Today’s card draw in the Discovering the Wild Unknown series is the Wild Unknown Daughter of Swords, traditionally known as the Page or Princess of Swords.
I want to start off by providing an important notice, which will be included in all of this series. However, other things that will be included that you can skip to are:
- Card Description
- Considering the Card, where I look at how I would interpret certain imagery used
- Traditional Rider-Waite definition
I only include the latter as a comparison, to show how wandering down your own understanding of images and symbols can bring you to a similar meaning, though along a different path with different experiences. This is to help expand knowledge of the card.
I will not, however, be including the definitions from the guidebook, as that is not the point of this. Also, I don’t have rights to that material.
Important Note
I started this series because I had read that people struggled with the deck purely because the definitions in the Little White Book were very Rider-Waite-based, and that there wasn’t much wisdom regarding the animals and symbolism chosen.
This series is to help you to decipher the meanings yourselves. I am by no means saying what I have to say about the cards are correct for anyone outside myself. However, I am providing my daily journal entries regarding the deck to act as a guide so that you can begin your own journey.
When I started tarot, I had no idea what to write in my journal, and thus didn’t. Instead I obsessively read and re-read the Little White Book belonging to the Spiral Tarot (which is why today I can completely quote the book). I didn’t trust myself to know the cards, even when I could recite the definitions. I was afraid to put the book down.
To this fear of lack of knowledge, Kim Krans, creator of The Wild Unknown, writes:
You do know enough. You’ve been a person on earth every day since you were born. You’ve experienced all the emotions and situations these cards depict. Quiet the naysayer…don’t let it prevent you from sitting down with a friend (or yourself) and using these cards to help talk about what’s going on in your life. It will be positive. It will be radical. You’ll find things start to reveal themselves through the cards that have been hidden away, covered with dust.
pp. 10-11, The Wild Unknown Guidebook
Description of the Wild Unknown Daughter of Swords
The Wild Unknown Daughter of Swords shows a Barn owl perched on the blade of a horizontal sword. The sword is black. The owl’s posture is toward the left of the card, but she faces the reader. The top of the card is black, though fades to white. Around the owl are stars, each of a different color. There seven in total, starting at red, then moving on to orange, orange-yellow, yellow, green, blue, and ending in purple.
Traditional Card Meaning
The Page of Swords usually represents a younger person, or someone who is new to a particular project or career. The Pages are represented by Air, as are the Swords, thus there is strong indication of communication and thinking. The Pages thus can be very thoughtful, but at the same time be very communicative. Figuratively, they represent a message or beginning study.
What I derive from the Wild Unknown Daughter of Swords
The owls are generally seen as a symbol of wisdom and thought, due to their association with Athena in Greek mythology. The face of the owl is calm, though has a fixed stare at the reader. This reminds me of repetitive questioning. There is a method of getting to the true answer of something within by asking the same question over and over until you get to the right answer. There’s no pressure, just a gentle repeat of the question, kind of like the ‘why’ game. This questioning forces one to consider the answer and thus communicate the answer with oneself. The back-and-forth of questioning self and answering self is like the two edges of a sword, and the Air on Air factor of the Page of Swords.
However, that she’s perching on the blade tells me that she doesn’t know what the Sword is for. She knows it’s a useful tool, but doesn’t know it’s potential. It’s like having a car but keeping it as a lawn ornament and for storage, knowing that it’s useful and you can do stuff with it, but not really understanding what it is that’s supposed to be done with it.
Thus, this card comes with a caution to use knowledge wisely, be careful what you say. Just because it comes to your mind doesn’t mean it needs to come out of your mouth. a
About the Deck
The Wild Unknown Tarot is a 2016 Harper One publication, created by Kim Krans. The deck is widely available at most bookstores who carry Tarot cards, but also on Amazon. Kim Krans always wrote The Wild Unknown Guidebook.
