Four of Swords
The four of swords in the tarot's Minor Arcana: the effigy of a knight lying at prayer on his tomb. A. E. Waite read it as vigilance, retreat, solitude and repose.
Meaning
Waite describes the card: "The effigy of a knight in the attitude of prayer, at full length upon his tomb."
What does the Four of Swords mean?
Waite's meanings are "vigilance, retreat, solitude, hermit's repose, exile, tomb and coffin. It is these last that have suggested the design"; reversed, "wise administration, circumspection, economy, avarice, precaution, testament". His list of additional meanings adds "A bad card, but if reversed a qualified success may be expected by wise administration of affairs", and reversed, "A certain success following wise administration".
In older decks
In Italian packs the suit is spade, swords: the earliest suit marks, the British Museum's catalogue of 1876 records, were coppe, danari, bastoni and spade, "cups, money, clubs, and swords". Papus reads it as "success against the enemy".
See also
The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant.
Sources
- The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, by A. E. Waite, William Rider & Son, London, 1910 (the sacred-texts.com transcription, on the Internet Archive), The Lesser Arcana; Some Additional Meanings of the Lesser Arcana
- The Tarot of the Bohemians, by Papus, Chapman & Hall, London, 1896, translated by A. P. Morton (scan on the Internet Archive), The Divining Tarot, second lesson: the minor arcana
- A Descriptive Catalogue of Playing and Other Cards in the British Museum, by W. H. Willshire, Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1876 (scan on the Internet Archive), General history: the marks of the suits
Last reviewed September 28, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research