Author: Garen Glazier

I’m taking a brief break from fiction to delve into a topic that’s been top of mind for me lately: tarot card recurrences.

This post has been simmering for some time, and finally the pot came to a boil when, today, my birthday, I pulled the King of Swords again!

One of my very first posts described the cards I’d pulled for my yearly spread. The King of Swords was my Energy for the Year, and since then he’s come up again 11 more times.

For reference, I average about five daily pulls per week of one card each, plus one weekly pull of three cards. Every full moon and new moon, I pull a six-card spread. Combined with my yearly 12-month spread, that’s approximately 290–300 cards so far this year. And that means the King of Swords is showing up about four percent of the time.

Once every 25 pulls or so, the King of the Air and Ideas shows his serious face.

He shows up often enough, especially on “big” days, that I feel like he must be telling me something.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am a tarot novice. Thus, any interpretation or insight I provide here should be taken with a relative grain of salt.

At the same time, I do have a vested interest in gaining a thorough understanding of the cards and their meanings. I like to think of this space as a place to learn and experiment with possible explanations and analyses.

But, from my research and gut instincts, I’ve narrowed down the meaning of recurring tarot cards to five potential implications.

1. Poor shuffling

2. Personal significance

3. A message from the Universe

4. A lesson that needs to be learned

5. An overarching theme or energy

Let’s look at each of those in a bit more detail.

Poor shuffling

This one needs to be on the list for practical reasons. Do I take the time to mix my cards up, reassemble, and shuffle thoroughly? Preferably more than once?

Interestingly, according to some mathematicians who most definitely have too much time on their hands, the ideal number of times to shuffle a deck for optimal randomness is about seven.

To be honest, I shuffle the deck eight times. Four times to represent the four suits. Then I cut the deck multiple times and turn the cards around at random. And, lastly, I shuffle four more times in honor of the four elements.

Seven or eight—I don’t think poor shuffling is a problem.

Personal significance

Okay, great. So if I’m doing a good job of randomizing my cards, we can safely assume that isn’t the issue here.

Perhaps, then, the recurring card has a meaning that is deeply personal.

Many people have a card that “speaks” to them. It’s deeper meaning resonates with their self-image, inner desires, spiritual needs, or worldview.

I certainly have one, but it isn’t the King of Swords or Judgement. I have an affinity for the Queen of Wands.

She has a creative spark, a fiery energy, and a deep inner drive to experience the world. She is optimism, confidence, and hope. In short, this Queen is fire. And her heat stands in bold contrast to the cool logic of the King of Swords.

A message from the Universe

So maybe the King isn’t my spirit card. Maybe he’s more of a message from the great beyond? Perhaps, but I feel like that honor belongs to a card I see even more often than the King.

Since I started my tarot journey on January 2, the card I’ve pulled the most often is Judgement from the Major Arcana. I’ve seen that angel blowing their horn a total of 13 times, making it slightly more likely that I’ll see Judgement than the King of Swords at any given time.

If any card is carrying a message from the Universe for me, it is certainly the seraphic harbinger of the Judgement card with their insistent call.

They are literally the herald with an announcement from on high. Change is imminent, or rather, change has already happened without my realizing it, and now there is nothing left to do but heed the call.

Recognizing this is one thing; following it is another. That’s probably why Judgement recurs for me so frequently. And seven out of the 13 times I’ve pulled it, the card was reversed, meaning I’m ignoring the call and making excuses.

I like to think that honoring my creative potential is the change the Universe recognizes in me. As I spend more time on my writing, I wonder if the Judgement card will appear less often.

Time will tell.

A lesson that needs to be learned

Right, so where does that leave us? If it’s not an error in shuffling, a personally resonant card, or a message, maybe it’s a lesson that needs to be learned.

But it doesn’t feel like the King of Swords, with his inherent authority and power, has much of a lesson to impart. He is less of a teaching type and more of a doing type.

But there’s another card that is the archetype for all the kings in the deck, and he definitely has some instructing to do: the Emperor.

As the traditional father-figure of the deck, the Emperor represents the ideal of all the king cards. His job is to impart the rules of society. He is law and order. He is stability and the status quo. He is rationality and objectivity.

He’s shown up for me eight times over the last six months, placing him third behind Judgement and the King of Swords. Half of those times, he’s been reversed.

And I think he has a lesson to teach me:

There must be a balance between the expected and the unexpected.

When it comes time to decide whether to maintain the way things have always been done or to flout expectations and norms, remember the ideal of what the Emperor stands for: a firm base from which to build your dreams.

Creativity flourishes within secure boundaries.

An overarching theme or energy

So that leaves us with the final meaning of a recurring card, and I think viewing the King of Swords as a kind of totem for my year makes the most sense.

After all, I did draw him at the dawn of 2024 as the Energy of the Year.

And so, like a particularly authoritative ghost, the King of Swords haunts my readings, appearing every once in a while to check in.

Am I tapping into the powers of the mind and using my hard-earned wisdom and knowledge to better guide me through the realities of life?

That right-leaning sword is a visual queue to action. The world of thoughts and ideas is wonderful, but abstract. When the King of Swords reappears, he wants to know if I’m turning all that mental activity into real-world results.

And most importantly, with that direct stare of his, he wants to be sure I’m living my truth—a truth that, like a sword, can be double-edged. Sometimes freeing and sometimes damning. But always worth the living of it out in the world.

I expect that, just as we all need reminders from time to time, the King of Swords will keep showing up for me and asking the hard questions.

About the Author

Garen Glazier is a writer of dark fantasy novels and short stories inspired by folklore, fairy tales, and the perpetual gloom of the Pacific Northwest. She's also a lifelong learner, globetrotter, inveterate reader, admirer of all things spooky and gothic, supporter of underdogs, art lover, perpetual organizer, efficiency enthusiast, optimist, wife, and mama of two.

Follow her on Substack for fresh fiction, magical musings, and tarot-based insights: https://garenglazier.substack.com/