raised sword, he rushes at an invisible enemy. Around him is a storm: pines bend, shreds of clouds fly, birds rush about in the stormy sky. Large trees bent under the pressure of the wind speak of the inevitability of sad events. The furious gallop signifies the fierce determination with which the ego (the rider) pursues its goal. This is – a fighter, a rebel, he knows no mercy, attacks first, and is not afraid to die: his motto is to win or die. The white horse is a symbol of purity of heart – the Knight believes in what he fights for. The red cloak, the raging wind – evidence of passion and impulsiveness. The Knight of Swords, for all his intelligence, is reckless and lacks foresight. This is still the unordered power of thought, changeable, lacking a main priority, a clear system (the status and capabilities of the King of Swords are yet to be lived to). It is very difficult to keep this flow in a given direction – "Air of Air" is extremely unstable. One thought destroys and nullifies another in the absence of an ultimate goal with which they could be correlated to evaluate. Instead of development and "maturing," they face collapse. The Arcana of the Knight of Swords embodies the principle of instant obsolescence of knowledge, rapid "wear and tear" of any trends, the ephemerality of innovations. "The thought once uttered is a lie" – while you utter it, it manages to undergo metamorphosis, become obsolete, and collapse, ceasing to correspond to itself. Banzhaf and Akron write: "While preventing ossification and stagnation, he nevertheless embodies the negative aspect of the mind. A dry technocrat, a cheeky know-it-all, a cynic and a brawler, in any case, he is a victim of his destroyed emotional world. The history of his life is written by our aggressive, exploitative technocratic time in a clown's costume." "Air of Air" consists of pure mind games without any morality. He doesn't even argue with it, simply bypasses it. Typical preaching of the Knight of Swords: the end justifies the means, and winners are not judged. At best – this is a strong-willed, fast, subtle, and skillful warrior. True, even in this case, he is equally brave and mercenary. One cannot rely on his principles, but on his professionalism – yes. Unlike the King of Swords, he is not a strategist but a tactician, as he is capable of seeing only one goal at one point in time, but that one he sees simply through a telescopic sight.

The card typically symbolizes a young man at the beginning of his career: he wants to show himself and others what he is capable of. He has both competence and skill, but they have not yet reached the highest level of development symbolized by the King. He is not an expert. However, he is a master at falling into a professional frenzy, and will freely "take on" everyone to complete astonishment and "drive crazy" the lazier and slower surroundings, so that what needs to be done is done. In a professional sense, he rather resembles an assistant to an experienced police inspector – acts on the principle of "legs in hands," missed half the subtleties altogether, concerning the other half he overdid it terribly, put forward a hundred and five incorrect versions, but… he is still a specialist, knows what he is doing, and is learning rapidly.

The thinking of the Knight of Swords is swift and often ahead of the development of the situation. The plans, reforms, innovations he proposes may be too ambitious, radical, and bold, which is why their implementation currently meets resistance and is postponed. Plans and projects are subjected to harsh criticism. During a thesis defense, the applicant is razed to the ground and has to defend themselves almost with the help of handy objects from the surroundings. The Knight of Swords reports that it is too early to judge the results of the undertaking – time will tell. This is only the middle of the road to the goal.

The Knight of Swords can foreshadow a change in duties or work environment. This is a card of competition and confrontation. As a boss, the Knight of Swords has all the abilities of persuasion and coercion, but followers get no more benefit than enemies.

This Arcana can describe a broker, analyst, chemist, IT specialist, bailiff, investigator, sharp-tongued blogger, or stuntman. The Knight of Swords "loves" professions associated with business trips, travel, the need to quickly process and transmit information, and generally "rush the British flag." Under its jurisdiction – all sorts of professional feats of the do or die type, doing the impossible, managing what was needed yesterday.

The Knight of Swords often describes explosive and hasty intellectual activity. Évariste Galois comes to mind – the forever twenty-year-old father of modern higher algebra, scribbling his most intricate work the night before a duel. The phrase "brainstorming" describes the spirit of the Knight of Swords with unusual accuracy. Under the Knight of Swords, we often face the need to quickly deal with matters, but haste deprives us of a sober assessment of the situation and forces us to take rash steps, look for instant solutions.

From ancient times – a significator of a military man. This can be a mathematician, wishing at all costs to prove something, or a lawyer, fixated on winning cases.

Advice: determination and purposefulness of actions are the key to success. Do not give in to pressure, go boldly to risk, do not fear confrontation.

Warning: less fearless charging ahead and more diplomacy. Curb the too sharp tongue. The trap of the card: a blind thirst for destruction.

