Shattered
In some ways, the Ten of Swords is the most troublesome and inauspicious card in the deck. It represents the last stop on the Tree of Life in Yetzirah (the realm of “formation” – the air or mind in Tarot) before falling to the final plane, Asiyah (the realm of the physical, or “action”).
You can barely even see all ten swords in Lady Harris’ watercolor. The hilts are stationed at the ten sefira, and the final sword, with the heart-shaped hilt representing the sun, has been shattered into splinters by the others.
Here’s part of Crowley’s description,
Undisciplined, warring force, complete disruption and failure. Ruin of all plans and projects. Disdain, insolence and impertinence, yet mirth and jollity therewith. It is the ruin of the Intellect, and even of all mental and moral qualities.
It’s difficult to see any light here, except in the knowledge that things have degenerated so much that the only choice is to start afresh. The card’s correspondence to the Sun in Gemini, indicative of paradox, is apropos in this regard.