Facing challenges
Ideas from images
I thought it would be interesting to place two similar images together and let them stimulate my imagination. On the left is the Queen of Swords, from the Rider-Smith-Waite tarot deck. Illustration by Pamela Colman Smith. The right picture is by fantasy artist Anne Stokes.
Both images show strong, resolute women warriors facing a challenge with a sword held strongly. In Tarot, the sword represents clear ideas which cut through illusion and reveal truth.
The Queen of Swords looks to the distance. The challenge is external to her, and perhaps it is in the future. She faces the challenge calmly, and invites it to approach. Her head is above the clouds — she sees clearly and we have no doubt that she will act decisively.
The image by Anne Stokes is dynamic. The warrior faces us. What she is looking at is suggested by the reflection in her sword. The position of the dragon’s face is intriguing. It seems to be part of the woman’s face. The sword she holds has dragon’s heads on the hilt. Is she saluting a worthy adversary? Is she facing her own inner demon? Is she recognizing the power of her own dark strength and making an ally of it? Is she inviting us to do the same? Is she a mirror of us?
What challenges are you facing? Are they external to you, or internal — or both? How will you respond? These women warriors suggest that inner strength and calm are good foundations for action.
What struck me most is the contrast of orientation.
The Queen of Swords looks past us, into the distance, into consequence. Her clarity is anticipatory. She doesn’t dramatize conflict; she acknowledges it and prepares. There’s no seduction there, only discernment.
The Anne Stokes figure, by contrast, looks straight at us. The challenge is immediate and relational. The reflection in the blade collapses the distance between adversary and self, which makes the dragon feel less like an external threat and more like integrated power. Not conquered, not denied, but recognized.
Placed together, they suggest two forms of strength that are often confused:
clarity that cuts illusion away, and courage that allows the shadow to stand beside you without taking the wheel.
That final question you pose matters because it refuses the fantasy of purely external enemies. Most real conflicts are mixed. The skill is knowing when to raise the sword outward and when to hold it steady enough to see yourself in it.
Quiet post. Precise. It lingers.
I see two women holding the same blade from different throats of truth… one cuts the world cleanly, the other learns to kiss her own dragon and live.