The Knight of Swords is definitely unfavorable for any kind of relationship. A hot head and a cold heart create the wrong atmospheric combination. An explosive situation of hostility and confrontation, conflict; the presence of hatred, dislike, enjoyment of clashes, and hatching vengeful plans. In an unfavorable spread, it warns of violence, and sometimes of mortal danger. This card reports that at this time in the relationship, "the hatchet of war is dug up." Whether it will be a malicious skirmish for five minutes or a war to the death will be suggested by other cards.

The Knight of Swords is quite a "piece of work" in general, and in close relationships in particular. It's not that you can't make porridge with him – rather, you'll find something to deal with the consequences. One of his few pluses is that he is usually as clear as day, as he does not hide emotions or thoughts. He says what he thinks, and sometimes what he didn't think. The Knight of Swords is definitely a master of blurting something out (in terms of careless criticism) that leaves scars in the partner's soul, while he himself easily ignores the fact that he offended. He doesn't even try to pretend to be a harmless darling, so in this case, we can be firmly sure from the very beginning that we are warming a snake on our chest. And then, as they say, it's our job to run around the house shouting "ouch, I've been bitten!", curse fate, bite back, or meekly keep an antidote in the cupboard (the main thing is that it doesn't turn out to be strong alcohol).

On a personal level, this can be a person who does not know how to adapt and prefers to escalate relationships. He is not afraid of conflicts and likes to win at any cost, believing that all means are good. Since his own emotional world is destroyed, he does not stop at destroying someone else's. Hostility is his natural state, and the desire to show off is one of the strongest feelings in his arsenal. Therefore, before deciding to enter into a closer relationship with this person, it wouldn't hurt to think about this: you won't be able to remake the Knight of Swords. Such people, as a rule, are very pleased with themselves and do not at all desire to change to please others. Regrets and pangs of conscience are completely not their genre. Very few can constantly tolerate the Knight of Swords next to them. He is an unpleasant and callous partner, other people's opinions don't interest him, it's difficult to insist on your own with him, and the risk of physical and sexual violence must be considered as a "just in case" factor.

The Knight of Swords is proud but not gallant. Women's (as well as men's, children's, elderly) tears do not move him, and the word "tact" is unknown to him. In case of unwise insistence, he will quite thoroughly and exhaustively explain why he doesn't love, what the cardinal advantages of another (another) are, or – what is even scarier – why and for what he loves... for now. Unconditional love is unknown to him. He always loves something and for something, and, all in all, objects are interchangeable for him. With the same set of specifications, what difference does it make, Manechka or Varenka? The Knight of Swords is definitely a "bad boy." And like all "bad boys," there is something attractive about him, so despite his intolerability, he is often not alone.

Intimacy with the Knight of Swords is a nerve-wracking and critical event. This is also a duel. "It's like being at war with you." He bends the one he gets like the wind bends a tree, generally loves stormy nights, darkness and pain, and sex after chasing each other, spontaneous flights, and rushing through train stations and airports, after preceding quarrels and breakups. On such extreme nights, he can be at an unusual height and out of competition, gifting such a piercing sensual combination of fury and fragility that it gets stuck in memory forever, like a shard. This is the same reckless and swift plunge into intimacy as everything else in his life. He remains tough and impenetrable, and yet in his recklessness, desperation shines through, which speaks louder than love. In ordinary life circumstances, he is a so-so lover: nervous, impatient, insensitive (at worst, rough), selfish and with complaints, who, in addition, always blames the partner for everything. He does not perceive refusals. Drama suits him more than everyday life, however, speaking of dramas – in relationships with the Knight of Swords, it is better not to discover to what limits he is capable of going when he has nothing more to lose. In his cold indifferent mode, he is much more pleasant than in a state where he is not indifferent (that is – jealous, offended, his pride is hurt, he experiences bitterness and anger). All sorts of Sicilian habits and blood feuds to the seventh generation begin. This combination of cunning cold-blooded calculation and absolute recklessness of deeds is his trademark. No one ever compares to him in cruelty and ruthlessness. He really stops at nothing. At nothing. You see, he is completely incapable of doing anything with his own suffering – cannot make sense of it, use it for growth, drown it by switching to other things (as Wands and Pentacles would do), or digest it, pass it through the heart (Cups are masters of this, but not Swords). The only thing he can do with it is objectify it, see it externally, as the suffering of another (the one who is guilty), as something alien, extraneous, "outside himself." And instinctively he knows that until he sees a fresco on the wall painted with the enemy's blood, his own pain will not subside.