Six of Swords
Six of Swords · Card 56 of 78
intellect, conflict, truth
Tarot Reading →Upright keywords
- passage
- moving on
- smoother waters ahead
- transition with help
- leaving turbulence
Reversed keywords
Upright meaning
A ferryman poles passengers across calm water toward a farther shore. The Six of Swords is transition with grace: leaving a rough stretch, carrying only what fits in the boat. This card favors moves, job changes, endings honored and begun, travel literal or internal. Note the geometry of the picture: someone else is rowing; accepting competent help is part of the crossing, not a failure of independence. The far shore is quieter, but you will arrive a passenger changed by the water between. Do not look back for signs you should have stayed. Sit low, let it carry you.
Reversed meaning
Reversed, the crossing meets chop. The journey stalls or circles: the move postponed, feelings packed but not shipped. This position often means baggage riding along, the old address kept mentally, the last argument replayed mid-river. Unpack what you can and name what you cannot yet. There is also a reluctance reading, staying aboard a departing arrangement out of fear of open water; the card gently asks which shore is safer. Rough crossings still cross. Trim the load, thank the ferryman, keep your seat. The far bank has not moved, and the water between you is thinner than yesterday's.
Classical excerpt — The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §2
Divinatory Meanings: Journey by water, route, way, envoy, commissionary, expedient. Reversed: Declaration, confession, publicity; one account says that it is a proposal of love.