Element: Air
Imagery: A figure sneaks away carrying swords from a camp.
General Themes: Strategy, secrecy, avoidance, cleverness.
Seven of Swords Upright
This card has a lot of trickster energy! Just look at the figure sneaking away with a stash of swords, glad to be free of whatever they’ve just left. It’s time to leave a tricky situation behind. Get out while you can and preferably while others are distracted. You don’t want to create a scene or make an issue of your departure. Just disappear so you don’t get stuck in the muck.
The Seven of Swords is about being cunning. Force won’t work in this instance, so be smart about what you’re about to do next, so things don’t backfire. It’s time to start a new chapter, and the only way to do that is to out-think your opponent or the thing that’s trying to keep you stuck in the past. Don’t blab about your new ideas or ventures—just quietly begin your next move.
Seven of Swords Reversed
This card, in reverse, is more about thinking outside the box. In fact, forget there is a box at all! The situation makes you feel trapped. Imagine an alternate way forward — you aren’t stuck, you just need to shift your perspective.
If this card were to be defined in one word, it would be cleverness. Where can you innovate? Rethink your strategy? Outsmart brawn? Given the trickster energy of the Seven of Swords, this reversal is also an invitation to get playful and flexible with your thinking. Look for creative solutions and don’t be afraid to make an unconventional move.
Oppressive systems want us to be inflexible, with narrow visions. Flex your imaginative skills and find the loophole in your current situation.
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