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Page, Knight, Queen and King of Swords - Tarot Card Interpretation by A. E. Waite

Page of Swords


Image of the Rider Waite Page of Swords Tarot Card

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.

Divinatory Meaning: 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.

 

Knight of Swords


Image of the Rider Waite Knight of Swords Tarot Card

He is riding in full course, as if scattering his enemies. In the design he is really a prototypical hero of romantic chivalry. He might almost be Galahad, whose sword is swift and sure because he is clean of heart.

Divinatory Meaning: Skill, bravery, capacity, defence, address, enmity, wrath, war, destruction, opposition, resistance, ruin. There is therefore a sense in which the card signifies death, but it carries this meaning only in its proximity to other cards of fatality.

Reversed: Imprudence, incapacity, extravagance.

 

Queen of Swords


Image of the Rider Waite Queen of Swords Tarot Card

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.

Divinatory Meaning: Widowhood, female sadness and embarrassment, absence, sterility, mourning, privation, separation.

Reversed: Malice, bigotry, artifice, prudery, bale, deceit.

 

King of Swords


Image of the Rider Waite King of Swords Tarot Card

He sits in judgment, holding the unsheathed sign of his suit. He recalls, of course, the conventional Symbol of justice in the Trumps Major, and he may represent this virtue, but he is rather the power of life and death, in virtue of his office.

Divinatory Meaning: Whatsoever arises out of the idea of judgment and all its connexions-power, command, authority, militant intelligence, law, offices of the crown, and so forth.

Reversed: Cruelty, perversity, barbarity, perfidy, evil intention.

 

Tarot Card Intertpretations by A. E. Waite


Cards of The Tarot Major Arcana

The Fool  The Magician  The High Priestess  The Empress  The Emperor  The Hierophant  The Lovers  The Chariot  Strength  The Hermit  Wheel of Fortune  Justice  The Hanged Man  Death  Temperance   The Devil  The Tower  The Star  The Moon  The Sun  Judgment   The World


Cards of The Tarot Wands

Ace, Two, Three, Four, and Five of Wands  Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten of Wands  Page, Knight, Queen, and King of Wands


Cards of The Tarot Cups

Ace, Two, Three, Four, and Five of Cups  Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten of Cups  Page, Knight, Queen, and King of Cups


Cards of The Tarot Swords

Ace, Two, Three, Four, and Five of Swords  Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten of Swords  Page, Knight, Queen, and King of Swords


Cards of The Tarot Pentacles (Disks)

Ace, Two, Three, Four, and Five of Pentacles  Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten of Pentacles  Page, Knight, Queen, and King of Pentacles