Ace of Swords

Air in Kether ~ Potential of Debate ~ Discovery

Metaphysics. This is Being conceiving of itself. When mind creates concepts, it divides existence in two. One the one hand is Being itself, on the other is the concept, the model. Being can be experienced, it can be lived, but it cannot be apprehended and evaluated like concepts can.

When a new concept takes shape in the mind, it appears as a discovery: new knowledge, new understanding, new possibilities. Every discovery embodies a hidden choice. If something is found be this way, then it can no longer be that way, and so infinite possibility is channeled in a chosen direction. This structuring and limiting of reality is a necessary part of the mental world, the world of concepts and models. Because reality itself has an irreducible mental dimension, the structuring process is natural and inevitable.

Every discovery has a three-fold structure. First, there is a division of possibility into two alternatives. Every concept creates its own antithesis. Otherwise, it could not be distinct, and hence could not be meaningful. Arising from this recognition of rival possiblities, this choice, comes the third element, a synthesis, an appraisal of how things truly are. In this way, the dichotomy is resolved and reality takes on a particular shape. The history of the Universe is a record of the choices that have been made as Being discovers itself.

Psychology. The ace of swords stands for a new idea, an insight, a discovery, an unconscious choice. It may be a flash of conceptual clarity, a surprise that alters one's conception of self and world, or the inception of a new paradigm. It is associated with a feeling of tapping into the truth, of connecting with eternal verities or deep principles. In the pristine world of the aces, there is indeed unambiguous truth; it is only when we try to establish relationships between different truths that qualifications and errors are introduced. The ace represents the undeveloped, untempered, unqualified idea or ideal.

Events. In the world of events, the ace of swords may obviously stand for the moment of insight, the act of discovery itself. It may also indicate the beginning of a new intellectual endeavor, a penetrating conversation, or an internal debate. Unlike the two of swords, which represents the weighing of two distinct, articulated alternatives, the ace represents an innocent choice, the discovery of pattern and form where there was chaos before. The key characteristic is that of mental novelty.

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