Queen of Swords
Reine of Épées (Tarot de Marseille) · Queen of the Thrones of the Air (Golden Dawn) · Queen of Swords (Thoth)
The Queen of Swords sits in profile with her blade upright and her hand extended, a card of clear judgement, honesty and independence often won through experience.
Upright clear judgement · independence · honesty · perception · boundaries · experience · wit
Reversed coldness · bitterness · harsh criticism · isolation · cruel words · clouded judgement
- Astrology
- 21° Virgo – 20° Libra
- Element
- Water of Air
- Golden Dawn title
- Queen of the Thrones of the Air
- Yes or no
- Maybe
Upright
Upright, the Queen of Swords represents mature, perceptive intelligence. In the Waite–Smith tradition she is someone who has known sorrow and learned from it, who sees through pretence, speaks plainly and keeps her own counsel. Readers describe her as fair but unsentimental, witty and difficult to deceive.
In love the Queen can stand for clear boundaries, honest communication and independence within a relationship. She may describe someone who prefers truth to flattery or who has been hurt before and is cautious. Some readers see a person thriving alone.
In work and money matters she favours analysis, editing, law, teaching and any task that needs objectivity. She suggests making decisions on evidence and negotiating firmly.
The advice of the Queen is to think clearly and speak honestly, without letting experience harden into coldness. Her raised hand is an offer as well as a gesture of authority.
Reversed
Reversed, the Queen of Swords is often read as her clarity turning to severity: coldness, bitterness, cutting remarks, judgement without compassion. Some readers see isolation, or a person whose emotions cloud the sharp mind she usually relies on. Others describe the reverse of her honesty, such as manipulation or deceit.
Reading reversals is optional, and many tarot readers interpret the cards upright in every position. Those who reverse this card generally treat it as a reminder that truth and kindness need not exclude each other.
The image
Smith shows the Queen of Swords seated in profile on a high stone throne, facing the right edge of the card. She holds a sword upright in her right hand and extends her left hand, palm open, toward something outside the picture. Her crown is made of butterflies, her cloak is patterned with clouds, and a tassel or ribbon hangs from her left wrist. Her throne is carved with butterflies, a crescent moon and the winged head of a cherub. Clouds gather below, and a single bird flies high in a clear blue sky.
History
The queens have been part of the tarot since the fifteenth century; the Tarot de Marseille shows a crowned Queen of Swords seated with a sword. Smith's profile composition is her own. Waite's 1910 Pictorial Key describes the queen's face as severe but chastened, suggesting familiarity with sorrow, and gives the meanings widowhood, female sadness, absence, mourning and separation; reversed, malice, bigotry, artifice, prudery and deceit. Modern readers, from Rachel Pollack onward, have tended to reframe her as a figure of wisdom earned through difficulty rather than of grief alone.
Symbolism
The butterflies are symbols of the soul and of transformation, and in this suit also of Air. The single high bird has been read as clarity and solitary vision, and the clouds below as confusion that she has risen above. The extended hand has been interpreted as welcome, as a gesture of judgement, or as an offer of help to those willing to face the truth.
In the Golden Dawn system the queens are the watery part of their suit, so the Queen of Swords is "Water of Air": perception guided by understanding. She rules from 21° Virgo to 20° Libra and is attributed to Binah and the first He of the divine name. Her Golden Dawn title is "Queen of the Thrones of the Air". Crowley's Thoth queen holds a severed head, an image of the intellect freeing itself from illusion.
In a reading
As a person the Queen of Swords is often described as an experienced, independent and intellectually sharp individual of any gender. Beside Justice she emphasises fairness and clear decisions; beside the Three of Swords, wisdom gained through grief; beside the Queen of Cups, a balance of mind and feeling. In an advice position she encourages honesty and firm boundaries. For the court cards and their elemental pairings, see the minor arcana.
Sources and further reading
- The Pictorial Key to the Tarot — A. E. Waite, 1910
- The Book of Thoth — Aleister Crowley, 1944
- The Golden Dawn — Israel Regardie, 1937
- Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom — Rachel Pollack, 1980
- The Qabalistic Tarot: A Textbook of Mystical Philosophy — Robert Wang, 1983