For anyone who really wants to get into the suits ‘Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom’ by Rachel Pollack.
She does a really thorough job breaking down both the traditional conflict-based readings and the mental clarity aspects. It helped me understand why the Ace can read as both clarity and the sharp awareness that comes with recognizing a difficult truth ahead.
The way she explains it, that initial burst of mental clarity (the Ace) often does mean you’re about to cut through illusions - which naturally leads to some kind of conflict or challenge, even if it’s just internal. So both interpretations kind of work together rather than contradicting each other.