Ten of Swords
rock bottom · an ending · betrayal · dawn behind it
Card art: Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, for A. E. Waite. Public domain.
The suit of Swords
In a few words
- rock bottom
- an ending
- betrayal
- dawn behind it
Ten swords in a fallen figure, and the sky beginning to lighten. The end of something; it cannot get worse, and that is the news.
Upright
- Everything
- Ten swords in a fallen figure, and the sky beginning to lighten. The end of something; it cannot get worse, and that is the news.
- Love
- A relationship ended badly, or a betrayal. Grieve it fully; the low point is also the turn.
- Work
- A project killed, a role ended, sometimes by someone's knife. Take the lesson and leave the field.
- Money
- A loss that feels final. It is a bottom, and bottoms have floors.
- Myself
- Rock bottom is solid ground. Dawn is in the picture; look at the horizon.
Whatsoever is intimated by the design; also pain, affliction, tears, sadness, desolation. It is not especially a card of violent death.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 234
Reversed
- Everything
- Getting up. Recovery after the worst, or a disaster narrowly avoided. Old pain finally letting go.
- Love
- Healing after the break. Or refusing to stay down; the past does not get a vote.
- Work
- Rebuilding after a collapse. The next thing starts from what you learned.
- Money
- Recovering from a loss. Slowly, and with a plan this time.
- Myself
- You survived it. Now stop rehearsing it.
Advantage, profit, success, favour, but none of these are permanent; also power and authority.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 234
The card, as Waite described it
A prostrate figure, pierced by all the swords belonging to the card.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 234
The plain-word meanings on this page were written for ShreeJyoti and are still under review.