Oh man. I remember doing a reading for a friend during a working trip to France. She was asking me about something important to her and was being playfully (perhaps) nervous about the outcome; so she'd turned away from the table table as I laid out the cards.

"Just tell me one thing before I look," she said. "Did I get the one where the body is on the ground and all the swords are in it?" She was cringing.

"No no, not that," I said.

"Pfew," she said, turning into the reading, present now, as relieved as if nothing else actually mattered.

The swords suit has various traditional meanings, as does the 10 of swords in question. I'm not concerned about those meanings here.

Lets say instead that you can look at the 10 and decide pretty quickly that it's not the most positive card.

Or is it?

The argument here is that it all depends, as always, on factors that are specific to an individual reading.

Specifically I want to put forth that if you take the time to decide on a perspective for the cards in your reading, things open up right away, and there (may) be nothing to fear at all.

For example, we see a body stabbed with swords. What does that body represent? If the swords mean, generally (I am a little concerned) with thought, or mental decision making: it could mean that an idea is over with, let it go. Or it could mean that you are ready to destroy all doubts and get immediately to the point. It could mean that you're bound to slay any opposition (metaphorically speaking). It could mean that you've hashed over this thing -- which is amazing! -- more than enough, and it's time to actually experience the pleasure of it, so put down the over-think-iness and let's do it.

What about the queen of swords? Toward what does she gesture? Is this a test of your own mettle? Or are you the one beckoning to another to give you their best shot? Or is this a part of your own mind that can actually help you to make better decisions, being a little more ruthless with your own equivocating?

It's all on the table.

This is one reason why it makes sense to decide on what the positions of the cards mean ahead of time: so you don't slide around after the fact and cheat yourself of an honest reading.

At the same time -- and we'll talk more about this is another note on another day -- there is a lovely way of reading, often used by Tarot de Marseilles fans, where you simply lay out a few cards in a row and tell a story with them; in that case, you would not decide ahead of time what the positions mean; or not necessarily.

What could the three of swords mean that might not be so terrible?

As always, the final advice is to get into your cards and start exploring .