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

Minor Arcana · Swords

King of Swords

• judgment
• power
• command
• authority
• law

Upright meaning

Judgment and clear authority: Waite gives power, command and militant intelligence. Decisions made with reason.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, Waite's words are harsh; we read it simply as authority used without care, and a prompt to temper judgment with fairness.

• perversity

Symbolism

A king sits in judgment, holding an unsheathed sword.

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.