1. Tarot
2. Card meanings
3. Ace of Swords

Minor Arcana · Swords

Ace of Swords

• triumph
• great force
• conquest

Upright meaning

A clear, forceful idea: Waite calls it a card of great force. Clarity that cuts through.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, Waite notes another account of conception and multiplicity: many ideas at once.

• multiplicity

Symbolism

A hand from a cloud grasps an upright sword whose point is circled by a crown.

Group

Minor Arcana · Swords

Element, astrology

Not given by Waite, so we give none

Source

Our own plain-English summary of A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1911), Part III §2 (The Lesser Arcana). The keywords are Waite’s own words. Waite’s fortune-telling lists also contain harsher terms; we keep to the reflective readings he gives and never state an event as certain.

Tarot is a tool for reflection, not a prediction of fixed outcomes. This is not medical, legal or financial advice.