Four of Swords

This card announces a time-out, much like a referee on a field. Its main message is the futility of struggle at the present moment. Forcing events or confronting other people right now is not only inappropriate but practically impossible. All attempts to drastically change the current state of affairs will lead nowhere. This card always implies a delay.

The Four of Swords is a card of rest and detachment; it absolutely excludes any hustle. Its main meanings are solitude and isolation, exile and retreat, delay and temporary withdrawal. In business matters—no progress whatsoever. Its main advice is to use this time to rest, think over recent situations, restore your strength and health, and plan for the future more wisely. This card reacts with exceptional accuracy to a state of incapacity—in the most diverse senses and manifestations, ranging from subtly psychological states to purely medical cases.

The Four of Swords is generally considered, if not "bad," then at least "not particularly good." The reason for such an assessment is most likely that the Western mind is generally very restless; the state of inaction and contemplation is alien to it and acts upon it in a depressing way—what kind of prostration is this? Our consciousness as a whole is oriented toward more or less productive activity, circulating in a stream of events and occupations, speeding up the course of things; it constantly requires some kind of "action," like a hamster on a wheel.

Every Arcana brings its own experience and lesson. In this case, it is the experience of a hamster that has fallen off the wheel (sometimes—literally collapsing). For most people, this brings displeasure and shock, and only in rare cases is this card welcomed as an opportunity to detach, gather one's thoughts, be alone with oneself, and catch one's breath. It is a precious respite, a much-needed time-out right now, a granted sanctuary from the hustle and bustle, even if the person themselves painfully experiences it as exile, what is called a retreat. But someone who is in the midst of heavy labor usually perceives the Four of Swords as manna from heaven. It is no wonder that in the old days this card was called the "lesser mercy of the Swords"—they are at rest. This is planning actions in hermit-like solitude, preparing the mind for a new cycle.

The Four of Swords is a card of stagnation, interrupted activity, and forced rest. In this sense, it resembles The Hanged Man, but the difference is that it is connected with specific events: the obstacles or difficulties indicated by the Four are usually simple and understandable, and overcoming them does not require us to turn all the foundations of our lives upside down. This situation is akin to an illness, which also constitutes one of the meanings of the card. We are forced to interrupt active work, to take a pause. Whether we suffer or try to use this pause to figure ourselves out depends entirely on us. At the same time, it is clear that we can use the pause to work on ourselves, but we would hardly orchestrate it for ourselves of our own free will.

The Four of Swords is never a passing or random card. It is always a strong sign. Often it appears after a period of confusion and stress, when a person simply needs to "brush their hair," rest, recharge, and take care of themselves (and ideally—go on vacation). It is the timely departure from the field that makes it possible to return to it, and the Four of Swords makes it perfectly clear that what is needed most right now is solitude and tranquility. But for a person, this state often turns out to be completely unplanned, and therefore is perceived as an annoying dependence on circumstances.

The card says that since there is nothing in the external world right now that is worth the querent's efforts, it makes sense to wisely use this period for internal integration and recovery. The surrounding cards will also provide a lot of information about what preceded this and what will follow it.

The Four of Swords confidently brings reflections, planning future actions amidst external passivity, and in rarer cases—a couple of sleepless nights over some project, while disappearing from the "radar screens" of those around. Sometimes the card indicates that the querent has encountered some problem that they will have to think long and hard about, using all their intelligence and life experience.

The traditional meanings of the Four of Swords are exile, incarceration, banishment, as well as refuge and sanctuary.

Meditative and inert. Perhaps the person is simply sick or tired, and has therefore lain low. But this can also be tranquility, useful reflections alone with oneself, a creative pause. A "productive exile" that becomes a period of recuperation and preparatory work for the future, of deeply thinking through issues.

The person of the Four of Swords may seem constrained and awkward, alienated and depressed, exhausted and weakened; they are characterized by physical and emotional detachment, a need to shield themselves from the outside world.

Abstracting oneself from problems and vanity, withdrawing from the corresponding emotions, returning to oneself (especially in combination with The Hermit). Contemplation, solitude, restoring inner balance. Meditation (its forms can be very diverse), rest, spiritual practices. Under this card, a person retreats from pain and struggle to rest and heal. Like all Fours, it carries an impulse of stabilization and halting. The Four is preceded by the bitter Three of Swords, so this is most likely a recovery from a fair amount of stress, pain, fear, confusion, something that has exhausted the soul and body.

