This card depicts a hand, (the left), open, palm upturned, with the markings of a cut tree trunk tracked into it. The artist’s interpretation of the lines in a palm, perhaps? A reworking of one’s lifelines?

Don’t accept what has been foreword. Put your own will and action into it.

In the right hand, which we cannot see, there is a knife – nothing threatening, just a simple kitchen knife – which is being used to pierce the centre of the palm to release blood. Or maybe, instead, this is a branch, like the birth of a shoot?

The card calls for bravery, transparency, vulnerability, trust, and a sacrifice, a gift that is uniquely personal to oneself.

You need to show up and look at what is, honestly without self deception. You need to have faith, both in yourself and in the Universe.

You need to alter the perfection of what is, for there needs to be a wound in order for there to be a healing, something lost or exchanged for something gained.

~

EXERCISE:

Open your palm.

Stare into the lines and forget the narrative.

Pierce it and start anew.

Release what has been and what has been foretold.

Relinquish what was dreamed, desired, charted and navigated.

Let go of everything that was.

Take that page and tear it up.

Cast the whole book aside.

Make a new one.

Create new lines and release their energy.

TAKE THIS METAPHOR AND APPLY IT TO YOUR LIFE

~

HOW?

What is stuck?

What no longer works?

Where are you unhappy?

Release it.

Cut the threads that bind you to it.

Trace a new story.

~

1. Maybe that means writing a short journal entry about how your life will play out?

2. Maybe that means crafting a poem that serves as a banishing spell. And then another that brings something into being? Make them high vibrational and kind. Do not align yourself with anything that is not in accordance with Source.

3. Maybe that means baking a special cake, that contains within it all of your dreams, wishes, hopes and desires?

4. Maybe that means terminating some relationships – work, social, family?

5. Maybe that means going off-grid and trying to live differently?

Have a think about it and work out what works for you. Your sacrifice could simply be giving away some clothes, supporting a local homeless shelter, rescuing an animal, helping out locally, etc.

~

The Ace of Knives is the Ace of Swords in another form. Swords represent intellect, logic and reason. They are associated with the air element, winter and the act of learning. The Ace is the purest version of this. It’s the beginning, the spark, the seed, the stomach rumble that comes as an early indicator before the full sensation of hunger.

The Ace of Swords does not mince her words. She is direct, delivering the reality of the situation to you. She is love, but she is also tough. She is the best friend who tells you your boyfriend is cheating or your bum has gotten fat. She knows what you know, only she is more able and willing to voice it. She will help you in your quest for hope, but only if you are prepared to follow her advice. Lean in. Listen carefully. And don’t kill the messenger.