tarot.el/tarot-swords.el

;;; tarot-swords.el --- Suit of Swords cards for tarot.el

;; Copyright (C) 2026 Jason McBrayer

;; Author: Jason McBrayer <jmcbray@carcosa.net>
;; URL: https://git.carcosa.net/jmcbray/tarot.el

;;; License:

;; This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
;; it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
;; published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
;; License, or (at your option) any later version.

;; This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
;; but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
;; GNU Affero General Public License for more details.

;; You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
;; along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

;;; Commentary:

;; This file implements the suit of Swords cards for tarot.el.  The
;; descriptions and interpretations come from "The Pictoral Key To The
;; Tarot", by Arthur Edward Waite, which is in the public domain.

;;; Code:
(defvar tarot-minor-swords
  (list
   (make-tarot-card :suit 'swords :number 14 :name "King of Swords" :image "img/Swords14.jpg"
                    :description "He sits in judgment, holding the unsheathed sign of his suit. He recalls, of course, the conventional Symbol of justice in the Trumps Major, and he may represent this virtue, but he is rather the power of life and death, in virtue of his office."
                    :upright "Whatsoever arises out of the idea of judgment and all its connexions-power, command, authority, militant intelligence, law, offices of the crown, and so forth."
                    :reversed "Cruelty, perversity, barbarity, perfidy, evil intention.")
   (make-tarot-card :suit 'swords :number 13 :name "Queen of Swords" :image "img/Swords13.jpg"
                    :description "Her right hand raises the weapon vertically and the hilt rests on an arm of her royal chair the left hand is extended, the arm raised her countenance is severe but chastened; it suggests familiarity with sorrow. It does not represent mercy, and, her sword notwithstanding, she is scarcely a symbol of power."
                    :upright "Widowhood, female sadness and embarrassment, absence, sterility, mourning, privation, separation."
                    :reversed "Malice, bigotry, artifice, prudery, bale, deceit.")
   (make-tarot-card :suit 'swords :number 12 :name "Knight of Swords" :image "img/Swords12.jpg"
                    :description "He is riding in full course, as if scattering his enemies. In the design he is really a prototypical hero of romantic chivalry. He might almost be Galahad, whose sword is swift and sure because he is clean of heart."
                    :upright "Skill, bravery, capacity, defence, address, enmity, wrath, war, destruction, opposition, resistance, ruin. There is therefore a sense in which the card signifies death, but it carries this meaning only in its proximity to other cards of fatality."
                    :reversed "Imprudence, incapacity, extravagance.")
   (make-tarot-card :suit 'swords :number 11 :name "Page of Swords" :image "img/Swords11.jpg"
                    :description "A lithe, active figure holds a sword upright in both hands, while in the act of swift walking. He is passing over rugged land, and about his way the clouds are collocated wildly. He is alert and lithe, looking this way and that, as if an expected enemy might appear at any moment."
                    :upright "Authority, overseeing, secret service, vigilance, spying, examination, and the qualities thereto belonging."
                    :reversed "More evil side of these qualities; what is unforeseen, unprepared state; sickness is also intimated.")
   (make-tarot-card :suit 'swords :number 10 :name "Ten of Swords" :image "img/Swords10.jpg"
                    :description "A prostrate figure, pierced by all the swords belonging to the card."
                    :upright "Whatsoever is intimated by the design; also pain, affliction, tears, sadness, desolation. It is not especially a card of violent death."
                    :reversed "Advantage, profit, success, favour, but none of these are permanent; also power and authority.")
   (make-tarot-card :suit 'swords :number 9 :name "Nine of Swords" :image "img/Swords09.jpg"
                    :description "One seated on her couch in lamentation, with the swords over her. She is as one who knows no sorrow which is like unto hers. It is a card of utter desolation."
                    :upright "Death, failure, miscarriage, delay, deception, disappointment, despair."
