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

The Two of Swords shows a blindfolded woman sitting by the sea at night with two heavy swords crossed over her chest. The water behind her is full of rocks, and a thin moon hangs in the sky. It is a card of stalemate, hard choices and not wanting to look. Here is what the Two of Swords means upright and reversed, the symbols in the 1909 card and a spread for making a hard decision.

At a glance

• Upright keywords: indecision, stalemate, difficult choices
• Reversed keywords: confusion, indecision, information overload
• Number: 2 in the suit of Swords
• Suit and element: Swords, Air Later tradition
• Astrology: Moon in Libra Later tradition
• Yes or no: No Modern

The element and the planet in a sign (one of the 36 ten-degree slices of the zodiac called decans) come from the Golden Dawn system of the 1880s and 1890s, not from the first tarot decks. 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 described it in one line: “A hoodwinked female figure balances two swords upon her shoulders.” Hoodwinked means blindfolded. Smith put her with her back to the sea, so she cannot see the water or the rocks.

The blindfold

She cannot see. Sometimes that is because information is missing, and sometimes because looking would hurt. The card asks which one it is.

The crossed swords

The two swords are equally heavy. Holding them crossed protects her heart, but she cannot hold that pose forever.

The sea and the moon

Behind her the water is rocky and the moon is a thin crescent. Feelings and intuition are at her back, unseen. The answer may be in what she feels, not only in what she thinks.

Upright meaning

Upright, the Two of Swords holds a stalemate. Two options press equally, information feels incomplete, or you have closed your eyes because looking would hurt. The crossed swords ask for a decision, and the blindfold admits you are not ready to weigh it yet.

Take off the blindfold one corner at a time. Gather the missing facts, list the costs of each path and ask what you feel, not only what you think. A truce can be wise for a while. A truce that lasts forever is a choice too.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, the Two of Swords can show confusion, indecision or information overload. The swords grow too heavy, and you may make a rushed choice just to end the tension.

Cut the information down to what matters. Ask one trusted person to listen. If you are being pressured to choose now, ask whether the deadline is real.

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, avoiding a decision about a relationship, or a cold truce. Reversed, being overwhelmed by mixed feelings.

Work and money

Two job offers, a stalemate in a team or avoiding a hard call. Reversed, analysis paralysis.

Spirituality

Sitting with a question in meditation instead of forcing an answer. Reversed, ignoring your intuition.

As feelings

As someone’s feelings, the Two of Swords shows being torn or guarded. They may be protecting their heart and not ready to choose.

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

• Past: An avoided decision shaped where you are.
• Present: You are stuck between two options. Look at both honestly.
• Future: A choice is coming. Gather information now.
• Advice: Lift the blindfold and look at what you already know.

A Minor Arcana card usually describes the everyday texture of a situation: a mood, a conversation, a task or a step. If the Two 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 Two of Swords a yes or a no?

In modern yes or no readings, the Two of Swords leans no. The answer is blocked until a decision is made. 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 face difficult choices with the facts I have and the values I hold.

Reversed affirmation: I cut through overload and name the preference I already feel.

Journal prompts:

• What am I avoiding looking at?
• What would I choose if both options cost the same?
• What does my body feel about each path?

What the Two means in tarot

Two is the number of polarity, choice and the first meeting of two forces. A Two asks you to weigh, balance or partner. It is still early in the story, so the cards in this rank are more about direction than results.

Here is how the Two looks across the four suits:

• Two of Wands: planning, decisions, expansion
• Two of Cups: unity, partnership, mutual attraction
• Two of Swords (this card): indecision, stalemate, difficult choices
• Two of Pentacles: balance, adaptability, time management

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 Two of Swords: “Conformity and the equipoise which it suggests, courage, friendship, concord in a state of arms; another reading gives tenderness, affection, intimacy.” Reversed, he gave: “Imposture, falsehood, duplicity, disloyalty.” 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 Two of Swords

Use this spread when you are stuck between two options.

1. Option one What this path offers and costs.
2. Option two What the other path offers and costs.
3. What am I not seeing? The missing piece that helps me choose.

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 Two of Swords a yes or no card?

It leans no, or not yet. The decision has not been made.

What does the Two of Swords mean in love?

Avoiding a choice, or a guarded heart. Reversed, confusion and mixed feelings.

What is the difference between the Two of Swords and the Two of Wands?

Both are choices. The Two of Wands looks outward at possibilities. The Two of Swords is frozen and looking inward.

Related cards

• Justice: the Major Arcana card of weighing things fairly
• Seven of Cups: too many options instead of two
• Eight of Swords: another blindfolded figure, held by fear

Keep learning

The Two of Swords is part of the lesson Swords 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, Ace of Swords or the card after it, Three of Swords, or go back to all the card meanings. For the suits and numbers in one place, see The Minor Arcana: suits and numbers made simple. 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 Two of Swords.