The deck · Swords · Air

Page of Swords, from the 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck

Page of Swords

AuthorityOverseeingSecret serviceVigilance

Upright

Authority, overseeing, secret service, vigilance, spying, examination, and the qualities thereto belonging.

Reversed

More evil side of these qualities; what is unforeseen, unprepared state; sickness is also intimated.

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §2

The picture

A lithe, active figure holds a sword upright in both hands, while in the act of swift walking. He is passing over rugged land, and about his way the clouds are collocated wildly. He is alert and lithe, looking this way and that, as if an expected enemy might appear at any moment.

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §2

Older readings

An indiscreet person will pry into the Querent's secrets. Reversed: Astonishing news.

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §4. Waite collected these and says they often disagree with the main meanings.

Waite wrote in 1911 and some of his meanings show it. Tarot is a tradition of reflection, not a prediction, and no card decides anything for you.