Tens are the transitional number, the end of one cycle and the beginning of the next. Numerologically, tens are not stand-alone numbers, but reduce to 1 (1+0=1).  In association with the Trumps, 10 corresponds to the Wheel of Fortune, which is also all about cycles, endings, and new beginnings. However, the number 10 can be looked at in many other ways - associated with Capricorn, it could be considered a number of great responsibility and solidity - like 4+4+2 - a two-storied tower with a peaked roof (now our Tower is complete - ready to be struck down and rebuilt).  Associated with Malkuth on the Tree of Life, it is the number of manifestation, the only number that corresponds to the material world in which we experience our lifetimes - in this association, it is thought of as 3+3+3+1 - the one sphere in the realm of Earth.  10 is a magickal number, produced by the addition of the first four numbers, 1+2+3+4, important in Pythagorean and alchemical philosophy.

With all this, what does the number 10 really mean?  We can see in it elements of solidity and stability, as well as transition and change.  These apparent contradictions are key to the 10s - in the Wheel of Fortune, we have the stable hub and the unchanging elements, as well as a continuous cycle of change around the rim.  In the material world, we also have a central core that remains as we cycle through many lifetimes or cycles within a lifetime.  The material world we build remains even as we ourselves are transitory through it.  The 10s are about how we experience these transitions, what we take with us as well as what we leave behind, what we have built and what we allow to dissolve into the sands of time.  It is interesting that the passive suits depict more positive transitions, while the active suits show more difficult transitions - this may have to do with the issues of control and resistance to the turning of the Wheel.

Here are some examples of the Tens:

Ten of Cups:  The card of happy endings, yet in real life we don't live happily ever after, unchanging.  A moment of supreme happiness, when all that we have wished for is manifested.  We cannot remain long here, because emotions and the water element are fluid and ever-changing.  In order to keep this relationship alive, we must look for new sources of inspiration and emotion.  This card may also represent the completion of an artistic endeavor - the moment when we frame the canvass and put it on the wall unchanging, only to be gazed at from now on.  We ourselves must move on to the next project or risk stagnation and living in suspension.

Ten of Pentacles:  Here we see 10s in their natural element of Earth, representing all that we build in the material world and pass down from generation to generation.  This may be the next generation of parents and children in the family, it can be material possessions such as homes or inheritance, cultural knowledge and traditions, or what we leave behind in our work to society to be built on by others.  This card represents the time when we pass on what we have held to the next person or generation to hold and use it.  While we pass on, what we have created endures and makes up the fabric of family and society.

Ten of Wands:  Wands are integrally associated with our self, our ego, our ideas, and our career.  Because we initiate Wands cycles, it is that much harder to let go of them when the time comes - so we carry them around as a burden, unable to see that it is time to release them and go on to the next idea.  Giving them up is bittersweet - both a welcome release and a regret. This may represent the moment when a CEO passes the company he built onto his successor and goes into retirement, or when a woman realizes she can no longer personally run every aspect of the department she has built from scratch, or when a family member realizes she does not have to take responsibility for solving everyone else's problems and she can just live her own life.  A person's ego and self-identity may be quite wrapped up in the previous cycle, and he has to make the transition to investing in a new cycle before the burdens can be willingly laid down.

Ten of Swords:  A transition relating to ideas and attitudes, often more difficult or painful than others.  Ideas, habits, and attitudes have a way of getting very strong hold of us and our minds, and when it comes time that it is necessary for a change to occur, it can be very difficult.  We may struggle and struggle through the 8s and 9s before we are willing to do whatever is necessary to make the change, and even then, we may have to beat the old attitudes down hard before they finally lie down and give up the ghost.  Or, it may come in a rush of surrender to the inevitable, giving ourselves up to the pain in a cathartic release that frees us to experience new ideas and ways of living our life.