Barbara Walker Tarot - King of Swords: Yama

Encircled by the infinity sign of renewal, the bull-masked underworld death god dances on his totem, the sacrificial bull. Yama’s name was an antonym of Kali’s Virgin/Creatress aspect, Maya. Incarnate in the bull, he entered the underworld to make a place for the souls of dead men. His blue skin was a conventional Asian sign of godhood, due to “blue blood,” which was also attributed even to Jehovah as the Gnostic Demiurge of “a dark blue complexion.” Yama’s male-and-female emblems of sword and lotus suggest regeneration, like the infinity sign. He stands for godlike authority, a powerful judge, discipline, order, obedience to the law of nature, and possibly dangerous inhumanity.