Waite–Smith, Swords
Page of Swords
What you can see
A figure on rough ground grips a sword in both hands and looks to the side. Clouds and birds fill the windblown sky.
What Waite says
Waite develops the alert posture into vigilance, examination and watching for an adversary. His reversed account includes being unprepared for what was not expected.
Waite · Part III, §2 · printed p. 232 ↗In the Thoth deck
Waite’s courts are King, Queen, Knight and Page. Thoth has Knight, Queen, Prince and Princess, so a rank does not carry straight across. See both ways to match them.
Edition and image credits
Pamela Colman Smith, illustrations in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, Rider 1922 reprint, first published 1910. The scans keep the printed borders and page marks, with no cropping or recolouring.