King of Swords
Secret whisperJustice of the mind, enthroned upon the wind.
Upright meaning
Upright keywordsintellect, authority, truth, ethics
Intellectual authority and fairness. Make decisions with logic, principle and integrity.
Reversed meaning
Reversed keywordsmanipulation, tyranny, abuse of power, cold logic
Power or intelligence is being used to manipulate. Keep ethics at the centre of every decision.
About the suit of Swords
Swords belong to Air: thought, truth, words, decisions and conflict. They cut both ways — bringing clarity, and the pain that clarity can cost.
Reading the Kings of the tarot
Kings hold the suit outwardly: authority, responsibility and leadership in the world.
In Waite’s own words (1910)
From A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, public domain. Original English text.
Divinatory meaning: Whatsoever arises out of the idea of judgment and all its connexions-power, command, authority, militant intelligence, law, offices of the crown, and so forth.
Reversed: Cruelty, perversity, barbarity, perfidy, evil intention.
The picture
He sits in judgment, holding the unsheathed sign of his suit. He recalls, of course, the conventional Symbol of justice in the Trumps Major, and he may represent this virtue, but he is rather the power of life and death, in virtue of his office.
