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Again the Rider- Waite-Smith card is more mundane in its philosophy than more modern Tarot Cards. Waite illustrates a thief who has to leave some of the swords behind for there are too many to carry. The attempt to carry all is futile, therefore, this card suggests that trying to over-think a thing is futile. Only examine one thought at a time, rather than every possible thought at once, for one cannot expect to thing the same thoughts over and over and get different results! You are just going to have to settle for less knowledge than makes you feel secure and like the thief on the Rider-Waite-Smith card, just use what you have and leave thoughts of more or security behind.

The Axiom, "Above all things, know thyself", is an old but well established doctrine of the Gnosis (Ancient Knowledge), and Western Hermetic Qabalah .

In the Gnostic Gospels of Didymos Judas Thomas, Jesus is quoted as saying, "If those who lead say to you, 'see, the kingdom is in the sky.' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, you will then become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons [suns] of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who is that poverty." (The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas---The Nag Hammadi Library--)

The word Suns in brackets is of my own insertion, because the original word is interpretable as Sun/Son, both having similar meanings in Semitic language and Qabalah, the fact that many Monks who interpreted the Gospels from the original Greek, were misogynistic, required them to use the word "Son" or suffer the wrath of the Patriarch. Being that we are all androgynous and/or Hermaphrodites due to a left male side and right female side of our brains, each of us are to advance our personality to Tiphareth (beauty), the Son/Sun of the Solar logos, which is number 6 on the Tree of Life. 6 is the number of the Sun, and is the Christ/Buddha state of conscious energy; the highest state of mind that we can reach in a physical body. More research into the old papyri that was dug up in Nag Hammadi Egypt , will reveal even more Gnostic gems for the inquiring mind.

The B.O.T.A. Tarot- 7 of Swords, is pure in its minimalistic art of 3 swords in a Triangle and 4 swords below, in a square. The Above 3 swords imitate the Supernal Triangle of the One Mind.

The 4 below swords imitate the 4 Sephiroth below the "Abyss of the Universal Collective Unconscious MInd". Those 4 being : 4-Chessed, 5-Geburah, (The central 6the Sephiroth is the Soul), 7 -Netzach, and 8- Hod.

The lower worlds forming the square are all worlds of "mind dreams", worlds of illusions brought on by assumptions of the I AM (God/Goddess). Often called the "upper Astral", this where ideas, become measured "dreams" before they become manifested. All is Mind and therefore, all images are imagined. Here we are Psyche's/Celestial energy dreaming we are manifesting as forms of the I AM's experiment in Self-Awareness and/or a "Me". This is explained throughout the 78 cards of the Tarot. Each of us dreams we are human, when all in all, we are spiral energy and/or Spirit. Above all things, know thyself!

When the Seven/7 of Swords, is thrown during a reading, the querent:

• Is or shall, experiencing 7 weeks or 7 months of  futile effort because of the characteristics of , self doubt , such as,  being untrustworthy, due to vacillation.
• Is experiencing unstable effort in all that is attempted. 
• There is also the prospect of journeying over-land, with mixed results. 
• Partial success is suggested, because of  yielding  when victory is at hand. Such a yielding is brought on by the self-defeating thoughts of self doubt which tend to "drain  strength" because of internal conflict. 
• There is an inclination to loose when on the point of gaining  through not continuing effort.
• There is also suggested: a love of abundance, a fascination of display (where the wrapping is more important than the gift), given to compliments, ease of affronts and insolence's with need to detect and spy on others. 
•  Inclinations to betray confidences, not always intentional, but subject to vacillation, causing unreliability. The strength of which all depends on the dignity of the accompanying cards.

If reversed , it implies:

• Deceitfulness.
• Intrigues. 
• Insincerity.

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