“Rest is, quite simply, when you stop using a part of you that’s used up, worn out, damaged, or inflamed, so that it has a chance to renew itself.”
– Emily Nagoski.
Rest, recovery, meditation, strategizing
Overview
Restoration
Take a minute to relax. It’s time to release stress from today. Turn away from the thing that ails your mind and heart, stop thinking about it so rabidly, and come home to yourself.
After a time of turbulence, you should take a moment to recuperate yourself. This is the sign to find peace in pausing, and that you should remove yourself from the chaos that surrounds you.
Symbolism
The Four of Swords depicts a knight lying peacefully on a stone tomb inside a quiet church or chapel, with hands folded in prayer over their chest, evoking a sense of deep rest or meditation. Three swords are mounted on the wall above, pointing downward, while a fourth sword lies horizontally along the side of the tomb. Stained glass windows in the background often show a figure offering solace, symbolizing healing and introspection.
Meaning
Seek Solace
After a time of turbulence, it’s time to seek asylum within the shattered foundation of your soul. Look for answers, rationalize truth, and start stashing away memories. Whatever was to be has come and gone; its purpose served. The mental war that was to follow left the killing field bloodied; where there were once screams, there’s silence.
Losing direction
Numb and kind of lost at this point, you find yourself doing a lot of nothing. This situation has altered you, and maybe you feel kind of like a stranger to yourself. The situation had left an impression on your soul, and now you need to figure out how that works into your entity. You are taking time off after emotional catastrophe to figure yourself out again. Reflect and validate your experience, and use the knowledge gained to avoid similar outcomes in the future.
Knocked out
Whatever it was that broke your heart has left you down for the count. You could be sleeping more or feel chronically exhausted. This card symbolizes a moment of rest; that you are mentally taxed and spent. Running on fumes, you’ve been trying to call on cerebral fuel that’s on empty.
Temperance after Trauma
Trauma can wipe the mind of all its content and put us in a primal state of silent thoughts. This is a time to heal that. Self-care is on the menu here. Remind yourself of humanity, humility; what separates man from animals.
Retreating from turmoil
In brief, the four of swords is symbolic of resting after loss or trauma. Take the stagnancy and passivity as a chance to navigate the darkness to reclaim your soul from suffering.
Isolate yourself; find the light inside you once more. Only you can navigate the labyrinths of your own mind.
The Four of Swords Reversed
“Rest when you are weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.”
— Ralph Marston
Burn out, mental exhaustion, refusal to rest, anxiety
Overview
In the reversed position, the man appears like he is going to fall directly on the swords hovering over him. Which is a saying in itself to fall on your own sword.
This can indicate that you are resting too much, and will ultimately suffer the consequences of such, or that your work is suffering from refusing to yield. Regardless, your sword is primed and ready. The very tool you use in battle will be the thing that will mortally wound you.
Conversely, you maybe granted the opportunity in the future to take a break. It’s in your best interest to do so.
Meaning
Burnout
If you keep pushing you’re going to end up worse off than you started out. There seems to be no end in sight to the things that need your attention, and your energy is wavering. This is the call that you’re running on fumes creatively, mentally and otherwise. It’s time to rest your weary head before your sword finds its way to rest in it instead.
Mental Fatigue
While trying to figure out some complex issue, you’ve found you’re just running in circles at this point. The Four of swords is the sign that without rest, you’ll be stuck on in a thought loop that will entrap you until you do. There is no solution to be had when your mind is a hamster running in a wheel.
Refusal to Rest
After burning the midnight oil to the point where your supply has run dry, the sun is beginning to rise. Yet still, you endure. This is not in your best interest. Your circadian rhythm is suffering, and you can feel your body getting heavy, your mind shutting down. There’s no use fighting this most basic human need. Get some rest, work will still be there when you wake up.
Anxiety
Overstimulation has stolen your sleep from you and it’s creeping up on your mental health. The constant barrage of stimuli is finally getting to you, and giving you crippling anxiety. Don’t let this develop into something more— like a complete upheaval of your psyche. Take time to recover.
