Queen of Swords
Encyclopedia
Court card
Court card or court sized card was the name given to a size of picture postcard, mainly used in the United Kingdom, which were approximately 4.75 x 3.5 inches and predates the standard size of 5.5 x 3.5 inches....
in the Suit of Swords
Suit of swords
The Suit of Swords is a suit found in playing cards using the Italian and Spanish suits. It is also found in Latin Suited Tarot Cards. It's equivalent to Spades in Anglo-American playing cards.The suit represents the Second Estate ....
, part of the Minor Arcana
Minor Arcana
|thumb|[[King of Swords]] card from a Minor Arcana deckThe Minor Arcana of occult or divinatory tarot refers to the portion of a Tarot deck that consists of 56 cards. The Minor Arcana are roughly similar to the cards found in a common deck of playing cards...
set of the Tarot
Tarot
The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
.
Tarot cards are used throughout much of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to play tarot card games.
In English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-speaking countries, where the games are largely unknown, Tarot cards came to be utilized primarily for divinatory purposes.
Rider-Waite symbolism
- She is extending her hand, perhaps to reach for another; but she also holds her swordSwordA sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
firmly before her, perhaps as a warning, a self-protection or a test for another. The PKTPictorial Key to the TarotThe Pictorial Key to the Tarot is A. E. Waite's influential guide to divinatory tarot, published in England in 1911 in conjunction with the Rider-Waite-Smith deck...
says she is familiar with sorrowSorrowSorrow may refer to:* Sorrow * Sorrow , an EP by The 3rd and the Mortal* "Sorrow" * "Sorrow" * "Sorrow" * "Sorrow" , also covered by The Merseys and David Bowie...
, so it may be understood in this way. - Her crown is made up of butterfliesButterflyA butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
, showing the freedom of her thought and her active intellect. - Note the difference between the pristine white cloudCloudA cloud is a visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals made of water and/or various chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planetary body. They are also known as aerosols. Clouds in Earth's atmosphere are studied in the cloud physics branch of meteorology...
s, and the darker ones showing up on the right bottom corner. The latter ones may reflect upon her sorrows, as the PKT has specified. The former - the unusual clarity of her mind and thoughts. Compare with other sword court cards, where the clouds are mostly tarnished. - The hand in front signifies putting thoughts into action. All the sword cards represent the mind and the element of air all the skyscapes will indicate the "emotion" of the card. This one with clouds low on the horizon mean new ideas or a new enterprise