Sometime last week Marie did a daily Tarot reading and she told me the seven of Swords showed up. We discussed her reading briefly and I expressed a little puzzlement at the card. It was in her Self position. Did she feel sneaky or deceptive?
She replied by sending me the following email:
Seven of swords....It's actually one of the cards with special resonance for me; I got it a LOT when I was first reading/having readings done, back in college. I even wrote a poem about the card; I never talked about that with you.
I spent some time seeing if I could find the poem, but failed. As I recall, I never completed it; it petered off. I have recreated the first bit, but pretty sure there was a little more than I remember and not sure if this is accurate. Anyhow, here it is:
Stealing Knives (originally ca. 1981/82)
Stealing knives
and will they slash my wrists?
Stealing knives
and will they cut my hands?
Stealing knives
I am in danger
danger
And my reward is no sustenance
is nothing that can nourish
my reward is but a weapon
to learn to wield
Stealing knives
and will I slash my wrists?
Stealing knives
and will I cut my hands?
Stealing knives
I am in danger
danger
.... For me, being female and intellectual WAS being a thief; lots of writers in the traditions to which I aspired were perfectly clear that I didn't belong there learning them.... And I wasn't sure, at the time I wrote the poem, whether thieving from them was a good thing to do; whether it was good to steal their weapons and learn to use them, or whether I was only hurting myself in doing so.
.... Anyhow, that's always in the back of my mind whenever that card turns up for me, even now that that issue is not central to my daily intellectual life....
More than I ever imagined. No, she'd never discussed any of that before.
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