Knight of Swords is a card of the Minor Arcana, suit of Swords in the Thoth Tarot. In a reading it speaks of attack, speed, intelligence and determination. In the Golden Dawn system it corresponds to the sephirah Chokmah, the element Air and 21° Taurus – 20° Gemini in astrology.
attack · speed · intelligence · determination · impetuosity
What does Knight of Swords mean?
Act with decision and speed: your intelligence can make the difference.
Everyday meaning
An intelligent, quick, combative and decisive person, or a lightning action that changes the cards on the table. It points to sudden changes, attacks, ideas that burst in with force.
Psychological meaning
The mental side that acts without hesitation: lucidity, intellectual courage and readiness, but also impulsiveness, intolerance and little attention to emotional consequences.
Initiatic meaning
Fire of Air, the Yod of Vau, referred to Chokmah: the impetuous wind, the storm sweeping the sky. He rules from 21° Taurus to 20° Gemini, where Taurean tenacity becomes the weapon of Mercurial speed.
The shadow side
Ill-dignified, he is overbearing, brutal, unable to decide or to listen.
Knight 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:
Attacks that miss, hasty decisions, verbal aggression.
Knight of Swords in love, work and spirit
In love
A decisive but restless partner; a risk of quarrels and misunderstandings.
At work and career
Rapid actions, bold strategies, the ability to meet challenges.
In spiritual practice
The sword of the mind in the service of the Will, not of pride.
Kabbalah, astrology and the Hebrew letter of Knight of Swords
Chokmah · Air · 21° Taurus – 20° Gemini
Crowley on Knight of Swords
The Knight of Swords in the Thoth deck gallops on his steed with drawn sword and a dagger, amid swallows in a dive: the very idea of attack, swift and direct.
Frequently asked questions
What does Knight of Swords mean in the Thoth Tarot?
Act with decision and speed: your intelligence can make the difference.
What does Knight of Swords mean in love?
A decisive but restless partner; a risk of quarrels and misunderstandings.
What does Knight of Swords mean for work and career?
Rapid actions, bold strategies, the ability to meet challenges.
What does Knight 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: Attacks that miss, hasty decisions, verbal aggression.
What are the Kabbalah and astrology correspondences of Knight of Swords?
In the Golden Dawn system Knight of Swords corresponds to the sephirah Chokmah, the element Air and 21° Taurus – 20° Gemini in astrology.
