Two of Swords
The two of swords in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a blindfolded woman balancing two swords on her shoulders. A. E. Waite read it as conformity, balance, courage and friendship.
Meaning
Waite describes the card: "A hoodwinked female figure balances two swords upon her shoulders."
What does the Two of Swords mean?
Waite's meanings are "conformity and the equipoise which it suggests, courage, friendship, concord in a state of arms; another reading gives tenderness, affection"; reversed, "imposture, falsehood, duplicity, disloyalty". His list of additional meanings adds "gifts for a lady, influential protection for a man in search of help", and reversed, "dealings with rogues".
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 "opposition to this commencement: the enmity does not last".
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