As an obstacle?
Riffing off of Little Red’s post on the good-and-bad-card thing (her post is here).
…And then there’s the position issue in a spread. I had a reading recently which was very complicated, indeed, because I got a really “positive” card in an “obstacle” position (Ace of Wands) and vice versa (Two of Swords as an opportunity). Made the reading interesting, but it showed me all too well, as Little Red’s longer reading on vacation did, that context is so important, and that the cards can be positive or negative, or more likely some gradation between, depending on the question and if used, the spread position.
As a path to success?
Context, context, context.
This is why I love the relating of cards to each other, as well, rather than focusing on each one’s “message” by itself. The relationship of these two cards with their partners in the draw (The Tower preceded the Ace of Wands in the obstacle part of the spread, and the Page of Wands preceded the Two of Swords in the path-to-success part of the spread).
A tale of “opposites” in the same positions!
So, I dug into all the facets of these two cards to see how to apply them in these positions to the question of where to move in a career and what might be holding the person back. I had some things I told the querent based on all four cards, but now looking at just the Ace of Wands and Two of Swords together, I definitely get the feeling of “wait, your best bet is not to run forward into the new thing but sit tight, hold your position” (maybe because of The Tower as the first card as in waiting until the “fallout” stops, and also waiting for that message from the Page of Wands first).
As you can see, though, trying to see the Ace of Wands as a problem and the Two of Swords as the way ahead can be a bit tricky.
If you have another take on this combination (Obstacles as Tower and Ace of Wands, Path to success as Page of Wands and Two of Swords), let me know. 