Swords govern discernment and instantiative coherence. In this model, Upright describes the card's functional expression in Spacetime (macrocosmic, externally enacted). Reversed describes the same mechanism operating in Timespace (microcosmic, internally processed). Reversed does not automatically mean "negative"; it means the locus of operation has turned inward.
Domain: Spacetime → Discernment → Diagnostic Disruption
| Card | Archetypal Constant | Upright (Spacetime Function --- Macrocosmic) | Reversed (Timespace Function --- Microcosmic) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ace (01) | Initiatory Clarity; Ignition of Thought | Newly generated thought-forms penetrate through static; moment of clarified perception. | Private ignition of thought; inward clarity-forming; intrusive ideation or certainty-fog. |
| Two (2) | Equilibrated Cognition | Balanced evaluative stillness; conscious pause for integration of opposing truths. | suspension of judgment; incubation of opposing truths; numb neutrality as avoidance. |
| Three (3) | Triadic Disruption; Informational Rupture | Painful but honest rupture; necessary heartbreak that restores signal clarity. | Rupture processed internally; grief that clarifies or pain cycling into identity. |
| Four (4) | Intentional Recuperation; Cognitive Integration | Mental integration through conscious rest; recalibration of the signal. | Integration window; restorative stillness or shutdown masquerading as peace. |
| Five (5) | Strategic Disruption; Contest of Meaning | Strategic disruption; cutting your losses to regain personal authority. | Contest of meaning within the self; boundary-setting or rationalized inner power-games. |
| Six (6) | Transition Through Thought; Conceptual Shift | Movement of mind away from chaos; transitional clarity. | Transitional reframing; movement of thought without full integration; mental flight or premature closure. |
| Seven (7) | Strategic Discretion; Covert Assessment | Covert navigation; strategic self-preservation; subtle truth extraction. | Strategic privacy; selective concealment that protects coherence or slides into self-deception. |
| Eight (8) | Logical Limitations; Perceptual Constriction | Awareness of mental entrapment; realization of self-imposed limits. | Limitation framed through belief; accurate self-assessment or self-binding helplessness loops. |
| Nine (9) | Internalized Judgment | Exposure of psychic weight; honest confrontation with suppressed thought. | Judgment engine activated; conscience and reckoning; guilt-loops and catastrophizing. |
| Ten (10) | Narrative Obsolescence; Collapse of Mental Structure | Collapse of false mental structure; clarity through ego-death. | Narrative collapse recognized internally; surrender and reorganization or clinging to the wreckage. |
| Card | Archetypal Constant | Upright (Spacetime Function --- Macrocosmic) | Reversed (Timespace Function --- Microcosmic) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knave | Emergence of Discernment Interface | Ability to sample new perspectives and concepts without commitment; observational curiosity; conducive dissonance. | Emergent discernment turned inward; sampling perspectives with insecurity-driven skepticism or contrarianism. |
| Knight | Directed Cognitive Motion | Direct execution of evaluative will; sharp truth in motion; advancing toward resolution through force of insight. | Drive toward resolution accelerated internally; compressed deliberation, rigidity, crusader certainty. |
| Queen | Integrated Understanding; Calibrated Precision | Embodiment of logical reasoning; emotionally mature clarity; piercing insight with grace. | Integration of clarity and feeling strained; clean boundaries or detachment used as armor. |
| King | Authoritative Judgment; Codified Integrity | Executive clarity; leadership grounded in competency; stabilizing mode of interface projected into the collective system of operations. | Authority over meaning internalized; self-governance or authoritarian inner law and abusive logic-masks. |