The Two of Swords is the last deuce anchored to Veiled Isis. Its mundane Key Phrase is Sickness through Overwork. Other suggested interpretations could be:
Obstacles overcome by love
Mental development through struggle
Difficult road to success
Marital trouble
The inner or esoteric meaning of this card is based upon the Taurus decanate of Capricorn and the constellation of Delphinus. Delphinus is pictured in the heavens as a dolphin. Dolphins seems to share many human characteristics: they breath air like us because they are mammals; they exhibit curiosity, intelligence, loyalty, and social skills; they fiercely protect their young and demonstrate familial love even between generations; they could also be said to communicate through a language. Like humans, dolphins can be entertained. Knowing these things about dolphins, is it any wonder that many legends around the world portray dolphins as beneficent sea creatures and Saviors of Men, saving the lives of humans, particularly those who are engaged in some just and noble human cause. Thus, the key word for the esoteric meaning of this card is Martyrdom. This is one of the simplest connections to make so far in the study of the esoteric meanings of the minors. Even the outer meaning, Sickness through Overwork, could imply martyrdom by working too hard for the benefit of others.
But, there is another aspect to the inner meaning of this card, and one of the stories Zain writes about illustrates the spiritual message of card perfectly. It is the Greek story of Hesiod, who was a famous poet. Hesiod was killed by assasins and his body thrown into the sea; but the dolphins who are the friends of poets and all who are benefactors to the human race, recovered Hesiod’s body from the depths of the ocean and swam it ashore where it could be discovered by Hesiod’s friends. Hesiod’s friends, in turn, used his own dogs to track down the murderers until they were captured. Then the murderers were thrown into the sea to receive as punishment exactly the same kind of death they had caused the poet.
Zain’s comments upon this story relay that it is not always possible in this life or in the hereinafter to make complete restitution to the person who has been wronged. But those souls who focus their attention, desires and efforts upon making restitution to those people they have harmed, or at least through some commensurate service to society, will thereby release their finer bodies from the weight of their transgressions thus avoiding a drop to lower vibratory spheres in the astral. The spiritual message of this card is: Man by his thoughts, his emotions and his actions on earth, builds for himself a home in a higher realm where he will dwell after passing from the physical plane. Other key words for the inner meaning of this card could be Restitution, Amends or Repentance.
For more information about the Minor Arcana of the Egyptian Brotherhood of Light deck, or the 21 Brotherhood of Light Lessens, please browse our bookstore at www.light.org, or take a donation-based class online at http://www.churchoflight.tv
