The Queen of Swords is a card in the

Suit of Swords The Suit of Swords is one of the four suits of the Minor Arcana in a 78-card cartomantic tarot deck. It is derived from the suit used in Latin suited playing cards, such Spanish, Italian and Latin-suited tarot decks. Like the other tarot suits, ...

, part of the

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set of the

Tarot The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, ...

. Tarot cards are used throughout much of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

to play

tarot card games Tarot games are card games played with tarot decks, that is, decks with numbered permanent trumps parallel to the suit cards. The games and decks which English-speakers call by the French name Tarot are called Tarocchi in the original Italian, ...

. In

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-speaking countries, Tarot cards are utilized primarily for

divinatory Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history ...

purposes.

Interpretations

* The Queen of Swords traditionally corresponds to the roles of widow, crone, and divorcée. She is seen to have very high standards and can be highly critical of herself and others. * "For a woman in our culture," states American Tarot reader and artist

Tiffany Lee Brown Tiffany Lee Brown is an American writer and artist. She is from Oregon, currently living and working in Central Oregon. For many years she was known for her work in Portland. Author of ''A Compendium of Miniatures'' (Tiger Food Press, 2007), Brow ...

, "this could look like a pretty enviable show of power." In this interpretation, the Queen of Swords card represents what women have historically lacked for countless generations: "the boundaries, the physical ability, the power to completely lay out the terms under which we will parlay... to say how words are spoken in front of us, who does what to or toward our person." The contemporary Queen of Swords may represent positive feminist traits such as self-sufficiency, independence, and intelligence. * The position of Queen of Swords in a reading is relevant to the card's interpretation. If the card appears in a future position, the queen could be "showing you the way," wrote Mary K. Greer, author of "21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card" (Llewellyn, 2008) and other Tarot-related books. Greer encourages divinatory Tarot practitioners to avoid fixating on gender roles matching biological sex; a queen might represent the querent's father, for example.

Smith-Rider–Waite symbolism

This section pertains to the symbolism evident in the Queen of Swords card as depicted in the Smith-Rider–Waite Tarot deck, also known as the RWS or Smith-Waite deck, which was illustrated by

Pamela Colman Smith Pamela Colman Smith (16 February 1878 – 18 September 1951), nicknamed "Pixie", was a British artist, illustrator, writer, publisher, and occultist. She is best-known for illustrating the Rider–Waite tarot deck (also called the Rider–Wait ...

, also known as Pixie. * The Queen of Swords is extending her hand, perhaps to reach for another; but she also holds her

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

firmly before her, perhaps as a warning, a self-protection or a test for another. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, or PKT notes that she is familiar with sorrow. * Her crown is made up of

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

, which are symbolic of the element of air and the realm of the mind. This depiction can be seen as showing the freedom of her thought and her active intellect. * Note the difference between the pristine white

cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may co ...

s, and the darker ones showing up on the right bottom corner. The darker clouds may suggest her sorrows, as the PKT has specified. The lighter clouds highlight the unusual clarity of her mind and thoughts. This illustration may be compared with other sword court cards, where illustrator

has painted mostly tarnished-looking clouds. * Some interpret the queen's hand held out in front as a signifier of putting thoughts into action. All the sword cards represent the mind and the element of air all the skyscapes will indicate the "emotion" of the card. The clouds low on the horizon in this card can be read as suggesting new ideas or a new enterprise.

References

Suit of Swords Fictional queens {{tarot-stub