AUTHOR’S NOTE: As I’m using it here, “execution”” means “the precise performance of a planned action.” The other premise I apply to the Swords is that they put considerable thought into the act of planning, although few of the Minor Arcana seem to benefit from it. Maybe the “planning” aspect of a Sword should be read as affecting the card following it in a reading, since in penal terms “execution” requires a “guilty party” to dispatch.

While reading Vincent Pitisci’s book Genius of the Tarot, I came across the keyword “execution” for the Knight of Swords and was struck by the notion that execution is really the modus operandi for all of the Swords, even those that are largely passive. His narrative on the suit is also liberally sprinkled with the idea of “planning” in that the Swords are cerebral and default to an orderly perception of “how things work.” (They believe that if you push on one end and the same thing emerges from the other end every time, as reliably as clockwork, this repeatable outcome can be counted on in any strategy.) This makes the Swords dependable even when they are overly literal and perhaps dogged in their persistence. I would want one for my Chief Engineer; if there is a way to “push a string,” he or she would find it!

It is all too common when reading to refer to the Swords cards vaguely as representing “intellectual matters,” or at most as suggesting legal issues, difficulties and arguments. These are fine as far as they go, but I think there is a more useful way to decipher them: What objective is each of the cards driving toward, and what form of execution is its forte? (In other words, what is its point – more importantly, where is it inserting it – and what are its tactics?) While the objectives may only be mental abstractions as befits the source, their execution is more likely to be visceral (if not eviscerating). Lately I’ve been encountering descriptions of the Swords as being just as active as the Wands but much more disciplined and focused on accurate results. Where Wands may attempt to bludgeon a problem into submission, Swords will want to torture it a bit to make it give up its secrets before offing it, all in the name of science and progress. The aphorism “There is a method to the madness” could have been invented for the suit of Swords.

It is a given that the Swords are by-and-large unpleasant. Arthur Edward Waite noted in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot that “Swords generally are not symbolical of beneficent forces in human affairs.” But that doesn’t mean they are ineffective in their quest for perfection, just that they are indifferent to the consequences for human well-being. The caveat “Don’t hold them by the pointy end!” could be leveled every time the Swords are unsheathed in a reading, and when they represent an adversary or adversarial situation it’s time to create a little distance between you and them (unless you happen to be a master of swordplay and fancy footwork). There is no shame in running away from the executioner!

I will flesh out this essay with “thumbnails” about the Swords court as “agents of execution:”

My main problems with the Page of Swords involve integrity and commitment, which he lacks except in the service of his own interests. But if we’re willing to give him a directive and a deadline, leave him to his own devices and check back later, we might be surprised at his progress. Of all the exemplars of “the precise performance of a planned action,” the Page would seem to be one of the most capable as long as he can stay motivated and supervision isn’t breathing down his neck, making him nervous.

The Knight of Swords “brings it on” full-tilt but he still manages to “dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t'” in his path. No detail escapes his scrutiny; if you need an unflinching “hatchetman” to execute your management initiative (I’m thinking of the underhanded euphemism “right-sizing”), he’s your guy. Just don’t expect anyone to like him.

If I recall correctly, Tarot de Marseille author Alejandro Jodorowsky considered the Queen of Swords to be one of his Freudian “castrating” personalities. She seems to be gesturing “Come ahead! It won’t hurt much . . .” but I would be inclined to mistrust that welcoming hand-wave. She is the “executrix par excellence” and has no patience for excuses. Her implacable stare says it all.

Among the court cards of the Waite-Smith Tarot, the King of Swords is the only one that is facing straight out of the scene; the rest are either gazing into the past or into the future. However, it’s notable that his sword is canted slightly to the viewer’s left, suggesting that he is open to influence from prior experience. He will only execute his decisions “on good authority” or perhaps in line with legal precedent.