This card has a special relationship with the church and temples. It can describe the state of a person seeking redemption, forgiveness, communion, sincerely repenting, reflecting on past life, and developing a master plan for the future. This card "loves" people who have battle incarnations in their karmic assets and now live an emphatically quiet life, with an emphasis on the water trigon of houses in their horoscope. In this regard, the imagery of Waite's deck is striking in its accuracy. The wave, on the crest of which the soul once rode, has receded, and he is temporarily left without strength and without an active drive towards a goal. Characteristically, the halo of Jesus on the stained glass window under which the knight rests contains the word PAX - rest, peace. And yet Pax is not Requiem aeternam. It is rest, not death. It is the mystery of forced peace in solitude, self-knowledge, and renewal through silent inner suffering. A temporary sleep of a once restless soul, a latent period ("sleeping beauty").

I cannot help but recall the words of Anouk at the grave of Peggy Guggenheim in Venice: "Here rests Peggy Guggenheim... Yeah, rests... Knowing her, she'll rest for a bit, and then give everyone a run for their money!" This is the mystery of the Four of Swords.

This is one of the cards that shows the inner state of consciousness when the "sword" of diverse activity has been swung enough—it is time to think about the soul. In astrology, this is the 12th house. Through the 12th house, a person contemplates and comprehends past experience and their place in the world, and their external activity is noticeably limited so that nothing distracts them from this vital occupation.

They are given space and time to be one-on-one with themselves, to see the true essence of past situations, and to prepare for future events and experiences. The 12th house is a place of healing old wounds, atoning for karmic debts, and praying away karmic crimes (it's not for nothing that the preceding Arcana is the Three of Swords, the Lord of Sorrow, inflicted upon us or inflicted by us). This confinement can be internal, spiritual, or it can be external—the Four of Swords is one of the strongest indicators of hospitalization and imprisonment.

Well, Prison, Hospital, Monastery—this is exactly how the 12th house is described in ancient astrology. A forced prolonged pause, "incarceration," a monastery of the spirit—you won't get out until you've prayed for your sins. Higher powers have "laid you down" for the sake of peace, tranquility, restoration, and purification of consciousness, for the sake of preparing for a new chapter of life. The symbolism of the Arcana is often perceived rather negatively; a person makes unsuccessful attempts to "break the circle," to "break free," but to no avail.

The true obstacles are inside; external circumstances are just a reflection of this. Both the Four of Swords and the 12th house symbolize a powerfully protected magical space. It is not given to a person from above for nothing, and it is not so well protected for nothing—the soul goes through the science of its own suffering here; it is a tomb and a cradle at the same time, a place of accumulation, concentration, and transformation; a very important transformation must occur in this confined space.

Let us recall the previous Mystery—the Three of Swords. In the Four, deliverance from suffering takes place, grief heals itself, cosmic consciousness concentrates on the main problem of the personality, the main pain. It is this that locks a person "under key" to avoid premature defeat (and the ego may resent and protest). Depending on whether we accept the lesson of the Four of Swords in full or insist on early release, determines what our role will be in the next Arcana—the Five of Swords. Will we be the one who wins the upcoming battle because we have gained spiritual maturity and strength, or the one who suffered defeat due to unpreparedness and the recklessness with which we rushed into a new fight (or drama).

On the Arcana, we see a knight lying on a tombstone with his hands folded in prayer. The three swords above him correspond to the fourth, fifth, and sixth chakras—in accordance with Masonic tradition, their points indicate the head, throat, and heart, which correspond to the places where the builder of Solomon's Temple, Hiram Abiff, was wounded. These three chakras also correspond to the cogito, verbo et opere ("in thought, word, and deed") mentioned in the traditional formula of repentance for sins. Jupiter in Libra teaches mercy and justice, harmony and impartiality in assessing unfolding events, in a word, everything that our hero so badly lacked in the past.

On a metaphysical level, the Four of Swords symbolizes a constructive act, not inaction at all. The hermit, having locked himself in his cell and plunged into self-contemplation and prayer, is not idling at all—he is very busy. By the way, we all know perfectly well that in a state of intense internal busyness (focus on some thought or feeling), external busyness is quite unproductive—everything literally falls out of one's hands. This is "work in the hour of rest"—an inner search in the silence of the cell. The symbolism of the card is such that the attention of the lying figure is directed to three swords (the spiritual, the divine: they can also be interpreted as the "Three of Swords"—suffering experienced or inflicted in the past, realized mistakes), while the fourth sword (earthly power) remains inactive.

