Rider Waite Smith Tarot Deck

Her 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.

About the Deck

Pivotal and canonical, this deck defined a new pattern that would be followed up to the present.

Provenance

Designed by A.E. Waite and Illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith. England, 1911.

Meaning of Queen of Swords from the Rider Waite Smith Tarot Deck

Upright

Widowhood, female sadness and embarrassment, absence, sterility, mourning, privation, separation.

Reversed

Malice, bigotry, artifice, prudery, bale, deceit.

According to Many Schools of Thought

Papus's Divinatory Meanings

A dark wicked woman. A gossip. A calumniator. Jealous.

A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings

Upright

A widow.

Reversed

A bad woman, with ill-will towards the Querent.

Mme. Le Normand's Divinatory Meanings

Happiness throughout life in every way.

S. L. MacGregor Mathers's Divinatory Meanings

Upright

Widowhood, Loss, Privation, Absence, Separation

Reversed

A Bad Woman, ill-tempered and bigoted, Riches and Discord, Abundance together with Worry, Joy with Grief.

P.R.S. Foli's Divinatory Meanings

Upright

Widow, a very dark woman

Reversed

an intriguing, spiteful woman.

Mme. Le Marchand's Divinatory Meanings

if you choose the number you dream of, you will win the highest prize; but you must venture but once, or fortune will forsake you forever.