Ace of Swords
The Ace of Swords is the first card in the suit of Swords. It usually stands for triumph and the excessive degree in everything: conquest and triumph by force. It is a card of great force, in love as well as in hatred. Great prosperity or great misery.
General description
In the Rider-Waite Tarot deck, Pamela Colman Smith depicts the Ace of Swords as a hand issuing from a cloud, grasping a sword with all its might. The sword is encircled by a golden crown of victory, and some of the gilded blessings surround the sword.
Divinatory meaning
This has to do with a beginning, a strong outpouring of force, an impulse, and a material one too. Positive activity on the material plane is typically masculine, and this is a very masculine card, perhaps the most of all. There is no negotiation possible with it. It is emphatically yes o r no. One of the primary expressions of the masculine is fructification, and the male action is indicated by this card. For the same reason it means seed and its natural consequence is conception and childbirth, the ace indicating here also the ascendant.
In everything this card means the actual beginning in material execution, which at the same time may cut short something else. It signifies of course a decision, the end of uncertainty or twilight. It is a fresh starting point in matter: alea jacta est (the die is cast). It may as well mean a strong demand, an appeal. There is courage in it and firm initiative. It may cause pain and affliction, but annihilates doubt, the greatest torture.
If reversed, the card can mean: Disastrous results. Conception and childbirth. Broken marriage.
| Tarot Topics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Major Arcana | The Fool • The Magician • The High Priestess • The Empress • The Emperor • The Hierophant • The Lovers • The Chariot • Strength • The Hermit • Wheel of Fortune • Justice • The Hanged Man • Death • Temperance • The Devil • The Tower • The Star • The Moon • The Sun • Judgement • The World | |
| Minor Arcana | Pentacles | Ace • Two • Three • Four • Five • Six • Seven • Eight • Nine • Ten • Page • Knight • Queen • King |
| Wands | Ace • Two • Three • Four • Five • Six • Seven • Eight • Nine • Ten • Page • Knight • Queen • King | |
| Cups | Ace • Two • Three • Four • Five • Six • Seven • Eight • Nine • Ten • Page • Knight • Queen • King | |
| Swords | Ace • Two • Three • Four • Five • Six • Seven • Eight • Nine • Ten • Page • Knight • Queen • King | |
| Decks | Visconti-Sforza Tarot • Tarot of Marseilles • Rider-Waite Tarot • Thoth Tarot • Occult Tarot • Angel Tarot • Vlad Dracula Tarot • Hieronymus Bosch Tarot | |