I can't thank you all enough for sharing your views, I aprreciate it so much!
I must admit I had considered what you have all said before posting, it's just that it is a little harder to "wrap your mind around it" in that way when we tend to be so used to thinking of "positive" as always positive or "negative" as always negative for the most part in our day to day life. I must remember to keep in mind that the tarot does not always comply to the same definitions that the average person on any average day may deem sensible. Again thank you so much for your insight, I am still very "rusty" and am in need of a lot of practice and pointers.
Tcatt (Tracy)

Hi, Ttcat, and sorry for butting in on your thread. I clicked on it because you certainly posed a very interesting question which had me very puzzled when I first began, so thank you for raising it. Since it has been amply answered, I will refrain from adding more on the subject.

Then I saw... George is back in the forum!!!!   Hi, George, we missed you! You must have been really busy, as I have been myself in the past year or so.

I posted my greetings here in the hope that your are still hooked to this thread and will get a notice by mail.

Welcome back!  

Hi Tcatt,

I've been "away" for a while, I did see your posting, but did not run around too much.

Another point you need to consider is the road taken in 1-10, each number, apart from a numeric value als has a significant influence.

In this sense we see nines being completion, and tens--attainment. As has been said, it has a message in it and you need to broaden your view. If you place your 10 of swords next to it, you will see that all the swords point to ten. This is symbolism you need to consider. In effect nines and tens are connected to a large extend. When opening ten of swords, you will see a sunrise.

My interpretation would be, considering the lay in the CC. Stop dwelling on the hurt you now experience, although you are going through a tough time, you can overcome this obstacle. There is light in the tunnel. Have a good look at ten 10 of swords. You will see, the right hand of the man is in the same position as on the Hierophant. His right hand is the blessing and his left is martyrdom. The left hand of the man on 10 of swords is not visible. His right hand, is pointing to 9 of Swords.

Don't always stare blindly at the face of the card, find the symbolism and then you can connect. Nines are ruled by the Hermit---contemplation, which way is the light and his arm pointing?

Blessed be

I would have thought that the man in the Ten of Swords would have pointed towards the sun on the horizon with his left hand/arm indicating hope and that it is not a dead-end. The yellow sun in the horizon rising and taking over the dark clouds is a very hopeful sign for the ten of swords.

As for his right hand pointing towards the swords - hmmmmm, am not so sure about this. Is it self pity, victim attitude or just saying, Oh, look at those ten swords piercing on my back.....?

I have not read through all of the reply to this post, and like you, I have not done reading for about ten years. Rusty isn't the word for me right now, lol. But, I once did reading for a living and a certified pro Astrologer and Tarot reader, though my memory of everything has not quite kicked in, I would like to give some thoughts on your question. Hopefully every little thing will help, we all have some knowledge that others don't have, and it is nice that we can help each other here.

That said, I definitely agree with another reply I seen that a "negative" card in a positive position is giving advice. What I see here is the number of the card, and the suit is all directed towards thought, with the swords, these are always "self limiting beliefs" that are creating our problems and issues, we are able to work through them using logical, rational thought.

Another very strong aspect in dealing with Swords is the fact that they are "thoughts," and our thoughts are our reality. The outcome of the position that it is in will happen as long as your thought of whatever it is in that particular position is directed towards. This meaning, if you are thinking, negatively about that particular thing, you will create it and make it negative. It is up to you to change it, and since the tarot is never wrong, it is guiding you with helpful info, look at it in different ways and you will see many things come out. look at all the different meanings of the cards that are coming up for you such as the suit, the number, and so on.

All this said, all in all, the entire spread is what makes the cards have a positive, or negative (for lack of better words) meaning. There may be other cards in the spread that oppose, or reinforce the meaning, along with the positions they are in. I am sure you know this, along with the positions working together. I was always a huge fan of the Celtic Cross spread myself, it has a huge amount of info available, and each position pretty much connects with at least two other positions to help give a better look at what the cards and positions are trying to tell you.

I hope that my thoughts are helpful to you, the last thing I would want is to hinder anyone, lol, not my thing, guess that's why i like tarot reading, to help people.

Good luck.