Four of Swords

Minor Arcana · Swords · number 4 · Quattro di Spade

Four of Swords, plate by Pamela Colman Smith
Pamela Colman Smith, 1910

Upright

The Four of Swords is a knight lying on a tomb in a silent chapel: retreat, solitude, a hermit’s repose, exile. The images of tomb and coffin, says Waite, inspired the design, but it is not a card of death: it is a card of enforced pause. If these days your body asks you to stop, after an illness, a wrench, a period of overwork, it is no accident. It is not a sentence, it is convalescence. The practical advice: really take the rest, switch off your phone for a whole day, postpone whatever can wait. The swords stay hanging on the wall: you will pick them up later.

Source: Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) · read the original passage
«Vigilance, retreat, solitude, hermit's repose, exile, tomb and coffin. It is these last that have suggested the design.»

Reversed

Reversed, the Four of Swords gets up and administers: wise management, circumspection, economy, precaution, and also a testament. The pause is over, and now practical things get put in order, accounts, documents, decisions about the future of one’s possessions. Beware, though, of the side Waite calls avarice: prudence can turn into meanness, and saving into a fear of living. If these days you think a lot about money and security, it is no accident. It is not a sentence. The practical advice: settle a matter you have long postponed, an insurance, a will, an account, and then allow yourself one small, cheerful expense.

Source: Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) · read the original passage
«Wise administration, circumspection, economy, avarice, precaution, testament.»

Source

Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) Part III, § 2, The Lesser Arcana, Four of Swords https://archive.org/details/a.-e.-waite-the-pictorial-key-to-the-tarot