Ace of Swords

What the card means

Upright

A truth cuts clean and the air clears. The Ace of Swords is the moment something gets named and cannot afterwards be un-named. The sword is raised out of a cloud with a crown and branches on its point: the prize and the price in one object, because clarity nearly always costs something.

Reversed

Clever words used to avoid the point: a great deal said, accurately, and past the matter. Or clarity used to strike with rather than to see by.

Love and relationships

Upright

The conversation after which it is clear. A confession, a definite answer, the thing called by its name. It may hurt, and it will be easier.

Reversed

Arguing elegantly about the wrong thing. Or the truth told in a way that makes it impossible to accept.

Work and business

Upright

A clear statement of the task, a decision, a breakthrough in understanding. A good time to put things into words and to sign.

Reversed

Arguments instead of work. Or a form of words with nothing standing behind it.

Money

Upright

Clarity in the figures: it comes out as it is. A good time to calculate and to talk about money plainly.

Reversed

Arguing about terms rather than reading them.

The card's advice

Name the thing. One exact word is worth a week of discussion right now - and you probably already know which word.

As the card of the day

A clear, rather sharp day. Good for decisions and for saying it straight. Poor for sparing anybody.

What is depicted

A hand from a cloud holds a sword point upward, a crown and olive and palm branches on the point. Bare mountains below. The crown is on the sword rather than on a head: the reward and the weapon turn out to be the same object.

Zodiac sign and correspondences

Air in the raw - what cuts.

With other cards

• Ace of Swords + Justice — said and weighed; there is nothing to argue with.
• Ace of Swords + Three of Swords — the truth that hurts precisely because it is true.
• Ace of Swords + Two of Swords — the truth is named and the decision still is not made.