In the space of the Four of Swords, a person is taking some kind of exam with themselves. On the level of Mercury, the stabilizing Four of Swords contains the entire regularity of the cause-and-effect structure of the world. Everything is conditioned by thought. The same causes have the same effects. The card points to a connection with an inner mentor, a guide (one of Mercury's roles is psychopomp, "guide of souls"), mediumship, access to some important energy-information channels. This is a retreat, a "planet in exile," the need to think, work through, plan. This confinement must be used to come to one's senses, analyze the experience, and enter a new phase without repeating past mistakes.

It is believed that the card corresponds to the third decan of Libra, which most extensively represents the Libra idea of partnership—the idea of the harmony of human relationships as an analog of higher laws. This decan is characterized by the concepts of justice, goodness, and morality, as well as calm optimism, a sense of humor, and an attentive attitude toward people. This decan is ruled by Jupiter, who endows those born in this decan not only with the aforementioned virtues but also with conformism (the case when the criteria for judgment are solely social norms and the principle "as above, so below" is taken too literally).

This decan is also inclined to see only supreme harmony in the world, often turning a blind eye to the fact that truth has not yet come into the world, and that in order for it to become truly humane, a lot of work must be done. Representatives of this decan, in order not to become traitors to their own ideals, need to listen more often to the inner voice of their own conscience, but in order not to repeat the path of Don Quixote, they must concretely comprehend the realization of their ideals. After an unsuccessful attempt to achieve the number Three on the level of matter and, having "landed," or more precisely, smacked onto the ground, Strength (understood metaphysically) finds an acceptable compromise in the form of a reliable and practical Four.

It is, of course, limited, but at the moment this does not matter much, since we are talking about a temporary respite before a new leap. At the level of the Four of Swords, a kind of rest takes place, a healing after the battle of delusions associated with the Three of Swords. The ideal, of course, has not been achieved, God could not be brought down to Earth, but an idol has already been sculpted, and a primary sympathetic connection between the deity and its earthly reflection has already been established. This is a moment of centering, clarity, spiritual purification, restoration of balance.

Light and shadow (advice and warning)

Advice: don't look for trouble, calm down, lie low. Take care of yourself, make a stop, and restore your balance. Give yourself a rest. Critically review your goals and plans, weigh your strength once more. Give up active and chaotic actions, from spending any resources—financial, nervous, and so on. Now more than ever, prudence, caution, and economy are needed. It is useful to conduct self-analysis to heal emotional wounds. Tranquility and a hermitic period of existence are indicated. "Taste the silence," set aside time for a breather, get some sleep, finally. At the right time, everything will happen by itself.

Warning: it's not the time to sleep! Delay is akin to death. Sitting (lying) idly by will impoverish life to the point of indecency. At the same time, the card may indicate the need to pay close attention to your health in order to avoid serious problems in the near future.

A breather in business, a time-out. A lull. Vacation. Going into retirement or resigning. A temporary surrender from the fight for a place in the sun. Trying to speed up the process and force things is useless. This card is a clear indication to freeze plans, refrain from starting new business and projects, to leave everything as it is. In modern tarot reading, this card is attributed two peculiar negative meanings. First - economic crimes (embezzlement, theft). Second - lack of real risk assessment when planning projects, failure to take into account economic aspects, financial losses due to ill-conceived decisions. If the question asked is somehow related to this, they can be taken into account.

Exhaustion, professional burnout.

Despite outward inaction, the card can indicate a period of intense internal work and careful planning, late nights and reflections. To think over the situation and plan future actions, tranquility and solitude are needed, a temporary refusal to participate in the race. Taking a philosophical position regarding the opponent - cooling off, abandoning the fight, forceful actions, self-isolation from a certain situation. Rest, waiting, a sober view of things, a rejection of "blood-draining interactions," abandoning initiative when currently powerless to influence anything. On the one hand, this is undoubtedly exhaustion and submission, exile and retreat, an admission of fiasco and inability to control the situation. On the other hand, it can be a fully conscious position of non-interference and neutrality.

