The Suit of Swords

The Suit of Swords is the third suit of the Major Arcana representing the element of Air and the condition of intellect. It is listed third because in alchemy it is the third heaviest element flowing across the globe behind Water which flows down and Fire which flows up. The suit contains 14 cards from Ace (1) through 10, Page, Knight, Queen and King. Swords represent duality as two edges of a blade: good/evil and intellect/force. Air (wind) can be as gentle as a zephyr or as ferocious as a tornado and like all wind, Swords can be refreshing, cleansing or destructive. 

Swords are also known as spades, knives, blades, daggers, sabers, needles or athames. The Suit of Swords concerns your thoughts, decisions, communication and challenges you face in life. They’re associated with action, transformation, strife, force, power and oppression. The Swords also correspond with justice, truth, power, and voice.

These cards often indicate that difficult decisions are required and personal struggles must be handled. The Suit of Swords asks us to remain clear-headed so we can rationally, logically and sensibly attend to unpleasant truths that cannot be avoided. These are tough love for tough times.

Sword cards cut through any issue revealing the challenges you’ve been asked to overcome. Many life challenges dealt with by swords include court cases, death, heartbreak, war, loss, illnesses, divorce and arguments. Thankfully the silver-lining is by addressing these concerns you can find happiness again.

Ace of Swords 

The Ace of Swords depicts a hand emerging from clouds holding up a sword encircled by a golden crown dressed in an olive branch and poppies surrounded by clouds. The crown represents logic, rational thought and open-mindedness and it corresponds to the crown chakra. Red poppies are symbolic of the remembrance of war; the olive branch represents peace and together they represent the double edged sword which can bring war but also can bring peace. Clouds are representing confusion with the sword itself conquering distraction through clarity of thought. The blue represents the throat chakra representing voice and corresponding to water and emotion. The yellow corresponds to Air and relates to the intellect. The grey in the sword represents neutrality.

Like all Aces, the Ace of Swords represents new beginnings and new ideas. It symbolizes logic, mental clarity, and intelligence. It offers the lesson of careful consideration of decisions, justice, authority and truth. This Ace can portend a positive outcome in legal cases, positive contracts and agreements as well as good news delivered in written form. In the shadow, this card can represent force, negative authority and controlling behavior.

Two of Swords 

The Two of Swords pictures a blind-folded woman holding two blades beside the roaring sea under a sliver of moon. This card depicts blindness to the proper course of action. The card’s moon echoes the moon pictured in The High Priestess asking us to rely not on our eyes but on our intuition. Each blade is pointing a different direction indicating conflict and her grey armor represents listening to choices with emotional neutrality. It can also depict difficult circumstances that only offer painful choices, emotional avoidance and stalemate.

This card can alternatively offer the idea of blind justice and of wisely choosing to rely on our sense of ethics, truth, and moral justice. This card whispers you are strong enough to face your fears. It symbolizes blindness, denial, strife, cross roads, divided loyalties. It can call for meditation but also speak to your inner sense of wisdom asking you to deeply, fully and completely explore the depths of your thoughts. 

Three of Swords

The Three of Swords shows us a blossoming heart pierced by three long swords. This card is dripping with the pain of heartbreak, the bleakness of depression, the crushing weight of sadness and the grief of deep soul-wrenching sorrow. You see a beautiful Pearl-encrusted heart full of a rose blooming with a bright red rose. The Rose represents romantic love slain by the swords. The background swirls with stylized winds and rain in blue to indicate the mystery of sorrow being of value to the human experience.

Pearls are symbols of hidden knowledge, femininity, perfection, incorruptibility, fertility and long life so often connected to our conception of romantic love. Pearls also represent how the oyster protects itself from harm by forming a beautiful pearl over an irritant the way loss can help us create something beautiful out of something difficult.  This card is a tough one; demonstrating the deep pain of loss, distraction, rejection, grief, loneliness, confusion, discord, trauma, tears and hardship. The value of this card is teaching us how to live through that which is immediate, difficult and unavoidable. This card indicates rest, recuperation, 

Four of Swords 

The Four of Swords shows a mausoleum in which we see a golden statue of a preying knight resting on a granite tomb in front of a colorful stained glass window with four swords suspended in the air. The scene is peaceful, restful, restorative with the bright window glowing with jewel tone colors. This card can alternatively represent fear, anxiety, stress and overwhelm calling for the need to rest in order to restore your strength or serious health consequences can ensue.

Five of Swords 

The Five of Swords shows a young warrior with a smug expression holding five swords as her opponent walks away. The yellow of her robe represents Air suggesting strategy was used to best her opponents. This is a card of conflict, strife, abandonment, dangerous overconfidence, arguments, defeat, dishonor, surrender, hostilities, isolation, aggression, violence and battle. It can also whisper that you must stand up to those who oppress you in order to preserve yourself and any victory earned will be costly. This card can be the betrayer or the betrayed, the bully or the one being bullied. The Five of Swords ultimately represents defeat.

