Two of Swords

Upright meaning

A stalemate between difficult options. Holding back protects you from choosing, but keeps the situation unresolved.

Something to consider

Waiting may be protecting you from a difficult choice, but it also has a cost. Find out which missing fact would actually help you decide.

What is on your mind? Begin a reading →

Historical texts

Waite: the card

A hoodwinked female figure balances two swords upon her shoulders.

Source: The Pictorial Key to the Tarot — A. E. Waite (1922) · Public domain

Waite: divinatory meaning

Conformity and the equipoise which it suggests, courage, friendship, concord in a state of arms; another reading gives tenderness, affection, intimacy. The suggestion of harmony and other favourable readings must be considered in a qualified manner, as Swords generally are not symbolical of beneficent forces in human affairs.

Source: The Pictorial Key to the Tarot — A. E. Waite (1922) · Public domain

Waite: reversed

Imposture, falsehood, duplicity, disloyalty.

Source: The Pictorial Key to the Tarot — A. E. Waite (1922) · Public domain

Mathers: meaning

62. Deuce of Swords.-Friendship, Valour, Firmness, Courage; R. False Friends, Treachery, Lies.

Source: The Tarot: Its Occult Signification, Use in Fortune-Telling, and Method of Play — S. L. MacGregor Mathers (1888) · Public domain