Seven of Swords

A card of attempt and hope that the source itself admits is uncertain, sitting alongside quarrelling and a plan that may fail.

Upright

design
attempt
wish
hope
confidence
quarrelling

The old source ties this card to making a plan, trying something, hoping for a result, and feeling confident about it, but in the same breath it lists quarrelling and a plan that may not work out. The two are not reconciled; the source itself says the meaning runs in different directions at once. The picture, a man hurrying off with most of the swords but not all of them, can be read as an attempt that is underway but incomplete, leaving something unresolved behind.

Traditional meaning.

Waite pairs two very different registers under this card: design, attempt, wish, hope, confidence on one side; quarrelling, a plan that may fail, and annoyance on the other. He is explicit that the card's import is uncertain because these significations are widely at variance with each other, so no single tidy meaning is being offered here.

Symbolism

A man is shown carrying away five swords rapidly, in the act of removing them, while two others remain fixed in the ground. A camp lies close at hand. The image reads as a departure carried out quickly and only partly completed, since two swords are left behind rather than all seven being taken.

In this context

Work or direction: A project or attempt taken up with hope and confidence can sit alongside disagreement or a plan whose outcome is not settled. The image of something carried away quickly, with part of it left behind, may reflect work that is moving but not yet complete.
A decision I am weighing: The source's own account is divided: confidence and hope on one hand, a plan that may fail and annoyance on the other. This can be a moment to hold both possibilities rather than assume the confident reading is the correct one.
Something about myself: An attempt or wish pursued with hope and confidence, yet shadowed by possible quarrel or a design that may not succeed, may invite reflection on which of those threads feels closer to the reader's actual situation.

Sit with this

Which of Waite's two threads, confident hope or a plan that may fail, feels closer to what is actually happening here?
The source's man leaves two swords behind while hurrying off with the rest: is there a part of this attempt that feels unfinished or set aside?
Where does quarrelling or annoyance show up alongside the hope and confidence this card also names?

Reversed

good advice
counsel
instruction
slander
babbling

The source ties this reversal to speech more than action: something said, overheard, or passed along. It could be advice or instruction worth having, direct, maybe blunt, but genuinely useful. Or it could be talk that does harm: gossip, slander, chatter without weight or care behind it. Waite doesn't say how to distinguish the two, and this record won't pretend to either. Reflecting on which kind of speech is actually present in the situation, whose, and about what, may be more useful than looking for a single fixed verdict from the card.

Traditional meaning.

Waite gives this reversal two meanings that sit in real tension with each other: good advice, counsel, instruction on one side, and slander, babbling on the other. The source does not explain how to tell which applies, or resolve them into one story, it leaves both standing.

Symbolism

The upright card shows a man carrying away five swords rapidly, having left two stuck in the ground, with a camp close at hand, read traditionally as a theft or an act taken while others are unaware, done in haste and not completed cleanly (two blades left behind). Reversed, the source turns this toward the mouth rather than the hand: words carried off or thrown out carelessly, which can land as either useful counsel given plainly or as slander and babbling, talk that damages rather than helps.

In this context

A relationship: Can reflect a conversation worth having honestly, or the effect of words said about someone rather than to them. May be worth considering what was actually said, and by whom, rather than assuming the worst or the best.
Work or direction: May point toward direct feedback or instruction that's worth taking seriously, or toward office talk that's more damaging than accurate. Distinguishing the two may be the more useful exercise than the card alone can settle.
A decision I am weighing: Advice reaching a person now could be sound and worth weighing, or it could be noise dressed up as certainty. The source doesn't hand over a way to tell which, that judgment stays with the reader.
Something about myself: Can invite a look at how one gives and receives words, when plain counsel is offered versus when talk drifts into rumor or careless comment, including one's own.

Sit with this

Is there advice or instruction you've received recently that you haven't fully taken in yet?
Has any talk, yours or someone else's, traveled further than you meant it to?
How do you usually tell the difference between someone giving you honest counsel and someone just talking?
Is there something you've said about a situation that you'd want to say differently now?

Sit with this

Each meaning is written by us and grounded in A. E. Waite’s The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), which is in the public domain. Nothing appears here until a person has read it.

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Source: Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), public domain. Seven of Swords (p. 89). Knowledge version 0.1.0.