Two cards in conversation

Justice + Queen of Swords

People often bring two cards with a question about what will happen. Olivia reads a pair as a conversation instead: what each card brings, and what appears between them.

  • A Major and a Minor

Carved on both cards

  • The pointed ivory crown · Crown of gold butterflies

Five ways to read this pair

Try one lens at a time. Write a sentence for each before you read anyone else’s version.

  1. Story

    Read Justice first, then Queen of Swords, as two scenes of one story. What changes between them?

  2. Contrast

    Where do Justice and Queen of Swords pull in different directions, and what does each ask of you?

  3. One colours the other

    Let Queen of Swords describe the way of Justice, as an adjective describes a noun. Then swap them.

  4. A shared symbol

    The same symbol is carved on both: “The pointed ivory crown” and “Crown of gold butterflies”. Follow it from one image to the other: what stays the same, what changes?

  5. Number, suit and element

    A Major and a Minor: the Major can name the theme, the Minor shows where it turns up in ordinary days.

One reader’s version

Justice also holds a sword upright, and Libra, the sign of scales, falls within this Queen’s zodiac span. Together they draw attention to fairness: a judgement that weighs the evidence and still remembers the person on the other side.

Written for the page of Queen of Swords