Western Tarot symbolism
Ace of Swords
A cloud-borne hand grasps a sword encircled by a crown at its point. The account associates it with triumph and excess, and suggests that the crown may have a significance beyond ordinary fortune-telling. The main reversed account gives disastrous results or, alternatively, multiplication and childbirth. The additional upright list allows both prosperity and misery, while its reversed marriage assignment uses a period judgement about a woman's conduct.
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In the sources
The card account
LiteraryA cloud-borne hand grasps a sword encircled by a crown at its point. The account associates it with triumph and excess, and suggests that the crown may have a significance beyond ordinary fortune-telling.
Comparing the lists
LiteraryThe main reversed account gives disastrous results or, alternatively, multiplication and childbirth. The additional upright list allows both prosperity and misery, while its reversed marriage assignment uses a period judgement about a woman's conduct.
Context & interpretation
The active library scan carries L. W. de Laurence’s name and reproduces material associated with A. E. Waite’s Tarot exposition. This entry follows that supplied edition’s card prose and supplementary lists. Historical divinatory assignments and period character labels are distinguished from the pictured symbolism and from independently supported judgements about people or future events.
Original passages
Source 1
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination
the point of which is encircled by a crown. Divinatory Meanings: Triumph, the excessive degree in everything, conquest, triumph of force. It is a card ofOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: The Illustrated Key to the Tarot, supplied de Laurence edition; card description, active reader leaf 133
Exact supplied-edition extracted passage actually read; whitespace-normalised quotation anchor and original-leaf mapping checked. Image descriptions attributed to printed prose; no new full-plate visual inspection asserted.
- Edition
- IMJ-0149-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0149-E001-P0133
- Original scan leaf
- 139
- Recorded leaf number
- 139
- Current Reader position
- 133
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
Source 2
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination
Ace.—Great prosperity or great misery. Reversed: Marriage broken off, for a woman, through her own imprudence. Pentacles. King.—A rather dark man, a merchant, master, professor. Reversed:Open this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: The Illustrated Key to the Tarot, supplied de Laurence edition; additional meanings, active reader leaf 152
Exact supplied-edition extracted passage actually read; whitespace-normalised quotation anchor and original-leaf mapping checked. Image descriptions attributed to printed prose; no new full-plate visual inspection asserted.
- Edition
- IMJ-0149-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0149-E001-P0152
- Original scan leaf
- 158
- Recorded leaf number
- 158
- Current Reader position
- 152
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
Illustrations
Continue exploring
Ace of Pentacles
A cloud-borne pentacle raises a distinction between material prosperity and its benefit.
Shared source pageEight of Pentacles
Stone work supplies an image of craft that can be preparatory rather than complete.
Shared source pageFive of Pentacles
Two figures passing a lit window receive explicitly incompatible interpretations.
Shared source pageFour of Pentacles
A figure holding several pentacles gives possession a concrete visual arrangement.