Swords
Six of Swords Tarot Card Meaning
What the card shows
A boatman ferries passengers across calm water, swords upright in the boat, away from choppier waters behind.
Upright meaning
Six of Swords is a difficult stretch being left behind for calmer ground.
If it's your card today
If you’re in the middle of a hard transition today, this card says the water gets calmer from here.
Commentary and alternative readings by context
Love and relationships
In love, it suggests moving on from a difficult period in a relationship toward calmer, steadier ground.
Work and decisions
For career, it points to leaving a difficult work situation behind for something more settled.
As a person
This is a thoughtful transition-maker who can leave a difficult period without pretending it never happened. They often guide others too; making room for their own unfinished feelings matters as well.
Reversed meaning
Struggling to leave a difficult situation, or a transition that stalls partway through.
Where Tarot schools disagree
The main interpretation follows Rider–Waite–Smith. The Marseille and Thoth comparisons are attributed to named authors and works.
Six of Swords Tarot Card: Tarot de Marseille Interpretation
Tarot de Marseille — Six de Épées (Paul Marteau, 1949)
In Paul Marteau's number-and-suit method in Le Tarot de Marseille (1949), this rank means harmonious balance and a reserve of power that can be drawn upon. Swords describe action on the material plane that can open toward spiritual value. Read together, the card applies that stage to this suit's domain. This is Marteau's specific twentieth-century system.
Six of Swords Tarot Card: Crowley’s Interpretation in The Book of Thoth (1944)
Thoth — Six of Swords — Science (Aleister Crowley, 1944)
Crowley's exact corresponding card in The Book of Thoth (1944) is Six of Swords — Science. The decan title, "Science," ruled by Mercury in Aquarius — clear thinking (Mercury) applied through Aquarius's forward-looking, unconventional air — reads as progress achieved through mental effort, closer in spirit to RWS's journey-toward-calm than the plainly pleasurable Marseille numerology alone suggests.
Why the interpretations differ
RWS builds much of the reading from Pamela Colman Smith’s narrative scene. Marseille numbered minors are usually read through number, suit and composition, while Thoth adds a printed title and astrological or decan structure. The systems can begin with the same number and suit yet emphasize different dynamics.
Sources and method
A. E. Waite — The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) · Paul Marteau — Le Tarot de Marseille (BnF, 1949) · Marteau — attributed English translation · Aleister Crowley — The Book of Thoth (1944)
Automated factual and language passes completed 23 September 2026; no human native-language review is claimed.
Air
Frequently asked
What does the Tarot card “Six of Swords” mean upright?
Six of Swords is a difficult stretch being left behind for calmer ground.
What does the Tarot card “Six of Swords” mean reversed?
Struggling to leave a difficult situation, or a transition that stalls partway through.
What does the Tarot card “Six of Swords” mean in love?
In love, it suggests moving on from a difficult period in a relationship toward calmer, steadier ground.
What does the Tarot card “Six of Swords” mean for career?
For career, it points to leaving a difficult work situation behind for something more settled.
What kind of person does the Tarot card “Six of Swords” describe?
As a person, this card describes the same pattern in character: Six of Swords is a difficult stretch being left behind for calmer ground. Under pressure, its shadow may look like this: Struggling to leave a difficult situation, or a transition that stalls partway through.
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