Swords

What this suit is about

Swords are what happens in the head and in the conversation: decisions, doubt, the truth that is unpleasant to say. The suit has a bad reputation and half earns it - half its cards depict pain. But pain in Swords is nearly always mental - fear, grievance, going round and round - and that is exactly why something can be done about it. Reversed Swords usually mean the thought is circling and never gets said.

When the suit dominates

A reading full of Swords resolves through a conversation, or through how you are looking at it, rather than through an act. It is also the ordinary shape of anxiety: the spread is showing not what will happen but what the person thinks about it. Swords beside Cups is a conversation about feelings; beside Pentacles, a calculation, a contract, numbers.

How the numbers run

Ace - clarity, the thing called by its name. Two - refusing to choose, blindfolded. Three - what was said wounds, and it was true. Four - a pause, recovery, quiet. Five - won it and stands alone. Six - passage to somewhere calmer, not yet gladness. Seven - going round, a thing done not openly. Eight - bound by your own thoughts, and the ropes are loose. Nine - the night in which everything seems worse. Ten - the end, and after it the light.

The court cards

Page of Swords - curiosity, watching, news you were not meant to hear. Knight - the one who charges in with an argument and does not check it. Queen - the one who sees through it and says so. King - the one who judges by the rule and makes no exceptions.

Every card

• Ace of Swords A truth cuts clean and the air clears · reversed: Clever words used to avoid the point
• Two of Swords Refusing to look, and calling it peace · reversed: The blindfold comes off; the choice is still hard
• Three of Swords The clean pain of being told the truth · reversed: The wound is old and still being kept open
• Four of Swords Rest, not because it is earned but because it is needed · reversed: Getting up before the healing finished
• Five of Swords Winning in a way that costs more than losing · reversed: Counting the cost, and looking for the way back
• Six of Swords Leaving the rough water, carrying the grief along · reversed: Trying to move on without putting anything down
• Seven of Swords Going around rather than through · reversed: The cleverness is seen; better to say it plainly
• Eight of Swords Bound by a story about what is impossible · reversed: One rope loosens and the whole thing gives
• Nine of Swords The three in the morning mind, which lies with great conviction · reversed: Saying the dread aloud takes some of its size
• Ten of Swords It is over, and the worst has already happened · reversed: The ending is done; the retelling is not
• Page of Swords Watching everything, learning fast, saying too much · reversed: Sharpness used to wound rather than to understand
• Knight of Swords Straight at it, arguments first · reversed: Speed and certainty in the wrong direction
• Queen of Swords Clear sight, honestly given, softened by having suffered · reversed: Clarity turned cold and used as distance
• King of Swords Judgement that holds because it is fair · reversed: Being right made more important than being just