Book T no. 41 · Seven of Swords · decan: Moon in Aquarius
Lord of Unstable Effort
Seven of Swords · Lord of Unstable Effort
Read to know yourself, not to surrender yourself: relate to the card; never obey it.
Book T (1912)
TWO Angelic Radiating Hands as before, each holding three swords. A third hand holds up a single sword in the centre. The points of all the swords "just touch" each other, the central sword not altogether dividing them.
The Rose of the previous symbols of this suit is held up by the same hand which holds the central sword: as if the victory were at its disposal. Symbols of Moon and Aquarius.
Partial success. Yielding when victory is within grasp, as if the last reserves of strength were used up. Inclination to lose when on the point of gaining, through not continuing the effort. Love of abundance, fascinated by display, given to compliments, affronts and insolences, and to spy upon others. Inclined to betray confidences, not always intentionally. Rather vacillatory and unreliable.
Netzach of ו (Journey by land: in character untrustworthy).
Herein rule the Great Angels הההאל and מעכאל.
Book T as printed in The Equinox I(8), 1912, public domain (notes in square brackets are Crowley's).
In Book T's table
No. 41 of Book T's 78 titles · Seven of Swords · decan: Moon in Aquarius
Correspondences
Waite, Pictorial Key (1911)
A. E. Waite, a member of the Golden Dawn, in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London, 1911) · public domain · he describes the Rider-Waite-Smith picture of this card, not Book T's
A man in the act of carrying away five swords rapidly; the two others of the card remain stuck in the ground. A camp is close at hand. Divinatory Meanings : Design, attempt, wish, hope, confidence; also quarrelling, a plan that may fail, annoyance. The design is uncertain in its import, because the significations are widely at variance with each other. Reversed : Good advice, counsel, instruction, slander, babbling.
Picture sets
Book T deck, SVG. PlayfulProcess (line art traced from the composite). CC-BY-SA-4.0.
Book T deck, composite. Composite by PlayfulProcess: AI-painted elements (gemini-2.5-flash-image: hand from a cloud, sword, rose, sky) placed by script in the layout Book T describes, so every count is exact. CC-BY-SA-4.0.
Book T deck, iconography. PlayfulProcess: glyphs drawn for this deck, composed by script (scripts/build_book_t_iconography.py) from the card's own metadata, placed as Book T (1912) places them. CC-BY-SA-4.0.
Book T deck, full imagery. PlayfulProcess: parts drawn for this deck (tarot/book-t/parts, tarot/book-t/glyphs), composed by script (scripts/build_book_t_full_imagery.py) from a spec per card that follows Book T (1912). CC-BY-SA-4.0.
Book T deck, linocut. PlayfulProcess: a linocut printing of the full imagery, composed by script (scripts/build_book_t_linocut.py) from the same spec per card, which follows Book T (1912). CC-BY-SA-4.0.