Six of Swords: tarot meaning, upright and reversed

A boatman ferries two passengers with six swords standing in the boat.

Upright

transition · passage

A measured departure carries difficulties toward a less troubled setting.

Reversed

resistance · unfinished passage

What is being carried may complicate leaving or draw attention back.

In a reading

The position gives this card a particular task: a description of the situation, a challenge, or guidance. Read its image and meaning alongside the other cards and the question that brought them together.

Golden Dawn correspondence

Mercury in Aquarius, 10–20 degrees. This is the attribution in Book T.

Sources

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. These notes are original interpretations of the Waite–Smith imagery, informed by that text.