Six of Swords 

The Six of Swords depicts a young mother and son huddled together in a boat as the oarsman ferries them towards the dawn. This card indicates a journey, travel by water, transition, release, starting fresh, yet the swords in front of the people indicate they are carrying baggage of the past with them. This can represent escape from domestic violence and the cloak over the women’s head may be that hiding her identity or hiding her sadness. This card symbolizes the end of relationships, leaving a rough situation for something better, seeking stability, accepting tough choices as the best option or putting the past behind you as you seek a new beginning.

Seven of Swords 

The Seven of Swords shows a masked thief escaping into the forest with a castle on the hill in the background. The protagonist may not be all he appears: the cloak is ragged and torn but all the rest of the clothing is in good repair. This card represents theft, subterfuge, spying, deception, trickery, gain through deceit, sneaking around and running away. It can mean you think you got away with something but you don’t know that you’ve been caught in the act. 

Eight of Swords 

The Eight of Swords depicts a young woman blindfolded and bound in an icy field with a curtain of swords directly behind her. Behind her is a river represents her fears which cut her off from the comfort and safety of the castle on the hill. This card indicates your fears are keeping you from moving forward because you are blind to the fact that simply by stepping forward you’d never be cut by your fears represented by the swords. Generally, this card represents feeling powerless, bound, trapped, terrified, anxious and fearful. It can indicate mental health issues, paranoia and phobias. The uplifting opportunity is that action on your part can conquer all your fears and negative emotions.

Nine of Swords 

The Nine of Swords shows a wide-eyed woman clutching her pillow awakened by a nightmare looming behind her. This card is occasionally referred to as the Lord of Cruelty which I embodied as the laughing grim reaper using a deep purple robe to represent psychic attack by dark forces (real or imaginary). This card represents anxiety, mental health struggles, doubts, self-criticism, pain, nightmares, and fears. The protagonist is balanced between reality and nightmares, consciousness (light blue rose) and subconsciousness (dark blue rose) with sharp swords piercing us with worry. 

Ten of Swords 

The Ten of Swords shows a prone figure stabbed by ten short swords in the back. The figure lies alone under a blackened sky beside a dark sea. This card doesn’t generally signal a violent end, despite its depiction, but it does indicate an unwanted, unavoidable defeat, destruction and hopelessness. The pale yellow horizon breaking over the mountains is a positive sign that this darkness cannot last and better times are on the way.

This card represents backstabbing, exhaustion, betrayal, frienemies, ruin, fatigue, struggle, defeat, anguish, the straw that broke the camel’s back, dead ends, disconnection, collapse, rock bottom, mental health crisis. Very rarely this card may warn against violence, attacks, curses or against persons who love to play the victim, attention seeking, drama queen or self-proclaimed martyr seeking gain through playing off the sympathies of others.

 Page of Swords 

The Page of Swords represents an energetic young person (or young-at-heart-person) proudly drawing the sword from the sheath with a determined look. Her/his/their robes are yellow (Air) and blue (water) and she/he/they are tattooed with a blue feather (the combination of intellect and emotion). A butterfly is on the sword hilt to represent Air, transformation and transgenderism. This card symbolizes a person with great imagination, big ideas, curiosity, a fast-talker and a fierce debater. This card represents a sharp wit, bluntness, confidence, impulsiveness, vigilance, inspiration, nervous energy, oration and advances in finance, career, health and romance.

Knight of Swords 

My Knight of Swords does not correspond to the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith imagery. In the Nikole Dominique Johnson Tarot Deck this card shows a non-binary knight kneeling in red armor with one hand on a broad sword with a large monarch emitting a brilliant golden halo. I drew this Knight with half short/half long electric blue hair to represent a spirit containing both masculine and feminine traits.The butterfly is the symbol of transgenderism and also an Air symbol. Traditionally, the Knight of Swords represents winning at any cost, confidence, ambition, energetic, assertive and impulsiveness. This person is daring, direct, quick witted and relentless. This is a card of leadership, bold action, iron will and sharp logic.

Queen of Swords 

The Queen of Swords is a clever, confident, wiser, mature intellect. She is self-reliant, independent, open-minded, candid, sophisticated and capable. This card represents someone willing and able to defend themselves, able to provide aid and comfort to others, and can solve difficult problems with ease. She is passionate, free and a positive sign. The butterfly tattoo on her cheek represents the Air element.

Her makeup is red for passion and sexuality. Her dagger has a horse head representing freedom, power, strength, freedom, nobility, independence, confidence, triumph and heroism. The tiger headdress symbolizes the Chinese Zodiac sign of the Tiger representing fearlessness, strength, military prowess, personal strength, bravery, courage and willpower. The tiger skull is in the shadow of the Queen representing her shadow self — ruthless, aggressive, fierce, and uncontrpowerful. The Tiger is the riding mount of the Hindu Goddess Durga who has limitless power to use against evil and wickedness.

King of Swords

The King of Swords wears a magnificent Huitzilopochtli headdress which is the attribute of an Aztec war and sun Eagle/Hummingbird God who is associated with Mexico as a patron protector. This card represents represents mental clarity, power, high standards, logic, truth, controlled emotion, and authority. His blue tunic represents a thirst for spiritual knowledge and the butterfly tattoo represents the element of Air, transformation and freedom.