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

Minor Arcana · Swords

Seven of Swords

• design
• attempt
• hope
• confidence

Upright meaning

A plan and an attempt: Waite gives design, hope and confidence, and also a plan that may fail. A card about strategy and its limits.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, Waite reads good advice, counsel and instruction: worth asking someone you trust.

• good advice
• counsel

Symbolism

A man carries away five swords quickly; two remain in the ground near a camp.

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.