In a word (upright)
Something clearly comes to an end. Even if it looks like a painful ending, it won't get any worse. Because this is the bottom, the only way is up. A new dawn is near.
When it appears reversed
You're past the worst and on the road to recovery. Even if scars remain, the strength to stand up returns little by little. Don't rush—regain your energy at your own pace.
A starting point through the image
In the older guidebook's illustration, The image depicts many swords and a distant sky beginning to brighten.
Use A stopping point · Boundaries and endings · The process of letting go as a clue when considering something on your mind. A figure in the image need not represent someone of a particular age or gender; it can also symbolize a role held by you or someone around you.
Upright meaning
Bring a continuing matter to a boundary and choose the final effort needed. Even with a strong sense of ending, count cleanup separately. Distinguish storage, communication and handover to handle only your final task instead of taking everything up again.
This position brings one task to a close and considers the experience you can retain. Before looking for what is missing, name the part you have already completed.
Reversed meaning
This reads a temporary source of support or conditions turning for the better. The reversed position alone does not promise a fresh start. Just when some breathing room comes back, decide which steps to finish before you resume, and you can avoid taking the same burden back whole.
When a little room returns, choose one step to finish before resuming instead of restoring the earlier burden unchanged.
Love and relating to your partner
Leave a finished argument without repeatedly replaying it. Check decisions and choose an action to change in the next similar scene, giving the conversation a boundary.
Consider the matter on your mind through What you discussed together and the reasons filled in by assumption. List separately what the person has actually said and the wishes you have not yet checked; this can help you choose a starting point for the next conversation.
In work and learning
Choose cleanup for work ending. Separate storage, communication and handover to schedule only the last step you handle now without reclaiming all unfinished work.
For a current task, the perspective is to clarify Decision criteria and information not yet checked. Focus on one step you are responsible for and first agree who needs to decide what.
When this card appears in a three-card spread
In the position for support and conditions to clarify, This position checks whether extra responsibilities or conditions have been added to something you decided to finish. Agree in words on what completion means this time.
In the position for a next step you choose yourself, This position chooses a step to finish before moving on. Decide which materials to keep and whom to pass them to, so you do not take up the same task again.
For a reversed card, use its reversed meaning and action above, then revisit the conditions to check in the same position. Rather than deciding an outcome from the card's name, consider the adjacent cards and the question selected beforehand together.
One thing to take into daily life
Divide storage, communication and handover for one finished task to choose the final action you handle now.