Six of Swords Tarot Card Meaning

Six of Swords upright

A ferryman poles a flat boat with passengers towards a distant shore. Waite notes the water is smooth and the load light — the task is within his power. Upright: a journey by water, a route, an envoy, an expedient. Leave the turbulence behind; better ground is ahead.

Six of Swords reversed

Waite reversed gives declaration, confession, publicity — and, in one account, a proposal of love. Something hidden is spoken aloud.

A reversed card (What does Upright / reversed card mean?) is one drawn upside-down.

Is Six of Swords a yes or no?

Upright: Leans yes. Yes — move forward; it gets easier.

Reversed: Reversed, Six of Swords reads as mixed — not a clear yes or no: declaration, confession, publicity.

The yes/no lean is BornClock’s reading convention drawn from the card’s meaning — Waite himself did not assign one.

Symbolism in the Six of Swords card

What appears in the 1909 Rider–Waite–Smith picture, as Waite describes it:

• Ferryman poling a boat — Waite: the work is within his power
• Smooth water and a light load — Waite: an easy passage

In Waite’s own words (paraphrased)

Upright: journey by water, route, way, envoy, commissionary, expedient.

Reversed: declaration, confession, publicity; one account says a proposal of love.

Source: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910, public domain). Some of Waite’s 1910 fortune-telling meanings are old-fashioned; the plain-English reading above is ours.