This card resembles a revolutionary in exile. Lenin in Shushenskoye. "We will go another way." What was done before was not entirely effective; if you go the same way again, you will find yourself in the same situation again. But careful planning will provide advantages in the future. This is work whose results may come later. But one still needs to end up "in Shushenskoye"—such meanings of the card as exile or failure may also manifest.

A forced halt of a project to accumulate resources (in this sense, the Four of Swords should not be confused with the Ten of Swords—it is not the end). A bogged-down matter.

This is a situation of inaction, inertia, being forced to sit idly by, no dynamics. On the other hand, it is a recovery from clearly unhealthy behavior, and the leitmotif of this change is saving energy and caution. The card clearly points to the need for a recovery period after the situation just passed (symbolically—the Three of Swords). This time must be used to think everything over and develop a wiser approach. The card also contains a warning: do not expect a return to previous heights—they turned out to be not so good. If you strive for the exact same thing again, you risk ending up in the same unpleasant situation again, or even worse (Five of Swords).

Sometimes the card indicates working alone, self-employment, often—night work (mostly passive, like guard shifts).

It is frequently an indicator of unemployment, and can point to receiving help from employment consultants, lawyers, etc., especially when surrounded by corresponding cards.

At the same time, there is an opinion that the card points to those types of work and business that rely on exact calculations and require good technical, mathematical, or economic abilities (for example, bookkeeping and accounting).

Detachment from problems related to money and property. The card is especially indicative if it is known that the person bears financial responsibility. Waiting for better times, freezing during a crisis period. Material losses.

At the same time, the card is often credited with good economic thinking and the ability to make sound, balanced decisions after careful analysis. Among its meanings are such things as: great knowledge regarding material issues, and the ability to use them to multiply wealth; using accumulated experience to improve the material situation; the ability to manage one's property, correct calculation, a realistic assessment of profit and loss, prudence and foresight, economical actions; a decision made after a careful analysis of the available information.

This is a card of temporary loneliness, temporary detachment, and temporary hermitage. These are specifically temporary phenomena, but as a rule, quite long-lasting, and one shouldn't expect them to end soon. The card can describe three qualitatively different states: 1) voluntary stay in one's personal space, a time-out that the person took themselves to put themselves in order; 2) forced isolation, when they objectively have no opportunities to change anything; 3) internal confinement, for which the person finds no explanation, as if a glass wall shields them from the world, which they are quite tired of, but for some reason breaking it turns out to be impossible, and at this stage, such is the will of karma.

And karma, as is known, is rooted in the past actions of the soul. Sometimes the card indicates that the past has a very strong hold over the person (and this could be about events and attachments of this life, as well as more distant times and ties). They profess solitude and refrain from building relationships because they reside there, and the ghosts of past feelings visit their soul like guests on Solaris. Sometimes this is the coldness of one who is "once bitten, twice shy"—the person is paralyzed by their fears caused by past difficulties in relationships, disappointments, pain, betrayal (as a rule, additional indicators in the spread are needed for this, and The Devil, The Tower, Five of Cups, Three and Five of Swords are certainly indicative). They gave up, renounced their feelings, "buried themselves alive."

But they are not dead, and they shouldn't say "never." It's not forever, even if it's for a long time. This is exhaustion from stress, failures, quarrels with a partner. At the same time, the Four of Swords provides an opportunity to evaluate the relationship and the decisions made back then more coolly after a breakup. The Four of Swords gives time to think and warns: until a person analyzes and rethinks their past actions, the future will remain "locked" for them.

Under the Four of Swords, in silence and external stillness, the tormented soul is restored, wounds are healed by the omnipotent doctor—Time. However, other doctors can help too—for example, a sensible psychotherapist. Being alone, a person rebuilds. They will also build relationships differently when the time comes for it. Banzhaf writes: "This period of turning inward can lead to a beautiful peaceful union, to the formation of a space where both partners will have the opportunity to express their feelings." This pause in personal life, during which nothing happens, is essentially open-heart surgery under anesthesia, followed by recovery, the realization of a certain lesson.

Lack of sex, a period of refractoriness, non-excitability, exhaustion. "Nothing is happening," a forced pause, something very earthly remains inactive, a complete lack of physical response.

