Four of Swords

On the Four of Swords a knight's stone effigy lies on a tomb in a quiet church, hands folded in prayer. Three swords hang on the wall above him and a fourth is carved along the tomb. Through a stained-glass window, a saint is giving a blessing. It's the card of rest, retreat, the truce, the long recovery.

The emerald jewel wasp is beautiful, metallic green with red legs, and it hunts cockroaches. It stings twice. The first sting, in the thorax, paralyzes the roach's front legs for a few minutes. The second goes straight into the head and delivers venom into its brain, the first case ever proved of a predator injecting venom into its prey's brain. The roach then grooms itself obsessively for about half an hour, and after that it simply doesn't want to go anywhere. It isn't paralyzed. Its legs still work, but the drive to walk is gone: it won't start on its own, and even a prod barely moves it. The venom quiets one small region of its nervous system that drives walking, and leaves the rest alone. The wasp lays an egg on it and seals it in a burrow, and the larva, once inside, coats its living meal with antibiotics to keep it from spoiling.

The venom holds 264 proteins and none of the classic nerve-blocking toxins. It's less a poison than a sermon, delivered by injection.

Here's the riddle. The knight on the tomb is lying down, but he isn't dead. He's carved resting, hands folded, while the swords wait on the wall. The roach is the same: the body works and the will is gone. The card's question is whether your rest is yours.

Real rest is a gift, and the Four says take it. Recovery is a kind of courage. But know the difference between resting and being made still. If you've lost the urge to move and someone else seems pleased about it, look around for a green shimmer.