The Pictorial Key to the Tarot

Swords
QueensHer right hand raises the weapon vertically and the hilt rests on an arm of her royal chair the left
hand is extended, the arm raised her countenance is severe but chastened; it suggests familiarity
with sorrow. It does not represent mercy, and, her sword notwithstanding, she is scarcely a symbol
of power. Divinatory Meanings: Widowhood, female sadness and embarrassment, absence,
sterility, mourning, privation, separation. Reversed: Malice, bigotry, artifice, prudery, bale, deceit.