Page of Swords: tarot card meaning

In A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), the Page of Swords upright means: Authority, overseeing, secret service, vigilance, spying, examination, and the qualities thereto belonging. Reversed: More evil side of these qualities; what is unforeseen, unprepared state; sickness is also intimated.

The picture

“A lithe, active figure holds a sword upright in both hands, while in the act of swift walking. He is passing over rugged land, and about his way the clouds are collocated wildly. He is alert and lithe, looking this way and that, as if an expected enemy might appear at any moment.” A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1910

Upright

Authority, overseeing, secret service, vigilance, spying, examination, and the qualities thereto belonging.

Waite's additional meanings: An indiscreet person will pry into the Querent's secrets.

Reversed

More evil side of these qualities; what is unforeseen, unprepared state; sickness is also intimated.

Waite's additional meanings, reversed: Astonishing news.

In one line

Vigilance: watchful, alert, on the lookout. (Esbat's own summary of Waite's meaning and picture.)

Where it sits in the deck

The Page of Swords is the eleventh card of the suit of Swords, one of the 56 Minor Arcana. The other Pages: Page of Wands, Page of Cups, Page of Pentacles.

In Esbat

Esbat deals a card of the day, face down until you turn it, and holds all 78 cards in the 1910 pictures with Waite's meanings, upright and reversed. The Page of Swords can be shared as a picture. All 78 tarot card meanings.

Sources

Meanings and picture descriptions: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1910), public domain, checked against the Wikisource transcription. Picture: Pamela Colman Smith, 1910, public domain. Like the app, this page records what the book says; it does not promise outcomes.

Last updated October 25, 2026.

Esbat: Tarot & Book of Shadows, on Google Play

A card of the day, face down until you turn it, and all 78 cards in the 1910 pictures with Waite's meanings, upright and reversed. For Android.

Get it on Google Play

Keep reading