Minor Arcana · Swords·6·Air

Six of Swords

A ferryman poles a small boat across the water, carrying a cloaked figure and a child. Six swords stand upright in the boat. On the Six of Swords, you leave the storm behind and take the experience with you.

transitionmoving onrelief

Arcana

Minor

Number

Element

Air

Suit element

Air

What the card means in tarot

The Six of Swords is a card of change for the better, at a slow pace. Look at the water: it’s choppy on one side of the boat and smooth on the other. The passengers sit hunched and quiet, facing the far shore. The card tends to appear when you’re leaving something hard and heading toward calmer ground.

Six of Swords upright

Keywords: transition · moving on · relief

Upright, the Six of Swords means transition, relief after a crisis, and a way forward. It’s a supportive card for a move, for the quiet that follows a breakup, and for recovering from a painful chapter.

Six of Swords reversed

Reversed, the Six of Swords warns of resisting change or leaving a transition half finished. Part of you is still holding on to what you’re supposed to be leaving.

Tip: See whether Six of Swords shows up in your own reading. Try a free tarot reading You get a daily card and detailed spreads based on traditional RWS symbolism.

Six of Swords in love and relationships

A ferryman poles a small boat toward the far shore, away from choppy water. The Six of Swords is the card of leaving a painful phase behind. If you’re single, you’re walking away from toxic patterns and heading toward calmer relationships, and the card suggests the worst is behind you. For couples, it marks the shift from crisis into smoother water, sometimes with an actual move as the symbol of a fresh start. Reversed in love: you can’t leave the pain, you’re stuck in the past, and you keep going back to what was.

Six of Swords in career and money

In your career, the Six of Swords stands for moving into a calmer phase: leaving a company in crisis, switching to a steadier field, putting distance between you and a difficult coworker. It favors people who learn from a past mistake. With money, it’s stabilizing after a stretch of losses, a slow recovery. Reversed: you can’t seem to move on, and old debts keep catching up with you.

Six of Swords and personal growth

The card’s lesson is that healing happens gradually. Some crossings are slow and silent, and they do more good because of it.

How to read Six of Swords in a spread

As advice, the Six of Swords says: set out, even if the water is still rough. In the past position, it’s a departure that saved you. In the present, quiet movement forward. In the future, a calmer shore.

Symbols on the card

The boat on the water: being carried from one phase of life to the next
The cloaked figure and the child: vulnerability in the middle of a change
The six swords in the boat: memories and lessons you bring along
The ferryman with his pole: help, guidance, or the part of you that keeps going
The two kinds of water: rough on one side, calm on the other
The far shore: a new beginning that’s visible but not yet reached

Common questions

What does the Six of Swords mean in tarot?+

The Six of Swords means transition, relief after a crisis, and moving toward something better. It supports a relocation, the calm after a breakup, and recovery from a painful time.

What does the Six of Swords mean in a love reading?+

In love, the Six of Swords points to leaving a hard relationship behind and finding peace. Reversed, it can show someone unable to leave a relationship that isn’t working, out of fear of change.

What does the Six of Swords reversed mean?+

Reversed, the Six of Swords warns of resistance to change or an unfinished transition. You’re still gripping what you’re leaving when it’s time to let it go.

There’s a story behind how Six of Swords was drawn. Read the history of the RWS tarot → Meet Pamela Colman Smith, Arthur Waite, and the 1909 deck that 80% of tarot readers use today.

Related cards· Swords

All Swords cards

More cards: Major Arcana, Wands, Cups, Pentacles

Try this card in a reading

Six of Swords shows its full meaning only alongside other cards. Here are six of the most popular spreads where it can turn up:

Pull your own tarot card

A free daily card and 12 kinds of spreads, based on traditional Rider-Waite-Smith symbolism.

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For more on where the cards come from, read The 1909 tarot: the most famous cards in the world It covers how the RWS deck came to be and why 80% of tarot readers worldwide use it today.