The Four of Swords is the Lord of Truce (Rest from Strife) and has the energy of Jupiter in Libra. It represents a hiatus, rest and recuperation.
This card brings a reprieve from stress, especially mental stress and turmoil. There has been a period of time where you have misused your mental abilities - this is often with unnecessary worry, anxiety, and focusing on anything and everything that could go wrong.
At this point, the mind says "Enough!" and so the mental tension that you have endured ends for a time and provides a mental ceasefire where you can convalesce your thoughts and bring yourself back to a state of calm from which you can again make good decisions and engage in hopeful thoughts for your future.
This is a great time to go on a retreat that will release you from your everyday tensions and restore your health and your vitality. You have been burning the candle at both ends, running around on a hamster wheel and going nowhere.
The toll on your health if you continue is inevitable and so this card comes as a welcome sign for you to stop, rest and look after yourself. There is a sense of protection from the world when contemplating the image on this card.
The knight is lying supine on the altar, his hands in a position of prayer. Three swords are hovering above while the fourth is lying below him as if he has just laid it there. The three swords represent the struggles and turmoil he has endured, while the fourth symbolises his willingly to lay down his weapon and rest from the conflict - for now at least.
Take the time for yourself to build up your strength and your capacity for dealing with the inevitable struggles and stresses of life. There will always be problems to deal with in life, but if we look at our problems as opportunities for growth rather than as things that are sent to torment us, then we are truly progressing and giving meaning to life.
The quality of life is in the quality of the problems we can conquer, and the good thing is, the higher quality problems give us less suffering and more pleasure when we overcome them.
An opportunity to take this time out to plan changes in your environment that will support more clarity and calm in your life going forward.
Image from "Tarot Illuminati" © Erik C. Dunne