Artemis

Swords ยท Air

Ten of Swordsfor Aries ยท Self and Identity

Ten of Swords tarot card

"The worst already happened. Now what?"

Six quick picks first, then your reading

On the card

A prostrate figure, pierced by all the swords belonging to the card. Swords represent thoughts and ten represents the end of a chapter. Together this card means the end of something you've been struggling with and grief for who you were when you started this journey.

Upright
Rock BottomPainful EndingBetrayalNew Dawn

You are facing an ending (maybe of a relationship, maybe a job, perhaps cutting ties with someone). You've struggled and thought about what to do and how to fix things, but you were unable to salvage things while still remaining true to yourself. Grieve what you lost (innocence, respect for a friend, a relationship) and hold space for what might grow from the space you have cleared in your mind.

Reversed

You are unwilling to let go of something that is holding you back-- perhaps a relationship or job that meets some need but doesn't fulfill you completely. You must trust in yourself that you can get through a tough situation and come out stronger. Self love and trust are critical. Future you is looking out for you.

Its place in the deck.

Minor ArcanaNumber card
One of the 56 Minor Arcana. They are about what is happening in ordinary life right now. Each belongs to one of four suits, numbered Ace to Ten, plus four court cards.
SuitSwords ยท Air
Swords are the suit of Air: mind and language. A Swords card is always, underneath, about what you think, and the story you keep retelling yourself.
NumberTen
The numbers tell a story inside each suit, from a seed at the Ace to the full expression at Ten. Ten is the full expression: complete, and sometimes carried past the point it was useful.

Where it shows up.

In the stars
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AirElement
Thoughts, words, and conflict. In tarot: Swords.
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Ten of Swords for Aries in Self and Identity

The Initiator

Swords are the air suit, so the Ten of Swords sits in Libra. Libra sits directly opposite Aries, so this card describes the half of the situation Aries habitually hands to someone else. What it wants is this: write the sentence down and stop rewriting it. Handing that to another person is exactly the habit. Upright, it is complete, which is not automatically the same as good.

When reading about yourself through an Aries lens, the Ten of Swords says that you feel like your body is a machine to prove something with, a problem to outrun (or overcome), and the only thing you trust because it does what you tell it to. This has either made you physically strong and brave enough to try what others won't, or left you injured and angry at your own body for not cooperating with your will. You have been so focused on who you think you should be that you haven't checked in with who you actually are. The Aries blind spot in it is the feeling that nothing you do makes any difference, that you are not the center of the story.

In practice that can look like a loop that finally breaks, or seeing your own pattern in writing. Whatever form it takes, it is completing, possibly past the point it was useful.

Somewhere else?

WorkRelationshipHealthWealthMy Future

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