Ten of Swords Tarot Card Meaning

Ten of Swords upright

A figure lies face down, pierced by all ten swords. Waite says the card means whatever the picture suggests — pain, affliction, tears, sadness, desolation — and states plainly that it is not a card of violent death. It marks an ending: there is nowhere further down, so recovery can begin.

Ten of Swords reversed

Waite reversed gives advantage, profit, success, favour, power and authority — but none of it permanent. Use the lift to rebuild something lasting.

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

Is Ten of Swords a yes or no?

Upright: Leans no. No — this situation has run its course.

Reversed: Reversed, Ten of Swords reads as mixed — not a clear yes or no: recovery, temporary gains, advantage.

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

Symbolism in the Ten of Swords card

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

• Figure lying face down — the lowest point
• Ten swords — Waite: whatever the picture suggests — pain and sadness

In Waite’s own words (paraphrased)

Upright: pain, affliction, tears, sadness, desolation — expressly not a card of violent death.

Reversed: advantage, profit, success, favour, power, authority — but none of these is permanent.

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.