Esoteric Media Analysis: Uncle Iroh & The Seven of Swords
Let’s learn about the Tarot by looking at Avatar: The Last Airbender!
What is the Tarot?
For those who don’t know, the Tarot is an esoteric art that may not be for everyone, but it represents universal themes that we’re all likely to experience at some point, to some degree, in our life’s journey. Each card represents a different stage of life, different energies that we’re embodying/being influenced by at a given moment, or a lesson we’re meant to learn so we can grow and further align ourselves with our life’s purpose.
What does the Suit of Swords Symbolize?
In the Tarot, the Suit of Swords correlates to Air energy, which represents the mental or intellectual realm. According to a creator named The Astrology of It on YouTube, who did an excellent series on the stories that unfold through the Major and Minor Arcana of the Tarot, the overall moral of the Swords story is that we must discipline our mental energy and learn to channel it into directed actions that produce tangible results.
The Lessons of the Seven of Swords
The 7 of Swords is all about trickery, deception, scheming, mental manipulation and subterfuge. Now, if you get this card in a love or relationship—or even a financial reading—that can be troubling, but there are contexts where this is a positive card, because there are situations in life when our survival is on the line and our hands are tied, or our oppressor has us in chains, and having a sharp wit and using strategic mental subterfuge is our only recourse for slipping out of precarious situations.
In the Rider-Waite deck, the 7 of Swords shows a man sneaking away from what appears to be a military camp, taking some of their military equipment with him, looking over his shoulder and smirking about slipping away unnoticed. From the most positive perspective, in my view, the 7 of Swords is about accepting that you may have gotten caught up in a precarious situation and you may be overpowered in almost every way, so you resort to the only power you have left, which is the power of the mind.
Oh, and I said before that the Suit of Swords in the Tarot correlates to Air sign energy, but the 7 of Swords, specifically, is connected to Aquarius, which is known for unconventional, out-of-the-box thinking.
So, in season 1, episode 7 of Avatar: The Last Airbender, we see Uncle Iroh exemplifying 7 of Swords energy when he’s captured by the Earth Nation army and has to use his intellect to sneakily outsmart his captors and turn the situation in his favor so he can break free.
First, he pretends to be so sleepy that he dozes off and falls off his horse—just a tired old man with no energy left, right?—wrong, because it’s really just a ploy, and a sneaky way to leave his sandal behind as a breadcrumb for his nephew, Prince Zuko, to find so he could follow his trail.
He uses his quick wit again to convince his captors that they have to stop and adjust his hand cuffs—not because they’re too tight, like one would EXPECT a captive to say, but because they’re “too loose” and they jangle around and bump up against his sore, achy, old joints, so he needs them to be even tighter. This turns out to be another 7 of Swords style strategy that he’s using to outsmart them and escape, or at the very least sabotage their efforts to keep him in captivity.
In the end, Uncle Iroh is fighting with those same chains on his wrists, and literally ends up turning the chains into weapons against his enemy. Just like the man on the Rider-Waite card, who ends up not just sneaking away from enemy territory, but taking their supplies with him as well. It’s true that Uncle Iroh and Prince Zuko are outnumbered, “but,” he says, “you are clearly outmatched.”
Again, the 7 of Swords is usually a rather negative or unfavorable card to get in a reading, but it’s also a reminder that “good” and “bad” are relative, and there are absolutely instances where being deceitful and duplicitous are warranted; times when it supports your highest good and can help you liberate yourself from the chains of your oppressor.
Now, it does require immense discernment and integrity for someone to wield 7 of Swords energy without abusing it or applying it for self-serving contexts, but there are times when it is 100 percent appropriate. And that’s coming from Queen Libra over here. You get no judgement from me on that! Not guilty, your honor!