Six of Swords
Thoth: Science
Marseille: Six d’Épées
“Calmer ahead. Leave behind what you can’t mend.”
At a glance
Keywords
moving on · a calmer passage · transition · leaving trouble behind · relief · a clearer head
Yes or no
Lean yes
Calmly, and with something left behind.
Keywords, reversed
stuck in place · baggage brought along · a rough crossing · turning back · unfinished business
Yes or no
Lean no
Not until what you’re carrying has been dealt with.
Advice for
Cross when the way is calm, and leave what you can’t repair.
Advice against
Don’t treat distance as a cure. Whatever you carry comes with you.
Meaning
The Six of Swords is the crossing away from trouble. The hardest stretch is behind you, and things are moving, slowly and steadily, toward a quieter place. It might be a move, a job change, the end of a difficult season or the first calm after a rough one. The old trouble is still with you, but the journey is easier than what you left.
Notice that the passage is quiet. Nobody is celebrating, and what lies ahead is only a better place to begin. The card often says you can’t fix what’s behind you, only leave it. A clearer head is doing some of the work now. What you carry with you is the part to look after.
In the Thoth deck
The Thoth deck calls it Science, and reads it as a balance more than a journey: mind and conscience held in equilibrium, hard to win and hard to keep.
In the Marseille deck
Six is balance and swords are thought: six blades in an oval frame, with a small flower, not a sword, in the middle, as if the mind has settled.
Reversed
Reversed, the crossing is hard or won’t start. You may be stuck where you are, turning back at the last moment, or taking the trouble with you in the bags. A move can feel forced, or something unfinished keeps pulling you round.
Look at what you are carrying and decide what can be left. If you can’t travel yet, say so, and work on what makes leaving feel unsafe.
Shadow
Keywords
escape as habit · leaving unsaid · a polite exit · never arriving · moving to avoid feeling · waving off help
The card’s knack for moving on can turn into a way of never staying. Each hard conversation is left behind instead of had, each fresh start is a flight, and the same trouble turns up in every new place. Peace bought by leaving is paid for later, and help is waved off along the way.
In your life
Love
Leaving a difficult chapter; a gentler phase.
Reversed: old hurt travelling with you; hard to leave.
Work
A move to better ground, or a transition.
Reversed: a stalled transition.
Money
Leaving debt or a bad deal behind.
Reversed: old financial worries still dragging.
Health and energy
Recovery with a quieter pace.
Reversed: strain that follows you; rest more.
Inner life
Letting go of a past you can’t mend.
Reversed: old stories you’re still carrying.
Spiritual keywords
passage · release · trust in the guide · calmer ground
Timing
Steady: a calm passage that takes as long as the water takes. Its season is the middle ten days of Aquarius, about 30 January to 8 February.
The image
Pamela Colman Smith draws a ferryman standing at the stern of a small boat, pushing it with a pole. A hooded woman and a child sit in front of him, and six swords stand upright in the boat. The water is rough on the near side and smooth ahead: in this deck, a passage to calmer water, with help along the way. Waite notes that the load is light and “the work is not beyond his strength”.
Frieda Harris paints six ornate swords whose hilts form a hexagram, with their points meeting the outer petals of a red rose on a golden cross made of six squares. Crowley calls that the Rosy Cross, the heart of scientific truth.
Six d’Épées. Curved blades gather into an oval, bundled and crossed at each end, and a small flower stands in the centre where a straight sword would be on odd numbers. No figure, no water. Six brings balance, swords bring thought.
Place in the story
The Five’s quarrel makes this journey necessary: the crossing away from a place where staying has become costly. The Seven follows with a very different mood. Once you are away, you have to decide how to act without being seen.
Correspondences
Mercury in Aquarius rules the second decan: the planet of mind and messages in the sign of ideas and humanity, which suits the clear head and shared thinking of the card. The Six sits on Tiphareth, the centre of the Tree of Life, where balance is found. The Golden Dawn calls the card Lord of Earned Success.
| Card | Six of Swords |
|---|---|
| Element | Air |
| Astrology | Mercury in Aquarius, 2nd decan, 30 Jan to 8 Feb |
| Sephira | Tiphareth |
| Golden Dawn title | Lord of Earned Success |
| Card | Six of Swords: Science |
|---|---|
| Element | Air |
| Astrology | Mercury in Aquarius, 2nd decan, 30 Jan to 8 Feb |
| Sephira | Tiphareth |
| Golden Dawn title | Lord of Earned Success |
| Card | Six d’Épées |
|---|
The Marseille method uses no astrology or Kabbalah.
Card of the day
You may be leaving something behind today, or being carried through a change. Don’t carry more than you need, and check what is in the bag before you set out. Look ahead to calmer days, and let the mind settle.
Journal prompts
- What am I ready to leave behind?
- What am I bringing with me that I could set down?
- What would let my mind settle enough to see this clearly?
Common misreads
“A holiday.” The journey is a passage out of difficulty. It can be a trip, a move or an inner shift.
“Everything is fixed.” Things are calmer, not still. You’re moving toward a better place, and have not yet arrived.
Associations
- Playing card
- Six of Spades.
- Myth and archetype
- Charon’s ferry; Noah’s ark; the exodus across the water; the Wayfarer.
Sources
RWS image and quotation: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Six of Swords; public domain.
Thoth image and title: Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth (1944), Six of Swords, Science, paraphrased.
Marseille: Conver 1760 (BnF btv1b10520316w) has no Six of Swords; arrangement from Jean Dodal, Tarot de Marseille (1701), BnF scans on Wikimedia Commons.
Decan, title, sephira: Golden Dawn Book T, via Regardie.
Practice meaning: Pollack, Bunning and Greer, paraphrased.
Practice: Arcanis Tarot, 6 of Swords, arcanistarot.com.