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

Minor Arcana · Swords

Four of Swords

• vigilance
• retreat
• solitude
• repose

Upright meaning

Rest and retreat: Waite gives vigilance, retreat, solitude and repose. A card for pausing to recover.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, Waite reads wise administration, circumspection and precaution: rest turned into careful planning.

• circumspection
• wise administration
• precaution

Symbolism

The effigy of a knight lies in prayer, full length, on his tomb.

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.