The Divination Trial

The Divination Trial

Can I just gush for a minute about how good a metaphorical device for divination that Lilia's trial is? Because it is honestly a masterclass in allegory.

In traditional tarot, the suit of Swords represents the element of Air, which represents knowledge, thought, intelligence, and communication. Like a sword, thought and speech can be used to cut things. They can hurt: a slur or insult. They can attack: a debate, argument, lies. They can defend: evidence, support, truth. They can delineate sides: This is this, that is that. They can identify enemies (a sword pointed at you) or friends (a hilt offered to you): Them, Us. They set boundaries of time: Now, Then.

So the swords dangling above Lilia's trial are both metaphorical and literal looming knowledge. Lilia has the gift of foreknowledge: She knows the future. And that knowledge has, throughout her life, hurt her. The sword was too sharp, and she got cut whenever she tried to use it. So she "put it away," and stopped looking.

With each card placed down in the trial, a piece of knowledge is revealed--and a sword falls. The knowledge is "released" from the future hanging ominously above, and it can now hurt someone.

It is significant that during the trial, two swords almost do hit someone.

Agatha, when she is dealing, releases a sword that almost kills Billy. Knowledge is Agatha's weapon, even more than magic is. She knows the truth about Billy and the Road and has previously been very careful using that truth on him, even as she tries to manipulate the situation to her advantage. But in this scene, she is reckless and impatient--like the basement scene in Wandavision, she thinks she finally has Billy alone in his hex, and she's ready to push boundaries to get a response. She knows that divination is not actually a con--she already saw Lilia do it for real in episode 2. But Billy's imagination has painted her as the Wicked Witch in this trial, so she does what she does best and leans into the performance, trying to push Billy's mind into whatever it's going to do next to the Road.

And what does Agatha's manipulation of knowledge do? It almost kills Billy, with a literal metaphor sword falling straight at him.

The second sword that almost hits someone is Lilia reading for Billy. Now this is interesting, because Lilia has fanned the cards out on the table and is having Billy pick up the cards. As a divination practice, this is not necessary--the diviner can pick out the cards for the querent and still get the same result. By putting the cards on the table and letting someone else handle them, Lilia has metaphorically taken her hands off the knowledge. She hasn't yet learned her lesson, that is is her job and her calling to see these things. Letting someone else pick is "safer" because then she, herself, is not "responsible" for the knowledge that gets revealed; she's just interpreting the card, not picking it. But this is just another reflection of what her Maestra is trying to teach her: Lilia's task is to see, not to control, and by letting Billy pick his own cards, she's still trying to control the outcome by avoiding having a hand in it.

So Billy places down the "The Path Behind" card, and without even seeing what it is, the sword it releases almost kills Lilia. And the irony is--Lilia already knows! She already knows what the path behind Billy is! She saw it at William's bar mitzvah, and now the sigil is broken so she knows again. But because she wants to be hands-off still, the knowledge she already knows almost kills her. It is only her covenmate looking out for her--Agatha, the sharpest sword in the drawer!--that saves Lilia from herself, and needing covens is another truth that Lilia is turning away from.

The lesson is clear: Swords will never not be sharp. Knowing the future will never not hurt. Accepting people into your life in a coven will also never not hurt, especially when you can see their end before you even begin. But if Lilia can't learn to live with the pain of knowing--or accept help from a coven in dealing with it--it will kill her. Even if she refuses to look--with the ceiling descending--the knowledge will still kill her. Her being killed is inevitable. You cannot know the future without knowing endings, including your own. Knowing--not changing--the future is the power. And we see this play out allegorically! As soon as she starts reading for herself, pulling her own cards, accepting this power of knowledge, the swords stop falling individually but the ceiling also starts descending again. So the knowledge is inevitable, but seeing the information doesn't have to hurt if you handle it correctly and have support.

This makes it all the more poignant when the tower is turned upside-down. The knowledge is no longer looming overhead, but is now underfoot, clear and obvious. But that doesn't remove its danger. It only changes how you must deal with it. So Lilia hangs on to the table--the site of her most powerful act of divination--and that brief moment of hanging on is still an act of control. But this time, the knowledge that she will die has empowered her. It no longer scares her. And her job is to see, not to control. So she lets go. She accepts it, lets gravity pull her to the knowledge, and allows the knowledge of death to pierce her, both literally and metaphorically.

This is what divination is. This is what it means to be a Divination Witch.

And this is just a brilliant, brilliant piece of writing that needs to win all the awards.