· VI ·
Six of Swords
“Leaving is itself a form of cure.”
Upright
Reversed
Identity
- Sephirah
- Tiphareth
- Meaning
- Tiphareth — Beauty; the central balance; harmony reached among opposing forces.
- World
- Yetzirah · World of Formation
- Decan
- Aquarius · 2nd · Mercury
- Dates
- 1/30–2/8
- Essence
- Mercury in Aquarius' second decan — a detached mind finally able to chart a forward route, without requiring emotion to come aboard.
- Numerology
- Six — harmony; finding a passable gap between opposing forces.
Upright
Summary
Crossing is the cure.
A small boat moves from the rougher water toward the calmer side — not victory, but leaving, with six swords not yet put away.
Reversed
Summary
The boat has left; you have not.
The boat does not leave, or turns back midway — the unfinished pull of the old shore tugs you back, though you know nothing remains there to retrieve.
Symbols
Story
A boatman stands at the stern, his pole pressed lightly against the riverbed, the boat drifting from the bank in silence. Six long swords are planted in the bow, points upward, like six candles not yet burned through — what is being taken along is not booty but the weight of memory. A cloaked woman and a child sit with heads bowed; they neither weep nor look back. Ripples fret the water on the right of the hull; on the left, the surface gradually smooths, as though the boat were leaving roughness behind. The sky is a washed grey, the air faintly damp and cold, with no wind.
Correspondences
- Element
- Air
- Color
- Silver-grey · frost-blue
- Direction
- East
- Season
- Spring
- Temperament
- Sanguine · quick and keen
- Color
- River-grey · thin-light silver
- Scent
- Damp wood · faint reed
- Plant
- Reed · willow
- Gem
- Blue calcite · white agate
- Metal
- Quicksilver
- Animal
- Heron · raven
- Time
- Early morning before the river mist lifts · between the two banks
Elemental Dignity
Shadow
Packing more and more into the boat — afraid the far shore is too bare, one ends up moving the whole old shore along. The boat moves, but the load already renders the direction meaningless.
Related Cards
· A QUIET LETTER ·