Archetype and The Tarot: The Hedonist and The Queen of Swords
For the week of August 27, 2023
For an overview of what I’m doing here, please check out this post all about it.
Just a reminder, there’s an easy, fun mini-ritual to download at the end of this post to help deepen your relationship with this week’s archetype and tarot card. This week’s ritual offers a practice for consciously relating with a simple pleasure. Enjoy!
The Hedonist Archetype
Oooh, looks like our week ahead might be: JUICY. I like juicy.
The Hedonist gets a bad rap, doesn’t it? For a lot of us, when we think of the Hedonist, our first thoughts go to things like the Roman Bacchanalia: your basic over-the-top drunken orgy.
The term itself comes from the ancient Greek philosophy of Hedonism, which also got a bad rap from the get-go. But why? It was simply a philosophy about building an enjoyable, pleasurable life. That doesn’t sound so bad. So why do we vilify the notion of pleasure-seeking?
Heck if I know! But there does seem to be an underlying feeling that if we’re seeking pleasure, we’re not being responsible. I’d like to blame our Puritanical roots for this, but I think it goes back further than that.
So let’s take a look at the full shadow side of the Hedonist. The shadow sides of all archetypes are often about relating with them in excess. This is true of the Hedonist. Pleasure at the cost of accountability, or responsibility, is being in excess with the Hedonist. Not caring if anyone gets hurt in the process is relating with the Hedonist in excess. Although we’re venturing into Addict territory here, the shadow Hedonist also contends with the notion of never having enough. If our ONLY motivation is pleasure, it can become a destructive force.
Honestly, though, that face of the shadow Hedonist is not very common. More often, the shadow Hedonist shows up as a judgment of pleasure itself. Relating with the Hedonist in the shadow this way causes us to block ourselves from enjoying the fullness of life.
And we might not even realize we’re doing it. Think about this: do you feel like you have to earn pleasure?
This might be a uniquely American trait, so forgive me for this generalization, but I often see a tendency that people have to be burned out—completely overwhelmed—before thinking they “deserve” pleasure. This can be a sneaky thing, too. This can look like the belief that, because we had a hard or stressful day, we’ve earned the right to a drink or six after work. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking drinking by any means. I’m simply warning against the tendency to use pleasure to self-medicate. There’s danger here because we might inadvertently, or unconsciously, create unnecessary stress in our lives to make sure we feel like we’ve earned the right to some pleasure.
What if, instead, we prioritized pleasure? Even just a little bit. What if we planned for it and structured our lives to include it every single day, rather than grabbing for it when we need relief? Maybe if we scheduled pleasure into our lives, we wouldn’t get so burned out in the first place.
On the other hand, the Hedonist in the light has a healthy relationship with pleasure. This one knows how to have a good time, but not in a way that causes harm. More importantly, the light side of the Hedonist understands that we all possess a pleasure-seeking instinct and that we can nurture it without it having to be about numbing, blocking, or avoiding pain.
Here are some questions to ponder as you relate with the Hedonist this week:
Do you have shame around physical pleasure?
Does every action have to be for the sake of achieving something?
Do you feel guilty about “wasting time”?
Do you allow yourself to do things simply because you want to?
Do you have to have experienced pain first in order to allow yourself to experience pleasure?
Do you only allow pleasure when you’ve achieved something to celebrate?
Do you subversively create stress or strife in your life to give yourself a reason to engage in pleasure?
Do you feel judgmental about others who are engaged in pleasure without having earned the privilege?
The Queen of Swords
I think of the queens of the tarot as the spiritual advisors of the court.
(Side note: I’m thinking of writing a post about the tarot court cards, because it seems to be a sticky area for many of us. Let me know if that’s something you would find helpful. Thanks!)
The Queen of Swords is a no-nonsense kind of spiritual advisor. Rather than speaking in soothing tones to us over a cup of herbal tea (looking at you Queen of Pentacles), the Queen of Swords sits us down, looks us in the eye and gives it to us straight. Brutal honesty is her superpower. Like the goddess Kali, she cuts right through the bullshit of our lives. Though her tongue may be sharp and cutting, her words possess the wisdom we most need to hear. She knows we have what it takes. And her guidance always comes from a place of love (albeit it sometimes feels a lot like tough love).
How do The Hedonist and The Queen of Swords work together?
This combo is telling us to get clear on our relationship with pleasure. They are asking us to understand our underlying motives for the choices we make.
If you already have a healthy relationship with pleasure, this is a call to get clear on why you prefer some forms over others.
If you have a tendency to engage in pleasure to excess, what are you wanting to escape from?
If we feel judgment around pleasure, we are being asked to dig for the reasons why. Are we afraid of being judged by others? Are we unworthy of pleasure? Are we afraid of losing control? Are we afraid we’ll lose all sense of responsibility in our lives? Are we afraid of not getting anything done?
At the root of a healthy relationship with the Hedonist is having a strong sense of self-trust. We have to first be honest with ourselves if we’re going to trust ourselves. The Queen of Swords here is reminding us that brutal self-honesty is the only way to go.
Get clear and get juicy!
I’d love to know your thoughts on relating with pleasure. Let’s discuss in the comments below!
I've had to work on this one! I am adjusting my understanding to realize that I actually have a RESPONSIBILITY to enjoy my life (in every moment if I could get to THAT level of practice!) When I consciously focus on en-joying (infusing with joy) my moments/my existence, I also am finding that I relate more deeply with all sentience, and that's enjoyable.
I’m a bit late Jenna, mainly because I’m finding it difficult to string full sentences together in this energy, so it might be short and sweet! 🤪 I know I avoid the idea of pleasure as something bad and some thing that I’ve probably always struggled with. I find it easier to make small compromises. A nice sandwich, my favourite sweets, that kind of thing. Something to work on. 💫🙏