Description
The painting “Queen of Swords” is inspired by the Tarot card of the same name. The Tarot, rooted in ancient mysticism and the Kabbalah, explores the connection between the divine and creation.
The Queen of Swords represents discernment, clarity, and courage. Her wisdom is born from experience and from the pain she has faced and overcome. The cut rope on her arm symbolizes liberation — she has freed herself from confusion, doubt, and fear. In the Tarot, the sword is both a symbol of pain and a tool of truth; it is with this very blade that she cuts herself free.
The painting is also inspired by a poem by James Allen, inscribed into the artwork itself. The poem speaks of the gentle yet powerful strength of water — a force that reflects the feminine resilience of the Queen. Her strength lies not in aggression, but in patience, persistence, and the quiet certainty that, over time, water can shape even stone.
I stood upon the shore, and saw the rocks
Resist the onslaught of the mighty sea,
And when I thought how all the countless shocks
They had withstood through an eternity, I said “To wear away this solid main
The caseless efforts of the waves are in vain”
…. I saw the mighty work the waters wrought by patient softness and unceasing flow……
And I knew that hard, resisting sin should yield at last to love’s soft ceaseless roll
Coming and going, ever flowing in upon the proud rocks of the human soul;
That all resistance should be spent and past , and every heart yield unto it at last.
