Tarot card meaning · Swords Seven of Swords tarot card meaning

The Seven of Swords is the card of someone getting away with something. Upright it means deception, secrecy, a hidden motive, or a person taking what is not theirs. Reversed it means the truth comes out and what was taken is returned. In a yes or no reading it is a no: someone here is not being straight with you.

deception
stealth
getting away with it

Yes or no: No
Reversed: Yes

Arcana: Minor, Swords
Number: 7
Element: Air
Astrology: Moon in Aquarius

Seven of Swords tarot card, Rider-Waite-Smith deck — Rider-Waite-Smith, 1909

Upright

Seven of Swords upright meaning

A man tiptoes away from a camp of tents with five swords bundled in his arms. Two more are still stuck in the ground behind him. He is looking back over his shoulder, smiling, pleased with himself. Nobody in the camp has noticed yet. The background is a flat yellow, like broad daylight, which makes it bolder.

Upright, the Seven of Swords means someone is not being straight. It might be a lie. It might be a secret kept, a second phone, a plan made without you. It might also be smaller and more ordinary: someone saying one thing to your face and another to their friends.

Count the swords. He did not get away with all of them. Two are left behind, and that is the part people miss. What is hidden here is not perfectly hidden. There are traces, and you probably noticed one already.

Reversed

Seven of Swords reversed meaning

Reversed, the thief gets caught, or comes back with the swords. The truth surfaces. A message gets found, a story stops adding up, someone confesses because keeping it up got too heavy.

It can also mean you stop deceiving yourself. You quit making excuses for the thing you already saw. That counts as the truth coming out.

This is one of the reversals that reads better than the upright. What was taken, whether that is trust, attention or a person, has a real chance of being returned once it is out in the open.

Love and relationships

Seven of Swords in love.

If you are single

Be careful with someone who is charming and vague about their life. Ask the second question. It can also point to you hiding part of yourself to be liked, and the card asks you to stop.

In a relationship

Something is being kept from one of you. Not always cheating, but something. Hidden spending, a contact you were not told about, feelings for someone else. The card says it will not stay hidden, and that it is better said than found.

About an ex

About an ex, the Seven of Swords often points to the part of the story you were not told. There may have been someone else, or a decision made long before they said it. As a forecast it says the truth about that time comes out.

How they feel

Seven of Swords as feelings

As feelings, the Seven of Swords means they are guarded and not fully honest about what they feel. They may want you and also want to keep their options open. Or they feel guilty about something they have not told you, and keep their distance because of it.

What to do

Seven of Swords as advice

Trust the detail that did not add up. Do not go digging through phones, but do not explain away what you have already seen. Ask one direct question and watch how they answer, not only what they say.

The question everyone asks

Does the Seven of Swords mean he is hiding something, or that they will come back?

Upright, it says something is still being hidden, and while that is true, any return is on uneven ground. Reversed is the better sign: the truth comes out and what was taken can come back. If someone else is in the picture, the card often shows them slipping away with what does not belong to them.

Ask me about your person · from $19.00 One card says a little. I read the whole situation, today, in writing.

Yes or no

Is Seven of Swords a yes or a no?

No Someone is not being straight. Count the swords.

↺ Yes Reversed: The truth comes out. What was taken gets returned.

A single card answers a single question, and only if the question is narrow. If yours is about a person, I can read the whole thing for you.

Sable at her altar — Sable
Reads tarot and casts candle work by hand

In my readings

When Seven of Swords comes up for me.

The Seven of Swords is the card I see most in readings where the client says, I just have a feeling. They are usually right. I look at where it falls in the spread and which cards sit next to it. Next to a court card, it often points to a specific person who is in the way, and quite often it is someone the client already suspects.

When a third person is pulling at a relationship from the side, that is the work I do with third party removal: making it uncomfortable for them to keep taking what is not theirs. I will not cast it on a hunch alone, though. I read first, so we both know who is holding the swords.

If this card is about someone

One card shows a corner. I read the room.

When a card keeps coming up about the same person, the question under it is bigger than its meaning. These are the two ways I can help with it today.

Brutally honest tarot reading

Your real question, read by me today.

I pull the cards myself and write what they show, in plain words, including the parts that do not flatter. Sent to your email, no call to book.

from $19.00 ~~$63.00~~

Ask Sable your question

Third party removal spell

If you would rather not wait on it: the third party removal spell, cast at my altar today with a photograph of your candle.

from $19.00 ~~$63.00~~Read more →

Sunday at Sable's table

A spell for your week, every Sunday. Free, from my altar to your inbox.

The one ritual I would do this week if I were you, what the cards say is coming for you, and the bonuses I only ever give to the list. For the one who wants him back, the money moving, the luck turned.

Questions

What people ask about Seven of Swords

Is the Seven of Swords a yes or no card?

No. Upright it is a no, because someone in the situation is not being honest and the ground is not solid. Reversed it is a yes: the truth comes out and what was taken gets returned.

Does the Seven of Swords mean cheating?

It can, but it is not limited to that. It means deception or secrecy of some kind. Cheating is one form. Hidden plans, lies by omission and two faced behavior are others.

What does the Seven of Swords reversed mean?

A secret coming out, a confession, or stolen things returned. It can also mean you stop lying to yourself about something you already knew.

What does the Seven of Swords mean in love?

Something is being kept from someone. Look for what does not add up. The card says it will come out, and that it is better faced than found by accident.