Six of Swords
The six of swords in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a ferryman taking passengers across the water in his punt. A. E. Waite read it as a journey by water, a route, an envoy.
Meaning
In Waite's words: "A ferryman carrying passengers in his punt to the further shore. The course is smooth, and seeing that the freight is light, it may be noted that the work is not beyond his strength."
What does the Six of Swords mean?
Waite's meanings are "journey by water, route, way, envoy, commissionary, expedient"; reversed, "declaration, confession, publicity; one account says that it is a proposal of love". His list of additional meanings adds "the voyage will be pleasant", and reversed, "unfavourable issue of lawsuit".
In older decks
Italian packs call the suit spade, swords; the British Museum's catalogue of 1876 lists it among the suit marks of the earliest cards. Papus reads it as "The enemy is rendered powerless at last."
Read next
- Next in Tarot cardsSeven of SwordsThe seven of swords in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a man carrying five swords away from a camp, two left stuck in the ground. A. E. Waite read it as design, attempt, hope, and a plan that may fail.
- 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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