Swords · Air
King of Swordsfor Leo · Self and Identity
"Intellectual Authority isn't the question. What you do next is."
Six quick picks first, then your reading
He sits in judgment, holding an unsheathed sword. He represents virtue, but also carrying out justice. Swords represents thoughts and Kings represent heads of households. The king of swords represents a patriarch, holding others to account. Swift to act if he sees injustice around him.
You are in a situation the requires swift action and protective energy. This card calls us to protect those who are fighting to live their truth. Perhaps that could be an internal struggle and you must fight to protect your inner child from the harsh realities of the world; perhaps in a romantic relationship you are facing negativity from those who do not understand you; perhaps you must take a position of power on a project so that it can succeed. Move quickly and clearly.
Someone is being overly controlling of you-- they think they know everything and feel they can tell you how to act. A bully who holds power over you. This cannot be maintained-- you must protect your self worth by refusing to believe what they say about you. If this person is your own inner voice, you must nurture yourself and embrace your emotions. If this is an external force, decide what is safe for you but you must not let them break your spirit.
Its place in the deck.
Where it shows up.
King of Swords for Leo in Self and Identity
The Creator
Swords are the air suit, so the King of Swords sits in Libra. Libra sextiles Leo, which is help that has to be taken up rather than help that arrives. What it asks for is this: write the sentence down and stop rewriting it. Leo is perfectly capable of that, which is exactly why not doing it needs a better excuse. Upright, this is the element used out in the world, at the cost of still feeling it.
When reading about yourself through a Leo lens, the King of Swords says that you feel like your image is the thing you are always refining, something that could always be more impressive (or more real), and the constant distance between who you are and who you appear. This has either built genuine self-awareness through the practice of refinement, or left you exhausted from maintaining two different people. You have been so focused on who you think you should be that you haven't checked in with who you actually are. The Leo blind spot in it is being ordinary, being forgotten, being the one no one thought to invite, being seen doing something mediocre.
In practice that can look like a loop that finally breaks, or seeing your own pattern in writing. Whatever form it takes, it is being decided by whoever holds the authority.
Somewhere else?
Keep the thread
Artemis remembers what you asked, and tells you when something comes back around.
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