The Tarot Asks, Where Are Your Boundaries?
Reading by Rahne Alexander
“It can be such an intimidating thing to draw a line and say ‘this is no longer acceptable behavior.’ ”
I’ve been thinking a lot about boundaries these last few weeks.
On a personal level, I’m a strong advocate of boundary-setting. As a tactic that emerged from my feminist studies and queer political engagement, it’s often served me well. Holding boundaries is often hard work, and while I’ve gotten stronger over the years, sometimes challenges to my boundaries can be draining physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
It can be such an intimidating thing to draw a line and say “this is no longer acceptable behavior.” For those of us who are given to pleasing others at our own expense, what’s more terrifying than telling someone “no?” For those who exhibit this tendency, an exercise I recommend is to say “no” to the next request that comes along, whatever it is, just to see how it feels.
I am focusing here, of course, on personal boundaries; but as we know, the personal is political. Setting boundaries and holding them is a political action.
With boundaries on my mind, I started this month’s draw with the card that evokes boundaries for me: The Four of Swords. Ordinarily for this column, I’ve been starting with a mediation on one of the majors and then drawing a minor in response, so this very column is a bit of a challenge to the rules, the boundaries, I’ve set for myself.
“Say “no” to the next request that comes along, whatever it is, just to see how it feels.”
In the Rider Waite Smith deck, the Four of Swords tends towards interpretations of withdrawal from the outside world. The image of the reclined knight suggests a desire for repose, a quiet moment for himself, a retreat from the battles. In the deck I read from most frequently, however — the Enchanted Tarot — the image is of a Buddha-like figure meditating cross-legged and surrounded by a frame of four swords. This is the image I think of when I think of the Four of Swords. To meditate, to achieve clarity, we need space and time and quietude. We need to set boundaries to meditate, and that suggests that meditation itself is a political practice.
Perhaps our knight here is attempting to meditate in his own way. Our knight also seems to be resting in a church, perhaps suggesting that this church is providing the necessary sanctuary from the outside world, giving him the security to become relaxed and vulnerable. Maybe it’s worth challenging assumptions about what meditation looks like, but in my experience, most of the time when I lie down to meditate, I just go to sleep.
The Hermit
Two years into a pandemic, how do you feel about how your hermitage is coming along? How about your personal boundaries?
Me, I wouldn’t be so comfortable letting my guard down in such a place; perhaps this is one reason I prefer other interpretations of this card. My boundaries need to be personally defined and held — and so it’s interesting that the major I pulled in response to the Four is The Hermit.
The Hermit is a figure more permanently separated from the outside world; his sanctuary is entirely personally defined. His domain is designed to meet his own needs, and he’s no longer seeking the definitions and commendations from the outside world. He seems to have gotten the answer to his existential questions, which of course prompts curiosity from those of us who are still seeking. We may want to ask him about the meaning of life, but the secret is that it’s always already a question we can usually only answer through deep introspection — which is usually best done in the quiet moments, usually only achieved when we have successfully held the world at bay.
“I am focusing here, of course, on personal boundaries; but as we know, the personal is political. Setting boundaries and holding them is a political action.”
So I guess it all comes down to this: two years into a pandemic, how do you feel about how your hermitage is coming along? How about your personal boundaries?
This month’s Tarot Tunes playlist is a fusion of songs for holding the world at bay, a sort of a roadmap for meditation upon and clarifying boundaries.
Rahne Alexander is an intermedia artist and writer from Baltimore, Maryland. She holds an MFA in Intermedia + Digital Arts from UMBC. A tarot reader for more than 20 years, she can be reached for readings at rahne.com/tarot.
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