Four of Swords — Truce is a card of the Minor Arcana, suit of Swords in the Thoth Tarot. In a reading it speaks of truce, rest, retreat and convalescence. In the Golden Dawn system it corresponds to the sephirah Chesed, the element Air and Jupiter in Libra in astrology.
truce · rest · retreat · convalescence · compromise
What does Four of Swords mean?
Stop and recover: a strategic pause makes you clearer. Accept a reasonable compromise.
Everyday meaning
Truce, rest after the struggle, convalescence, a suspension of hostilities. It points to a period for recovering strength and reorganising ideas, often thanks to a compromise.
Psychological meaning
The mind granting itself a pause so as not to break; the wisdom of withdrawing before exhaustion, but also the temptation to mistake the truce for a final solution.
Initiatic meaning
Air in Chesed, ordering Mercy, with Jupiter in Libra in the third decan: the intellect settles into agreements and conventions. Truce is an order imposed on the mind, useful but provisional, because the peace of Air comes from a compromise.
The shadow side
Ill-dignified, it signals isolation, renunciation out of tiredness, conformism, agreements that hide tensions.
Four of Swords reversed
The Thoth Tarot is traditionally read without reversed cards: the reader judges from the cards around it whether a card is well or ill dignified. This is its ill-dignified or blocked reading:
Rest that is forced or refused; the truce breaks, or you hide behind prudence for too long.
Four of Swords in love, work and spirit
In love
A period of distance to reflect; a truce after a conflict that still needs clearing up.
At work and career
A pause, holidays, restructuring; union agreements or temporary compromises.
In spiritual practice
Meditative retreat as regeneration of the mind.
Kabbalah, astrology and the Hebrew letter of Four of Swords
Chesed · Air · Jupiter in Libra
Crowley on Four of Swords
Crowley arranges four swords with their points converging at the centre of a rose of forty-nine petals, forming a St Andrew's cross: the social order that contains conflict.
Frequently asked questions
What does Four of Swords mean in the Thoth Tarot?
Stop and recover: a strategic pause makes you clearer. Accept a reasonable compromise.
What does Four of Swords mean in love?
A period of distance to reflect; a truce after a conflict that still needs clearing up.
What does Four of Swords mean for work and career?
A pause, holidays, restructuring; union agreements or temporary compromises.
What does Four of Swords mean reversed?
The Thoth Tarot is traditionally read without reversed cards: the reader judges from the cards around it whether a card is well or ill dignified. This is its ill-dignified or blocked reading: Rest that is forced or refused; the truce breaks, or you hide behind prudence for too long.
What are the Kabbalah and astrology correspondences of Four of Swords?
In the Golden Dawn system Four of Swords corresponds to the sephirah Chesed, the element Air and Jupiter in Libra in astrology.
