Tarot card meanings › Swords
Four of Swords Tarot Card Meaning
The Four of Swords tarot card means rest, recovery and stillness. Rest and recovery.
Upright
- Rest
- recovery
- stillness
Reversed
- Restlessness
- burnout
- getting back up
Yes or no
Maybe
The Four of Swords is one of the 14 cards in the suit of Swords. Swords are the suit of air: thought, truth, words and conflict.
What the card shows
The carved figure of a knight lies on a tomb with hands together in prayer. Three swords hang on the wall above and one lies along the side of the tomb, under a stained-glass window.
This is the card as drawn by Pamela Colman Smith for the 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck, which is in the public domain.
Upright meaning
The Four of Swords is read as rest. After a struggle, it is time to stop, recover and think quietly before the next move. It often shows up around recovery from illness or stress.
Four of Swords reversed
Reversed, it is read as refusing to rest, burning out, or returning to action after a break.
Yes or no?
In a yes or no question, the Four of Swords is usually read as a maybe: the answer depends on something not settled yet. Readers differ on some cards, so treat this as one common reading. You can ask a yes or no question and draw a card for it.
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More Swords cards
Ace of SwordsTwo of SwordsThree of SwordsFive of SwordsSix of SwordsSeven of SwordsEight of SwordsNine of SwordsTen of SwordsPage of SwordsKnight of SwordsQueen of SwordsKing of Swords
‹ Three of SwordsAll 78 cardsFive of Swords ›
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