A dead body, lying in a pool of blood, with daggers sticking out of its back. When reading tarot, nothing quite freezes a novice reader like the ten of swords. For some, just the illustrated glint of pointed steel in the cards generates a concerned pause. Of the four suits in tarot, swords are often misunderstood, met with apprehension, or outright dismissed in our interpretations to soften the reading and mollify the querant. The scenes depicted can be bleak, foreboding, or violent in nature.
Swords are not a warm and cozy suit. They do not conjure ease or contentment. They do not invoke the imagery of playful frolic in a field of wildflowers or sitting peacefully beside a full hearth. They are cold, calculating, and dangerous. When multiple swords appear within a tarot reading, it can often feel like a struggle to reassure the querant about their future. Nothing seems reassuring about a pack of swords. But for those who can see its potential, its true message, it can be.
Swords are our liberators. When they appear within a reading, they are challenging us to free ourselves from our mental shackles, our irrational fears, our self-imposed limitations. They remind us to rise above the emotional and practical aspects of our being and ascend into the conceptual, the abstract. Particularly for those with air sign placements, swords are a reminder of the power of intellect and wit. The right words can cut deep. The right ideas can carve out destinies.
The swords suit in tarot also highlights a main opposition to intellect: fear. Swords, with its cold and ominous iconography, carries the message that sometimes the only obstacles truly in our way are our own worries, doubts, and phobias. As Frank Herbert so eloquently puts it, “Fear is the mind killer.” Swords remind us that often it is fear itself that poses the greatest threat to our progress, both worldly and spiritual. Swords ask us what it is we fear, prompting us to recognize where those fears may be holding us back from our true potential.
In addition, swords can offer a much needed balance in the energy of tarot; they provide a touch of harshness to the soothsaying, a darkness to the light. In a world that pressures us to always be cheerful, to embody constant brightness and positivity, swords provide a relief from the strain of perpetual optimism and allow us to acknowledge our mental shadows.
Swords in tarot also attempt to cut through deception or confusion. It exposes false friends, both in other people and in and in our own internal narrative and self-talk. The swords suit helps us by encouraging our critical thinking skills and reminding us to step back from our emotions and instead sharpen our minds. Instinctively, we know what is true. Our subconscious mind is endlessly trying to signal to us when something is not as it seems. And sometimes, all we need to do in order to realize it is to snap back into focus, remove ourselves from the emotional baggage clouding our vision, and perceive the truth as it is. The court cards within the swords suit are figures who do not lead from their feelings. They are ruthless and precise in their actions. Too much of their influence can lead to callous behavior and repression of all feelings. Not enough can lead to indecisiveness, lack of boundaries, and becoming trapped in a constant state of being overwhelmed by emotions or dragged down and clouded by minutiae.
In tarot, each suit represents not only different themes, but different desired effects on a reader. Cups are meant to guide and comfort us. Wands are meant to compel us. Coins are meant to nurture and sustain us. But swords are meant to question us or, to be more precise, swords invite us to question ourselves: What is holding you back? What are you afraid of? What are you turning a blind eye to?
If you find yourself staring down at a table full of swords, the universe is asking you to seek knowledge and clarity within yourself and wield it along your journey. They place us in the role of the mythic hero and remind us of what our heroes often need: a weapon.
