Oppression – or drama queen? Margarete Petersen’s Ten of Feathers

Ten of Feathers (trimmed): ©Margarete Petersen Tarot

Margarete Petersen brings that sense of oppression that’s often associated with the Ten of Swords to her Ten of Feathers – the darkening colour scheme of the Eight and Nine carry on into the Ten. A battered feather lies on the ground, but to me it seems less battered than in previous cards. I also feel that despite the darkness of the colours, there is a lightening across the sky with those swathes of crimson – the dawn approaching?  To me the Ten of Swords embodies the saying ‘it’s always darkest before dawn’, and I can really see and feel that here.

Petersen writes in her LWB “you have experienced fear without being destroyed….The choice is yours. You can always leave the realm of your nightmares. Put a stop to old patterns…” 

Shadows come to rest

Banish fears to the darkness -

Dawn breaks every day.

Margarete Petersen Tarot, AGM-URANIA, 2004.