Last week we talked about how, in playing card divination, the sixes all represent facets of direction and movement. Perhaps because the pips on the card themselves look like a road. On the sevens, this pip-image becomes a road with an obstacle in the middle. The sevens all encompass downsides and pitfalls.
In our discussion of color, we mentioned that most red cards are positive. Most, but not all. The sevens are where we see this play out the clearest.
I tend to think of the sevens as the shadow-selves of their respective suits. When the virtues of a suit are carried so far as to become vices, or bring with them negative side-effects, we see them show up in the sevens.
Seven of Diamonds: The Shadow of Power – “Deceit”
The Seven of Diamonds is what happens when we recognize that power and resources are as much about appearance as reality. Rather than real value, wealth can be created through an elaborate shell-game of overvalued castles in the air. Social reputation is a convenient collective fiction, which can be torn down with a well-placed piece of slander. The fastest path to advancing yourself is at the expense of others, and the fastest way to accomplish that is through deception. When playing the games of power, what you say doesn’t need to be true – it just needs to be plausible.
This is a card that recognizes the power of a good lie. That inflammatory misinformation spreads much faster than humble retraction. That public perception is more important than truth. Like all Diamonds, the Seven is about power – but it’s the power of an unscrupulous politician or used car salesman.
Seven of Clubs: The Shadow of Labor – “Worry”
The Seven of Clubs captures the shadow-side of work: stress and anxiety. Sometimes, despite all your best efforts, you will fail. There are cases where you work as hard as you can, and your efforts still aren’t good enough. Those cases take up a disproportionate share of our thoughts. When the results are uncertain, we’re inclined to worry ourselves into frayed balls of stress. What if we fail? What if we are judged and found lacking? What if all our carefully constructed dreams come crashing down?
This isn’t a card about actual negative outcomes. Those are more the realm of Spades. This is a card about our thinking about the possible negative outcomes, and pulling that negativity forward into the present. The performance anxiety that causes us to stumble at a crucial moment, or the stress that keeps us lying awake into the wee hours of the morning. In any labor where the outcome is uncertain, there is worry. The Seven of Clubs cautions us that our worries may be getting out of hand.
Seven of Hearts: The Shadow of Intimacy – “Jealousy”
I have the keyword “jealousy” tied to this card, but there are a number of others that would have been suitable: hate, fear, paranoia. When we build a meaningful intimate relationship, we open ourselves up to the possibility of loss. The more invested we become in the relationship, the more we come to fear losing it. To some extent that’s natural, but it can be taken to an unhealthy extreme. The jealous lover, who never wants their partner to spend any time with other people. The helicopter parent, who is so over-protective that their child never learns to be independent. The rivalry that festers into zero-sum bitterness. In each case the personal ramifications of the relationship have superseded the mental health of the parties involved.
And to be clear, the alternative is also not good. To live one’s life in armor, never daring to open up and connect with anyone, for fear or being hurt. To be so focused on protecting ourselves from wounds, that we cut ourselves off from the joy of the world. There’s a balancing act in connecting deeply enough to be meaningful, but holding on loosely enough to not smother. The Seven of Hearts warns us that we are straying too far from that balance, in one direction or the other.
Seven of Spades: The Shadow of Strife – “Righteousness”
The Seven of Spades is a twisty card to catch a hold of. What does it mean to be the shadow side of a suit that is mostly shadows? If most of the sevens take generally positive suits and flip them negative, I sort of like the idea of the Seven of Spades taking a generally negative suit and flipping it positive.
Hutcheson links the Seven of Spades to imagery of tears, blood, and war. Which are not obviously positive, on first inspection. But I think there is still some meaning worth mining here.
For me, the Seven of Spades captures the idea of necessary strife. If peaceful submission is the only option on the table, there isn’t a lot of virtue to be found there. If you meet every challenge with surrender, you’re not enlightened, you’re just a pushover. Sometimes battles need to be fought. Sometimes, when you are pushed, pushing back hard prevents further escalation. In this light, the war captured by the Seven of Spades is not one of senseless attrition, it’s the righteous crusade. The blood is blood spilled for a worthy cause. The tears are tears of catharsis, rather than tears of trauma.
The Seven of Spades reminds us that the strategy that gets us a seat at the negotiating table is deterrence, rather than appeasement. Once you have established a capacity for violence, there is serenity in choosing the path of peace.
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