The Seven of Swords

Under a clear yellow sky, the card portrays a man stealthily moving away from some tents in a barren, desert like landscape. Two swords are stuck into the ground upright, at the entrance of the tent. The man is carrying away five swords in his arms surreptitiously. He is slinking away in a quiet, furtive manner. The man is slipping away into the wide desert area in full sight of a few onlookers. He smirks as he looks over his shoulder, thinking that he has successfully managed to steal arms, however, it is a temporary, restless calm and soon his true intentions would be revealed. His stylish red cap and boots, indicate that he is governed by passion and impulse- not reason and logic. The vast, yellow sky in the card reflects the fact that the man has put in a lot of creative thought into the entire exercise. 

The contented grin on the man’s face reflects the fact that he is happy with himself for having sneaked away secretly. The man is unscrupulous and untrustworthy but intelligent, agile, swift and sharp at the same time. He is quick witted and has the gift of the gab, however, he can be a habitual liar. Besides yellow and red, another dominant color in this card is grey which signifies gloom , unhappiness and the uneasy calm before the ensuing storm.

Ladies/ Gentlemen, if you pull out this card in a love reading then beware of the fact that you are dating an unsteady, unreliable, flighty character. He is not to be trusted and his words are not to be taken at face value. His outward charm and composure hides deceit, betrayal and inward chaos. He pretends to be always in control but there is an inborn restlessness inside him which finds manifestation in the form of multiple affairs, relationships, and rendezvous which are meaningless and inconsequential for him. He is not capable of giving or receiving true, pure, real love as his inherent instability is best expressed through wayward, illusionary relationships and affairs. In a love reading this card may represent your deceitful, new suitor- a charming man with a magnetic pull, an air of freshness and an animated appeal. However, behind the veneer of composure lies a restless man who craves for attention and connection but is haunted by the fear of proximity and union. He would like to come and go as per his wish. Even a faint feeling of being tied down scares him away. He can be dishonest & deceitful and on account of his charm his manipulative and selfish streak goes unnoticed for long.

Such a man is emotionally unavailable for you and at best can give you erratic company. He has built a wall around his heart as perhaps in childhood and growing up years he has suffered rejection and emotional abandonment. His initial relationships must have been failures and his girlfriends must have walked out on him thereby leaving a deep emotional void in him. In his zeal to protect himself from further wounds& hurts he does not allow himself to get involved and his connections are peripheral or at surface level. He is incapable of forging deep & lasting bonds.

However, deep down there is an emotional vacuum within him which ignites the desire to meet/ date multiple women. When he steals your thoughts and feelings and plays with your emotions then he smiles smugly at his own exploits as now he can exercise subtle control over you. The past wounds & rejections now find an uneasy comfort through wielding emotional and mental control over you. This feeling of being in total control is vital to his emotional well being. 

So when he is running away from you, he is smug in the belief that he has stolen your heart and would now exercise emotional and mental control over you. The pleasure that he derives in this uncanny way acts like a balm over his inner woundedness & loneliness. This smugness also underlines his indifference, core selfishness and moral depravity. Ladies, if you are in love with such a man then please understand that no real progress would ever be made in your relationship as your man lacks purpose.  You would be a slave to his whims and fancies and impulsive acts.

When it comes to forging intimate sexual bonds this man would leave you feeling sapped out and drained. He is incapable of unifying with anyone at any level. The worst part of connecting with him is that you would soon realize that you are lonely and only under the illusion of being in a relationship with him . At times such a man would indulge in erratic, chaotic sexual acts which are symptomatic of sexual insufficiency coupled with insecurity & fear related to performance issues or inability to perform to your satisfaction. This man has a strange fear of taking charge and shouldering responsibility- this is the card of an escapist who wants to evade responsibility and does not wish to be accountable to anyone. He has an inherent fear of commitment and feels trapped very quickly and wishes to avoid having to answer to anyone. At best, this man can be your friend with whom you have to take special care to maintain healthy boundaries. In order to enjoy his company you should be very well aware of where he ends and where you begin.

This card is governed by moon in Aquarius and thereby derives its energy from the fixed air sign Aquarius and the moody & changeable moon. On account of this a person ruled by this card is innovative, idealistic, humanitarian and intellectual on the one hand and changeable like the moon on the other. The moon rules over emotions and the subconscious and in the case of this card makes a person deceptive, fickle, unfaithful, impulsive and full of vacillation.  Promiscuous and eccentric sexuality is underlined by emotional chaos and lack of purpose. Unconventional and individual ideas about relationships bring momentary joy and enjoyment of social life but a continual need for independence makes union at any level  with another person impossible. Partnerships are unstable tending to begin and also end abruptly and suddenly and without notice.

The ” Seven of Swords” is an air card and as such refers to the mind and the mental realm, you can call this card ” the thief of ideas” and in case you are very emotional,  it has the power to  become ” the thief of emotions ” as well. The kabbalists rightly call this card ” the Lord of Unstable Effort ” as ultimately it portrays wasted energy and futile effort. In a relationship reading eventually you would realize that you have made no real progress on account of your partner’s restlessness and innate aloofness. You and your partner would go around in circles without reaching anywhere in your relationship. Such a partner is incapable of giving you any lasting happiness and you would be forced to break away from him in order to retain and preserve your sense of wholeness, sanity and peace of mind.