Queen of Swords
clear eyes · independence · honesty · hard-won wisdom
Card art: Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, for A. E. Waite. Public domain.
The suit of Swords
In a few words
- clear eyes
- independence
- honesty
- hard-won wisdom
A queen with a raised sword and a level gaze. Clear-eyed, honest, independent, wise from sorrow she has already walked through.
Upright
- Everything
- A queen with a raised sword and a level gaze. Clear-eyed, honest, independent, wise from sorrow she has already walked through.
- Love
- A partner who says what is true and expects the same. Boundaries, respect, no games.
- Work
- Judge on facts. A sharp mentor, a fair critic, decisions made without sentiment.
- Money
- Clear accounts, hard questions, no soft loans. Prudence that has learned the hard way.
- Myself
- You have been through enough to see clearly. Trust that, without bitterness.
Widowhood, female sadness and embarrassment, absence, sterility, mourning, privation, separation.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 228
Reversed
- Everything
- Coldness, cutting words, bitterness in place of clarity. Or a mind clouded by hurt.
- Love
- Distance dressed as strength. Or cruelty that says it is only honesty.
- Work
- Harsh judgment, an unfair critic, or being too severe on yourself.
- Money
- Suspicion blocking a fair deal. Or a grudge costing you money.
- Myself
- Grief turned to armour. Let one person past it.
Malice, bigotry, artifice, prudery, bale, deceit.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 228
The card, as Waite described it
Her right hand raises the weapon vertically and the hilt rests on an arm of her royal chair; the left hand is extended, the arm raised; her countenance is severe but chastened; it suggests familiarity with sorrow. It does not represent mercy, and, her sword notwithstanding, she is scarcely a symbol of power.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 228
The plain-word meanings on this page were written for ShreeJyoti and are still under review.