Western Tarot symbolism
Two of Swords
The account describes a blindfolded woman balancing two swords on her shoulders. It offers courage, conformity and concord, but qualifies the favourable readings because of the suit's broader associations. The additional list instead assigns gifts or influential protection upright and dealings with rogues reversed. These particular outcomes differ from the main reversed meanings of falsehood and disloyalty.
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In the sources
The card account
LiteraryThe account describes a blindfolded woman balancing two swords on her shoulders. It offers courage, conformity and concord, but qualifies the favourable readings because of the suit's broader associations.
Comparing the lists
LiteraryThe additional list instead assigns gifts or influential protection upright and dealings with rogues reversed. These particular outcomes differ from the main reversed meanings of falsehood and disloyalty.
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
balances two swords upon her shoulders. Divinatory Meanings: Conformity and the equipoise which it suggests, courage, friendship, concord in a state of arms ; another readingOpen 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 132
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-P0132
- Original scan leaf
- 138
- Recorded leaf number
- 138
- Current Reader position
- 132
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
Source 2
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination
Two.—Gifts for a lady, influential protection for a man in search of help. Reversed: Dealings with rogues. Ace.—Great prosperity or great misery. Reversed: Marriage broken off,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 pageAce of Swords
A crowned sword represents force whose outcome is not uniformly favourable.
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.