                    :reversed "Imprisonment, suspicion, doubt, reasonable fear, shame.")
   (make-tarot-card :suit 'swords :number 8 :name "Eight of Swords" :image "img/Swords08.jpg"
                    :description "A woman, bound and hoodwinked, with the swords of the card about her. Yet it is rather a card of temporary durance than of irretrievable bondage."
                    :upright "Bad news, violent chagrin, crisis, censure, power in trammels, conflict, calumny; also sickness."
                    :reversed "Disquiet, difficulty, opposition, accident, treachery; what is unforeseen; fatality.")
   (make-tarot-card :suit 'swords :number 7 :name "Seven of Swords" :image "img/Swords07.jpg"
                    :description "A man in the act of carrying away five swords rapidly; the two others of the card remain stuck in the ground. A camp is close at hand."
                    :upright "Design, attempt, wish, hope, confidence; also quarrelling, a plan that may fail, annoyance. The design is uncertain in its import, because the significations are widely at variance with each other."
                    :reversed "Good advice, counsel, instruction, slander, babbling.")
   (make-tarot-card :suit 'swords :number 6 :name "Six of Swords" :image "img/Swords06.jpg"
                    :description "A ferryman carrying passengers in his punt to the further shore. The course is smooth, and seeing that the freight is light, it may be noted that the work is not beyond his strength."
                    :upright "journey by water, route, way, envoy, commissionary, expedient."
                    :reversed "Declaration, confession, publicity; one account says that it is a proposal of love.")
   (make-tarot-card :suit 'swords :number 5 :name "Five of Swords" :image "img/Swords05.jpg"
                    :description "A disdainful man looks after two retreating and dejected figures. Their swords lie upon the ground. He carries two others on his left shoulder, and a third sword is in his right hand, point to earth. He is the master in possession of the field."
                    :upright "Degradation, destruction, revocation, infamy, dishonour, loss, with the variants and analogues of these."
                    :reversed "The same; burial and obsequies.")
   (make-tarot-card :suit 'swords :number 4 :name "Four of Swords" :image "img/Swords04.jpg"
                    :description "The effigy of a knight in the attitude of prayer, at full length upon his tomb."
                    :upright "Vigilance, retreat, solitude, hermit's repose, exile, tomb and coffin. It is these last that have suggested the design."
                    :reversed "Wise administration, circumspection, economy, avarice, precaution, testament.")
   (make-tarot-card :suit 'swords :number 3 :name "Three of Swords" :image "img/Swords03.jpg"
                    :description "Three swords piercing a heart; cloud and rain behind."
                    :upright "Removal, absence, delay, division, rupture, dispersion, and all that the design signifies naturally, being too simple and obvious to call for specific enumeration."
                    :reversed "Mental alienation, error, loss, distraction, disorder, confusion.")
   (make-tarot-card :suit 'swords :number 2 :name "Two of Swords" :image "img/Swords02.jpg"
                    :description "A hoodwinked female figure balances two swords upon her shoulders."
                    :upright "Conformity and the equipoise which it suggests, courage, friendship, concord in a state of arms; another reading gives tenderness, affection, intimacy. The suggestion of harmony and other favourable readings must be considered in a qualified manner, as Swords generally are not symbolical of beneficent forces in human affairs."
                    :reversed "Imposture, falsehood, duplicity, disloyalty.")
   (make-tarot-card :suit 'swords :number 1 :name "Ace of Swords" :image "img/Swords01.jpg"
                    :description "A hand issues from a cloud, grasping as word, the point of which is encircled by a crown."
                    :upright "Triumph, the excessive degree in everything, conquest, triumph of force. It is a card of great force, in love as well as in hatred. The crown may carry a much higher significance than comes usually within the sphere of fortune-telling."
                    :reversed "The same, but the results are disastrous; another account says--conception, childbirth, augmentation, multiplicity.")))

(provide 'tarot-swords)
;;; tarot-swords.el ends here