Thoth – Rider-Waite

Ruin: Excessive Abstraction, Downfall, and Martyrdom

The Ten of Swords. Ruin. Ungrounded Logic. Fantasies of Thought. Excessive Abstraction. Downfall. Loss. Shun. Mirage. Martyrdom. Victim Mentality. Stifling. Bottoming Out. The Ten of Swords corresponds to the Sefirot of Malkuth: Reality, the Root, the Sum, and the Origin. The Ten of Swords represents the final stage of the transformation of the energy of the Suit of Swords when it finally reaches reality and the material world. The theme if disconnect, disillusion, and despair have been themes throughout the Suit, and the Ten brings them all together and amplifies them. This card represents the ultimate disconnect between the abstract Swords and the Material Malkuth.

This card represents Excessive Abstraction, Ungrounded Logic, and Fantasies of Thought; being too lost in one’s own ideals and ponderings, and failing to see the reality before you. This card represents the state of one’s mind being lost on a different plane of thought and totally disconnected from what is going on in the ‘real” world. And what does this bring? Ruin. Downfall. Loss. Being Shunned by the sheeples of society who don’t understand. You are Stifled by the limited possibilities the world offers you. You believe yourself the Victim of the Cruelty of the world (though sometimes you may be overdramatic). You give in to the despair that the Nine of Swords brought to you, and so fall into Ruin.

The Suit of Swords can also intersect with reality in another way; if one has their head in the clouds and is devoted completely to their ideals and ideologies, they may be willing to sacrifice themselves to help others; the logical extension of some of the self-injury of the Nine of Swords. This, in turn, leads to the idea of Martyrdom; martyrs are people whose thoughts are with abstract ideals of Truth and Justice, and when their minds interact with the world, they care not for their fleshy bodies, and will die for what they believe in.

The Rider-Waite art shows a man lying dead on the beach with ten swords on his back; the swords above his bed have fallen and killed him. He could not cope with the Cruelty of the world. In the distance, the sun rises, though, signalling that this is not the end, but only part of a cycle – which can be taken either as delegitimizing the man’s death or foretelling that life goes on. The Thoth art has ten swords all pointed relatively downwards, their blades twisted horribly out of shape around each others at the ends. The keen blade of intellect has been warped by excessive contact with reality, and the swords are all crashing down to the ground, which is already red with the blood of the world’s victims.

In a reading, this card asks you to examine the meeting place of your thoughts and the realities of life. Do they match up? Are you alienated from your own existence? Are you teetering on the bring of ruin? Have you been ruined recently? Reversed, this card’s energies are hidden or twisted somehow; perhaps your life has been thrown into shambles but you haven’t yet accepted it, or you are so far into your own fantasy that the disconnect between it and reality isn’t visible.