Element: Air
Imagery: A figure lies in repose within a church; three swords hang above, one rests below.
General Themes: Rest, recovery, mental stillness, sanctuary.
Four of Swords Upright
I call this the radical self-care card of the deck. It’s an invitation to enjoy guilt-free self-care and self-love. It’s okay to take time for yourself. We live in a world that values extroversion and external markers of growth, so it can feel strange to turn inward and focus on healing—two things which are hard to quantify or explain in the context of the status quo.
This is a time to examine your life and release anything that is causing undue stress, or to find a way to not let a stressful situation hijack your nervous system. The card indicates that the only solution right now is to slow down and tend your inner life.
Remember: sometimes the best thing you can do is practice self-care. All healthy changes come from within first. As that old witchy saying goes: as within, so without.
Four of Swords Reversed
This card is a major caution sign! Similar to its upright form, the reversal asks you to practice self-care. Only here, it is BEGGING you to slow down and take care of yourself OR ELSE. Seriously. If you don’t slow down now, life will make you stop—and never in the way you want it to.
Reversed, this isn’t just a card about radical self-care but intensive rest. Think of your soul as a hospital patient or someone who is on enforced bedrest. You need to recharge and allow your system to heal. Period. Everything else comes after that.
Your soul will thank you.
Don’t be afraid to protect your solitude and interiority here. In fact, doing so is a necessary part of healing. Take your self-care as seriously as you do everything else. OR ELSE.
The Bruja’s Guide to Tarot is the divination sister to the scholarly The Bruja Professor, a witchy take on literature, the occult & pop culture, and Enchantment Learning & Living, an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you.
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