This is what I did for a very long time in the last 24 hours: lots of sleeping. I put the swords to the side and rested. My kids are away on vacation with their dad and I was able to nap 6 hours uninterrupted. Which of course leads to this, me posting on the net at 3:00 in the morning. I am not a napper, and this is why. I don't do anything in bits and pieces, I go full on, so I don't "nap," I sleep. For hours. And then wake up at all the wrong hours and act like it's a new day. Fours indicate a time of no movement, like me, prone for six hours. Since swords are the suit of mental activity and communication, sleep is a good metaphor for the time when the brain shuts down or at least preoccupies itself for a time. This guy's four swords are resting too, leaning beside and around him. They're right there for when he awakes, but if he's anything like me I bet he's dreaming about whatever it was that was on his mind before he dozed off. My "swords" tend to keep active even when I'm not, which is also why I've always sucked at meditation. I can't seem to reach that "no mind" place, ever, and actually, that has served me well in times of extreme mental stress, when I was seriously in danger of mental breakdown my mind refused to give in. Still, there are times when I wish my brain had an off switch. I have fantasized about taking my own head off, leaving it on a shelf with a peck on my own cheek, and going about a normal day, like having a temporary lobotomy.

So, the four of swords is like a nap, a mini-vacation, flipping TV channels while thinking of nothing at all. It's silence, not thinking much, not talking, not doing much of anything, and when you look at the cards that come before and after this one, it's no wonder. The three of swords is traumatic and very tough on the brain cells, not to mention the heart, and the five of swords is, well, really conflicting. It can indicate convalescence, time in the hospital, or even doing time in jail. It can indicate a break is needed in a relationship or from your job. If this card reappears in your readings over and over, you are probably being cautioned that if you don't willingly take some time off, you will be forced to, often by way of our bodies conking out like coming down with the flu or some other illness that forces you to rest whether it was convenient to your schedule or not.

Remember how I said that tarot can be quite direct at times? This card often comes across in readings as saying, "Give it a rest." Like, cut it out, you've obsessed enough about this, it's only going to make things worse if you continue. Knock it off. That includes doing yet another reading on the same situation because you can't seem to leave it be. This is one of tarot's ways of telling you to fuck off. Go take a nap. Leave the cards on the table. Rude! Well, yeah. But hi, you're the one chasing your own tail with the cards and obsessing about things. Is it helping? No. So listen when tarot flips you off. Its for your own good.

As for me...I'm going back to bed. I'll flip TV channels until sleep takes over again. Totally 4 of swords.

* The image above is from The Hudes Deck By Susan Hudes, published by US Games.