This is an indication of a "living corpse" type of relationship—they seem to exist, but alienation and coldness are obvious. Problems aren't even discussed. A breakup is coming without a scandal (due to the lack of emotions necessary for a scandal).

Some authors point out that this is a card of a truce. Well, for relationships where people are used to making scandals and fighting, this very well may be the case.

This card may indicate an absence of any feelings, an unwillingness to take initiative and make any steps forward. The position depicted on it is, to put it mildly, passive.

Prolonged illness, or even a hospital stay (in general, this card is an indicator of hospitalization). Loss of mobility for some reason. This can be an attack of sciatica, a major surgery, paralysis, or a coma. Surrounded by clearly negative cards (and if the essence of the question implies such a risk), it can also indicate death (traditional meanings - "coffin, grave").

Complete exhaustion of strength.

The Four of Swords can indicate an early phase of motherhood, when the woman herself has not completely physically recovered after childbirth, and is completely absorbed by the baby ("dead to the world").

Recovery period. Peace after illness. Rest (passive and solitary). Slow recovery of strength. The Four of Swords can be considered a card of healing—but the kind that happens little by little, while the person is in prostration.

Occasionally it can indicate depression and suicidal tendencies, as well as a hex, a distinct energy-information disturbance leading to a loss of vitality.

Sometimes the card carries a positive meaning of the end of a prolonged isolation—this is a good indicator for a person to whom the Four of Swords has repeatedly shown itself upright. But this doesn't happen that often. The period of peace and quiet is coming to an end, ahead is the need to return to current affairs. This can be a release from confinement, recovery after a long illness.

Resumption of activities, a return of previous interests, but most often—all this is ill-timed. The best that this card can give is a very restrained and cautious movement forward (which can be valuable after a period of complete stagnation), and this must be understood correctly. The reversed Four of Swords is not The Chariot! The progress indicated by it is comparable to the progress of a patient who managed to get discharged from intensive care, and is now able to walk to the toilet themselves. Everything is known by comparison, and the possibility of such a walk can be a massive breakthrough.

Delays, lagging behind, laxity or confusion of thoughts, inability to mobilize oneself for something. This echoes the feeling of a person suddenly torn away from meditation. Something interferes with the much-needed rest right now, gives no peace.

Insomnia, bad dreams.

A short illness.

In a reversed position, the Four of Swords means ill-timed action and warns that actions must be very careful and planned. It's time for a person to stop and think, but they rush into battle, driven by a desire to restore what was lost. "Right action at the right time in the right place and with the right people... leads to right results"—the reversed Four of Swords symbolizes the neglect of this principle. Cancer and its associated planets sound—Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars. Mars in Cancer is in fall, so the action seems to freeze, goes deep, turns inward. The Moon symbolizes recovery and motherhood. Jupiter, symbolizing the protective hypostasis of fire (bright grave), in the reversed Four of Swords can give such a negative manifestation as tyranny.

Greed, envy, self-interest, petty jealousy can thwart plans, cause minor failures.

Traditional meanings - foresight, restraint, economy, wise management, gradual recovery of losses, a will.

With The Magician - awakening to activity

With The High Priestess - emphasis on peaceful rest, detachment, contemplation, the need to work on oneself in solitude

With The Hermit - retreating to a monastery (can also be to an internal monastery of the spirit)

With Wheel of Fortune - incomprehensible rapid events

With The Hanged Man - a radical decrease in activity, a huge emphasis on redemption, spiritual restructuring

With Death, Ten of Swords - a possible threat to life, a dangerous illness

With The Tower, Four of Pentacles - prison.

With Eight of Wands - a move will be made, this card weakens the influence of the Four of Swords

With Ten of Wands - taking on an excessive burden undermines health and will end badly

With Knight of Wands (for a woman) - will be abandoned.

With Four of Cups - contemplation, solitude, risk of depression

With Six of Swords - a very funeral combination, the meaning of a refuge and sanctuary (quite possibly the final one).

With Eight of Swords - living abroad (again, the connection of the 12th house with emigration can be traced).

With Seven of Pentacles - amplifies the significance of re-evaluating one's activities, comprehending achieved results.

Reversed with The Empress, Death, The Tower - danger of ruin.

Reversed with The Star - prison.

Cemetery

The interior space of a temple (in which tombstones were often located, for example, Temple Church in London)

Andrei Tarkovsky's film "Solaris"