Six of Swords

Upright

passage · leaving trouble · a melancholy crossing

A ferryman, a cloaked adult, a child, six swords standing in the boat. You are already leaving, so let the water do some of the work. This is not a cheerful card and it is a hopeful one: trouble can be crossed if you keep the cargo light enough that the hull still sits well.

Reversed

stuck on the near bank · baggage you will not unload · a delayed ferry

The boat is loaded and still at the piling, or you brought every old blade along. Unload one: six reversed is a crossing that wants a smaller suitcase. The far shore is real, and you do not have to row as if the past were the only passenger.

On the card

• The boat

  A crossing. You are leaving, not circling.

• Six swords

  Thoughts you take with you. Some cargo is necessary.

• Far shore

  Quieter water ahead. Passage, not arrival yet.

When it shows up

This looks like the move, the therapy week, the trip that is really a ferry out of an old mind.

History

Smith’s puntsman ferries a hooded woman and child across still water, six swords upright in the boat like ribs. Waite’s Six is a journey, a rite of passage, difficulty receding. Air, at six, becomes a vehicle. The huddled figures are not theatrical; they are tired, which is honest.

If you want to sit with it

What are you carrying across — and what can stay on the old bank?

Optional. Nothing is saved.