On the surface it would seem butterflies and swords have nothing in common.
In tarot, swords are associated with air in astrology and the thinking function in typology.
The Knight, Queen, and King card of swords cards all have butterflies on them, which is a stark contrast with the heaviness of the sword.
The Sun is now in the air sign of Gemini, a sign that fits well with butterflies.
Gemini, ruled by Mercury, is curious and likes to move wherever its interests take them. It is playful, agile, and stop briefly at waystations, just like a butterfly.
(In my opinion, Gemini correlates better with the extraverted intuition function rather than with either thinking function, but I digress).
The three swords cards that are associated with Gemini are all challenging ones: 8, 9, and 10 of Swords.
Butterfly —the Greek word for psyche — represents transformation, and this can be daunting.
Caterpillars disintegrate into a soup of cells, out of which a butterfly emerges. That 8 of Swords image is cocoon-like.
Hermes (Mercury) is associated with “chance happenings and risking it all leading to great reward or great loss, making him the god of dice and lotteries. Hermes types are the caterpillars that give up everything for the possibility of becoming a butterfly” (Dennis Merritt, Hermes, Ecopsychology, and Complexity Theory, p. 37).
No wonder Gemini might want to stay under the 9 of Swords blanket sometimes or feel stabbed in the back like 10 of Swords for daring to be transformative.
Our spiritual development and transformation resembles “the death of the worm and the birth of a butterfly” over and over again in our life, per Julienne McLean:
“It describes our passages, crises, depressions, difficulties, our transitions and turning points. They nearly always, in large or small measure, entail a process of dying and rebirth into a different sense or experience of who we are, of our relationship to God and others, in our services and vocation in the world (McLean, Towards Mystical Union, p. 82).
Through a Jungian lens, the butterfly—and Gemini—represent the psyche’s capacity for transformation, the soul’s journey, and the hope for renewal. After dissolution, a new form and beauty can emerge.
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