Page of Swords
The page of swords in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a young figure walking swiftly over rough ground, holding a sword upright. A. E. Waite read it as vigilance, secret service and spying.
Meaning
Waite's description of the picture: "A lithe, active figure holds a sword upright in both hands, while in the act of swift walking. He is passing over rugged land, and about his way the clouds are collocated wildly."
What does the Page of Swords mean?
Waite's meanings are "authority, overseeing, secret service, vigilance, spying, examination, and the qualities thereto belonging"; reversed, "more evil side of these qualities; what is unforeseen, unprepared state; sickness is also intimated". His list of additional meanings adds "an indiscreet person will pry into the Querent's secrets", and reversed, "astonishing news".
In older decks
The Italian suit is spade, swords, among the marks of the earliest cards in the British Museum's catalogue of 1876. Papus, who calls it the Knave of Swords, reads it as "A child, an enemy. Bad news. Delay."
Read next
- Next in Tarot cardsKnight of SwordsThe knight of swords in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a rider charging at full course with his sword raised. A. E. Waite read it as skill, bravery, enmity and war.
- The same shape in Christian symbolsINRIINRI are the initials of the Latin for “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”, the charge the Gospel of John says Pilate had fixed to Christ’s cross. Crucifixes in the Western churches show the four letters on a small board above his head.
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
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from crosses, letters and numbers or squares and rectangles.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 30, 2026. How we research
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