For Day 4 of Side by Side, I drew the 6 of Swords. The key theme is transition to balance. On the left, Charley Parkhurst expertly drives a stagecoach through a dangerous, rocky mountain pass and across a narrow bridge above a wild river. Six swords form the bridge railings. Beyond the bridge, the road is smooth. On the right, a boatman poles his passengers to a safe harbor. According to the stories I read, Charley Parkhurst was the kind of stagecoach driver who took no mess and got the job done, despite crashes, recalcitrant horses, and attempted robberies.
He’s the kind of driver that I’d want to see me safely to my destination, just as the passenger in the Rider Waite Smith deck is trusting the boatman to see her and her child to safety. He also was a trans man.
