Ten of Swords
The ten of swords in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a figure lying face down, pierced by ten swords. A. E. Waite read it as pain, affliction and desolation.
Meaning
In Waite's words: "A prostrate figure, pierced by all the swords belonging to the card."
What does the Ten of Swords mean?
Waite's meanings are "whatsoever is intimated by the design; also pain, affliction, tears, sadness, desolation. It is not especially a card of violent death"; reversed, "advantage, profit, success, favour, but none of these are permanent; also power and authority". His list of additional meanings adds "followed by Ace and King, imprisonment; for girl or wife, treason on the part of friends", and reversed, "victory and consequent fortune for a soldier in war".
In older decks
In Italian packs the suit is spade, swords, one of the four suit marks the British Museum's catalogue of 1876 gives for the earliest cards. Papus reads it as "Uncertainty in the enmity."
Read next
- Next in Tarot cardsPage of SwordsThe 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.
- 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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