Minor Arcana · Swords
Six of Swords tarot card meaning: upright and reversed
You’re leaving something difficult behind, even if you haven’t reached the other shore yet. The Six of Swords describes a quiet, sometimes sad transition toward calmer ground. You may carry some of the old weight with you, but the direction is forward.
- Upright
- transition, moving on, calmer waters, passage, leaving behind
- Reversed
- resisting change, unfinished business, stuck, carrying baggage
- Yes or no
- Leans yes upright; leans no reversed
Six of Swords upright
transition · moving on · calmer waters · passage · leaving behind
You’re leaving something difficult behind, even if you haven’t reached the other shore yet. The Six of Swords describes a quiet, sometimes sad transition toward calmer ground. You may carry some of the old weight with you, but the direction is forward.
What are you bringing with you into the next chapter, and what could you leave on this shore?
Six of Swords reversed
resisting change · unfinished business · stuck · carrying baggage
The crossing stalls, or keeps drifting back. Reversed, the Six of Swords can show resistance to a transition, unfinished business that keeps pulling you back, or a sense of being unable to leave something behind. It asks what is still tying you to the old shore.
What would need to be resolved before you felt free to move on?
Six of Swords in love
Upright
This can reflect moving on from a hard chapter, or a relationship gently shifting into steadier, calmer waters.
Reversed
Old patterns or unresolved feelings may keep resurfacing, making it hard to move forward fully.
Six of Swords at work
Upright
A transition at work or a change of approach may be underway, carrying you toward something more settled.
Reversed
A change may feel stalled, or you may be holding on to a way of working that no longer fits.
Six of Swords as feelings
For questions like “How do they feel about me?” The card describes a possible mood, never what someone really thinks.
Upright
A mood this card can describe: subdued but hopeful, quietly wanting to move past a hard time. What calmer place are you heading toward?
Reversed
A mood this card can describe: being stuck in the past and finding it hard to let go. What from before is still shaping things now?
Is Six of Swords a yes or no card?
Upright
Leans yes. Six of Swords: a crossing toward calmer ground.
Reversed
Leans no. Six of Swords reversed: the crossing stalled, or drifting back.
A lean is the card’s mood, not a verdict. Yes or no tarot can’t answer questions about health, pregnancy, money, the law or what someone else will do. Draw one card for a yes or no question, or see every card’s lean.
Six of Swords in Lanterndeck’s deck
Lanterndeck draws six swords laid as the planks of a footbridge, the red thread for its rope rail, leading over the water to a lit house on the far shore: a careful crossing toward calmer ground.
Six of Swords by the numbers
| In a one-card draw | 1 in 78 (1.3%) |
|---|---|
| In a three-card spread | 1 in 26 (3.8%) |
| In a ten-card Celtic Cross | about 1 in 8 (12.8%) |
| Reversed, when it turns up | about 1 in 3 in Lanterndeck’s draw |
Six of Swords is the sixth of the 14 cards in the suit of Swords, between Five of Swords and Seven of Swords.
Draw with Six of Swords in mind
Ask your own question and draw three cards from the full deck. Six of Swords may turn up or it may not: the draw is random, and the reading works with whatever comes.