Tarot card meanings › Swords
Queen of Swords Tarot Card Meaning
The Queen of Swords tarot card means honesty, independence and clear boundaries. Clear sight and honest words.
Upright
- Honesty
- independence
- clear boundaries
Reversed
- Coldness
- bitterness
- harsh judgement
Yes or no
Maybe
The Queen 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
A queen sits in profile on a stone throne carved with a winged child's head, holding a sword upright in her right hand and lifting her left as if to greet someone. Clouds pile up behind her.
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 Queen of Swords is read as clear, honest judgement. She has learned from experience, says what she means and keeps firm boundaries. The card favours truth over comfort.
Queen of Swords reversed
Reversed, it is read as coldness, bitterness, or being too hard on people.
Yes or no?
In a yes or no question, the Queen 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 SwordsFour of SwordsFive of SwordsSix of SwordsSeven of SwordsEight of SwordsNine of SwordsTen of SwordsPage of SwordsKnight of SwordsKing of Swords
‹ Knight of SwordsAll 78 cardsKing of Swords ›
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