Making choices are a very important part of life. And sometimes making choices, especially making tough choices can be very daunting for many of us.However, the Tarot has also given us a way to reach within our subconscious mind, and find the guidance and help that we need to make those tough choices.

Making Choices: the 2 of Swords

In the Tarot deck, we have the 2 of Swords card – the card which talks about making choices.

Right here, in this image, we see a lady who sits on a bench, with her eyes blindfolded, and holds two swords. She crosses her arms across her chest, and holds one sword in each hand. Behind her, we see a water body, and also a crescent moon in the sky.

We know that the suit of swords is all about mind and logic and thought processes. Making choices often involves using all of these aspects.

However, this card also outlines some more scenarios which are at play over here.

First of all, we see that her eyes are blindfolded. I interpret this in two ways:

1. She cannot see what lies ahead of her.
2. She does not want to see what lies ahead of her.

In either case, the outcome of the choice she is making isn’t quite clear yet.
She, most definitely, needs to get the blindfold off, so that she can know how everything turns up, or what the next steps will be for her.

Another scenario is shown in the way she crosses her hands across her chest. I feel that this displays a certain vulnerability in her – she is trying to protect her heart. She doesn’t want to get hurt by making a choice.

Also we see the water body (the subconscious mind) and the crescent moon (intuition) which tells us that she needs to delve within the depths of her subconscious mind, and use her intutitive forces in order to make the decision.

So, to sum it all up, we see an image in this card which tells us that she needs to make a choice – by using her inner self and intuition to guide her – but at the same time, she doesn’t want to get hurt, and she has no idea how it will all turn out in the end.

Making Choices : A Meditation with the 2 of Swords

Using the clues provided within the 2 of Swords card, here is a meditation / visualization process that I have devised. The aim of this meditation / visualization process is to help you to make that tough decision. It will also help you understand or visualize what the consequences of that decision will be all about.

So, lets begin. Here are the steps involved in this meditation / visualization exercise:

• Make sure you are in a quiet space. Turn off your phone. Close the door of your room. Switch off the music. Just be sure that you won’t be disturbed for the next 5 to 10 minutes.
• Sit on a chair, with your feet lightly on the floor.
• Close your eyes.
• Breathe in and breathe out, till you feel a bit calm.
• Imagine that you are sitting on a bench, with a calm sea behind you. It is evening time, and there is a crescent moon in the sky.
• Imagine that you have a blindfold on your eyes. (If it helps, you might even put a real blindfold on your eyes).
• Now imagine as if you have a sword in each hand, and you are holding them exactly in the same way that the lady in the 2 of Swords card is holding them – one in each hand, with her hands crossed across her chest.
  Now stay in that position for a while – perhaps you might start to feel a bit weird, but stick around.
• Now, each sword is an option – the first one is where you take the action, and the second one is where you don’t take the action. Each choice is pretty much like that. Either you take the action or you don’t.
  Let the pose begin to weigh on you.
• Let the feeling sink in that by not making any choice, you are simply getting tired by holding the swords, and that your life is at a standstill.
• Now that you are really tired of holding on to the choices, imagine that the water from the sea behind you gently begins to provide a calming and soothing sensation all around you. Rays of light from the crescent moon begin to reach out to you, providing you with intuitive information.
• Now imagine that the blindfold falls off and in front of you are two screens.
• On the first screen, you see what happens if you take the action.
• On the second screen, you see what happens if you don’t take the action.
• Now, you know which sword you have to keep, and which sword you need to put down.
• Do it. Put down the sword that you don’t choose, and take the sword you choose and stand up, holding it in your hand triumphantly.
• Say the words out loud, and confidently: “I have made my choice. I decide that (put your decision here) / I am going to (put your action here). Once I do this, then (put the outcome here) will happen.
• Slowly open your eyes and relax.
• Take a notebook and write down what you saw – make a record of your visualization and also of your decision / choice.

This is a very powerful meditation / visualization technique. It will not only help you visualize the fact that by not deciding, or by not taking action, or by not choosing, you are tiring yourself out. It also helps you to visualize what the consequences will be in either case. And once you have decided what to do, it helps you verbalize it, and helps you in the implementation process.

Of course, feel free to tweak the visualization to suit your needs, so that it becomes more useful for you.

Making Choices with the 2 of Swords : How it Began

Just wanted to share with you the story of how this exercise came to me. 🙂

I actually came up with this exercise while I was doing a reading for a good friend of mine, who had a pattern of being very passive, especially when it came down to taking decisions.

Because of this behaviour, he was facing many problems, chiefly in his relationship, where due to his unwillingness to act upon what he knew was the right decision, he was facing the likelihood of a breakup with the girl he loved dearly.

This wasn’t the first time it was happening to him either.

The clues started to come to me when the 2 of Swords card kept popping up in each and every spread I did for him, highlighting the fact that he had the power to take the decision, but he wasn’t taking any decision.

And then, when we spoke about it, he agreed – he realized that it was something that he always turned away from, to his own detriment, but was unable to change about himself.

I kept staring at the card, and then the whole exercise just came to me, and right there, I made him sit on a chair and do this visualization. And then I told him to keep doing this visualization every time he found himself in such a situation in life.

It’s been a few years now, and the latest update is that he is finally getting married to the girl he loves! (Yay!) 😀

And yes, the exercise did the trick for him. He finally found the inner strength he needed to take the tough decisions and make the hard choices, and bring about the required harmony within his relationship.

Your Turn…

Have you tried this meditation / visualization exercise? Did it help you?

Do you have any suggestions to tweak / improve this visualization exercise? Do you have any variations that make sense and can help other readers?

I would really like to know what you think and what your experiences have been. So, please do share your thoughts in the comments section below.