Page of Swords tarot card meaning: upright, reversed and symbols

The Page of Swords stands on a windy hilltop holding a sword upright with both hands and looking to one side. Clouds race and birds fly overhead. It is the student of the air suit: curious, quick and full of questions. This page covers what the Page of Swords means upright and reversed, the symbols in the 1909 card and how to read the Page as a person or an energy.

At a glance

• Upright keywords: curiosity, mental agility, sharp questions
• Reversed keywords: deception, manipulation, all talk and no action
• Rank: Page, one of the four court cards of Swords
• Suit and element: Swords, Air Later tradition
• Astrology: Venus, Aquarius Modern
• Yes or no: Maybe Modern

The pairing of suits and elements comes from French occult writers of the 1800s, and the Golden Dawn fixed the version used here in the 1880s and 1890s. The astrology line is the pairing printed on my first tarot deck. Other books pair the Aces and court cards differently, so if yours disagrees, follow your own deck. The yes or no lean is a modern reading habit. Use these layers if they help you remember the card, and skip them if they get in the way.

The card: what Pamela Colman Smith drew

Waite wrote: “A lithe, active figure holds a sword upright in both hands, while in the act of swift walking. He is passing over rugged land, and about his way the clouds are collocated wildly. He is alert and lithe, looking this way and that, as if an expected enemy might appear at any moment.”

The raised sword

The Page holds the sword ready, but is not using it. They are practicing, learning what words and ideas can do.

The wind

The clouds move and the trees bend. Air is the element of thought, and this Page’s mind is busy.

Looking to the side

The Page watches everything. It is curiosity, and sometimes suspicion.

Upright meaning

Upright, the Page of Swords arrives with questions, quick thinking and a beginner’s appetite for information. Messages, research and restless curiosity fill this card. The Page watches, learns and sometimes speaks before the thought is finished.

Ask the questions, read the sources, test ideas. Learn to listen as well as talk. If the Page is a person, they may be clever, chatty and curious, and still learning tact.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, the Page of Swords can show deception, manipulation or all talk and no action. Gossip and sharp comments belong here too.

Check your sources before passing things on. Ask whether your words help. If someone else is spreading rumors, do not add fuel.

Reversals are optional. Many readers never use them and read every card upright, and that is a complete way to read. If you do use them, decide before you shuffle what a reversed card will mean for you, and keep to that choice for the whole reading.

In love, work and spirituality

Love

Upright, lively conversation and curiosity about someone. Reversed, gossip or cutting words.

Work and money

Research, learning a new skill, news or an interview. Reversed, all talk and little delivery.

Spirituality

Studying with a critical, curious mind. Reversed, arguing instead of learning.

As feelings

As someone’s feelings, the Page of Swords shows curiosity and interest, with some caution. They want to know more.

The Page of Swords as past, present, future and advice

• Past: A question or a piece of news set this in motion.
• Present: Be curious. Ask the questions.
• Future: News or a message is coming.
• Advice: Research before you decide.

A Minor Arcana card usually describes the everyday texture of a situation: a mood, a conversation, a task or a step. If the Page of Swords appears next to a Major Arcana card, let the Major name the big theme and let this card show how it is playing out in thought and the other things Swords rule. If it keeps coming back over several days, write down what was happening each time.

Is the Page of Swords a yes or a no?

In modern yes or no readings, the Page of Swords is a maybe. It is curious but still unsure. Tarot is better at showing the shape of a situation than at handing down verdicts, so if the question really matters, turn it into an open question such as “What do I need to know about this?” and draw again.

Affirmation and journal prompts

Affirmation: I let curiosity lead, and I check my facts before I speak.

Reversed affirmation: I drop gossip and match my words with action.

Journal prompts:

• What do I want to learn?
• Where do I speak before I think?
• What is the best question I could ask right now?

The page in the tarot court

The Page is the student of the suit: beginning, curiosity, messages and apprentice energy. A Page can be a young person, a beginner of any age, a piece of news, or the part of you that is willing to learn. Court cards are not limited by the gender of the figure on the card: a Queen can describe a man, and a Knight can describe a plan rather than a person. You can read the Page of Swords as someone in your life, as a part of you, or as an approach to the situation.

Here is how the Page looks across the four suits:

• Page of Wands: curiosity, enthusiasm, new opportunities
• Page of Cups: intuition, creativity, emotional openness
• Page of Swords (this card): curiosity, mental agility, sharp questions
• Page of Pentacles: ambition, new ventures, learning

Learning a rank across the suits is one of the fastest ways to learn the Minor Arcana: the number or court rank gives you the shape, and the suit gives you the setting.

The history and art behind the card

In most decks before 1909, the number cards showed only a pattern of suit symbols, the way a playing card does. The Sola Busca deck from late 1400s Italy is the famous exception. Pamela Colman Smith gave every Minor Arcana card a scene with people in it, and that choice is a big reason the Rider-Waite-Smith deck is still the easiest deck for beginners. In Italian decks the suit is Spade and in the Tarot de Marseille it is Épées, curved blades woven into patterns. Smith drew straight swords and big skies full of wind and cloud. Air is the element of the mind, and her Swords scenes are often about what we think and say more than what we physically do.

When A. E. Waite published The Pictorial Key to the Tarot in 1910, he listed these divinatory meanings for the Page of Swords: “Authority, overseeing, secret service, vigilance, spying, examination, and the qualities thereto belonging.” Reversed, he gave: “More evil side of these qualities; what is unforeseen, unprepared state; sickness is also intimated.” Waite said he was offering “a harmony of their meanings” gathered “from all sources”, which means older fortune-telling lists, not his own reading of the picture. On this site I read the picture first and treat lists like this as history.

A spread for the Page of Swords

Use this spread when you want to learn something new.

1. What am I curious about? The question to follow.
2. Where do I find good information? The sources to trust.
3. How do I use my words well? One way to speak with care.

Lay the three cards in a row, read each one on its own first, then read them together as a short story. Write one sentence for each position and one small action you will take.

Common questions

Is the Page of Swords a yes or no card?

It is a maybe. More information is needed.

Who is the Page of Swords as a person?

Often a curious, clever, talkative person, or a student. It can be any gender or age.

What does the Page of Swords mean in love?

Lively talk and curiosity. Reversed, gossip or sharp words.

Related cards

• Ace of Swords: the clarity the Page is learning to carry
• The Magician: the Major Arcana card of skill with words
• Page of Pentacles: the earth Page, a patient student

Keep learning

The Page of Swords is part of the lesson Meet the court in my free Tarot for Beginners course. To see the whole suit on one page, go to the suit of Swords. To keep walking the suit, read the card before it, Ten of Swords or the card after it, Knight of Swords, or go back to all the card meanings. For more on the court, see Tarot court cards without confusion. For every card with keywords, affirmations and examples, see my book The Novice’s Guide to Tarot. If you would like a printable cheat sheet for all 78 cards, my 45-page Tarot Workbook is on Etsy.

Sources

• A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1910), Part III, sections 1 and 2.
• Pamela Colman Smith and A. E. Waite, the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot (London: Rider, 1909).
• Nicolas Conver, Tarot de Marseille (Marseille, 1760).
• Lauri Mukkala, The Novice’s Guide to Tarot, entry for the Page of Swords.