Two of Swords At A Glance
Keywords: Stalemate, stuck between difficult choices, indecision, hesitation, needing more information, hidden information, revealed truth
Season: Spring
Element: Air (thoughts, ideas and communication)
Two of Swords Tarot Card Description
The Two of Swords in tarot is the second card within the minor arcana suit of Swords. Its original depiction shows a woman seated on a beach. She is blindfolded and holds a sword in each hand. The blindfold prevents her from seeing the correct choice. The swords she holds prevent her from being able to use her hands to remove the blindfold.
Behind her a rocky landscape shows that ships would be prevented from reaching the beach and there are no other people in sight. A dark gray sky also denotes her unclear mind. No one else is coming to fix this situation she is forced to pause and work through her conundrum on her own.
Two of Swords Upright Meaning
When upright this card tackles themes of confusion and suggests there is no clear or easy choice to take. This is a time in life where one option does not stand out over the others and we may be forced to stop and wait to either work out the right choice or wait until more information presents itself. This card can therefore be one of frustration and impatience.
We really do not want to wait because our current situation is uncomfortable (the swords the woman holds are probably quite heavy) but we need to. In the case of the woman she will have to take time to realize she first needs to drop the swords carefully before she can remove her blindfold.
This seems simple to us because we can see the whole scene of the card but for the woman it could be dangerous if she acted out of panic and quickly tried to remove the blindfold whilst she still had the swords in her hand.
“It's me. I chose this. I chose all of this; this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. I’ve been moving towards it my whole life.” - Aron Ralston
Two of Swords Reversed Meaning
When reversed the opposite is true. There is no correct choice or further information coming to help us decide. There is an unmovable stalemate which is greater than us. This situation is a mountain and we are a human. We cannot move it but we can scale it, go around it or walk away from it entirely. We are being asked to make a choice even if no good options present themselves to us.
We are reminded that we always have a choice of how we will think and respond to the situation. It can also suggest we are the creators of our own stalemate. Maybe our stubbornness or narrow mind is preventing us from seeing the perfectly valid choices we have. We might need to reframe the situation so we can perceive it with a fresh outlook.
“Saying farewell is also a bold and powerful beginning.” - Aron Ralston
Two of Swords: Yes or No
The 2 of Swords is a no card. Or more accurately it is a ‘please wait’ card. There is a lot more about this simple yes or no question that we are not seeing yet so we shouldn’t answer with a yes or no until we know all the facts. It is also the same if it is reversed.
Let’s Break Down the Two of Swords In Our Lives
How the Two of Swords changes in different areas of our lives.
Two of Swords In Love
We have a difficult choice of the heart to make. This might be between to potential lovers or it could be choosing a friends event over work, work over family or vice versa. Each choice has its pros and cons and annoyingly our head is clouded and our heart confused.
It suggests that ultimately either choice has the potential to help or hurt others and so it is how we communicate the choice that matters the most. Most people will be understanding regardless of which option we choose as long as we communicate our reasons openly.
Reversed there may be no good option on the dating scene or perhaps it means at this time we cannot prioritize love because it is not the right time in our lives. We are being guided to take time before making decisions but stand by them once made.
Two of Swords With Money
We are avoiding a financial decision or resisting an action or plan we needed to follow. By refusing to look at the situation we allow bad habits to go unnoticed and we make a financial situation worse. We need to very quickly take the reins and act practically to rectify this situation.
Reversed the Two of Swords asks us to learn more about the financial situation we find ourselves in. By doing this we will discover new options we hadn’t realized we can take. By confronting the matter head on we find a long term solution which continues to help us improve our lives.
Two of Swords At Work
There is a conflict within our career. Whether this is between colleagues or work and life are clashing and out of balance remains to be seen. It could be conflicting interests or tasks that are preventing us from working. We are being guided by tarot to seek additional support to ease this friction so we can resume working effectively.
Reversed can suggest we will receive clarity in an area of our career that has been eluding us for a long time. We are finally able to progress in research or a difficult task that has eluded us for a long time. Our progress after this feels so fast and momentous. We are elated and finally no longer frustrated, we must remember that this is a moment worth celebrating.
Two of Swords With Others
We are being guided not to judge others harshly as they may not be able to see things the way we do. Like the blindfolded woman in the picture she can’t just see her surroundings so she cannot act accordingly until she has thought it through. She only has her own sensory information to help her. The 2 of Swords says if we see people in our lives stuck in a situation we should try to help by listening with a nonjudgmental attitude and try putting ourselves in their shoes.
Reversed we are stuck in our own ways and refuse to branch out and open our mind which puts us in a situation where we feel we can’t escape. The wise words of someone who has access to more information than us blows our mind and allows us to proceed with a better solution.
Two of Swords With Self
We are preventing ourselves from healing because we refuse to look at the situation head on. We are burying our heads in the sand and thus prolonging our suffering. We need the emotional equivalent of ripping off a band aid to move through the pain. Once we have done this we realize it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as we were expecting it to be.
Reversed we experience an emotional epiphany that changes how we view ourselves for the rest of our lives. A huge truth is revealed and takes a weight off our shoulders as we realize we can let go of all the negative feelings we had previously internalized regarding this matter.
Two of Swords As Feelings
The Two of Swords feels like confusion, frustration and impatience. We have an overwhelming desire to act quickly to remedy this but we need to wait for more information which frustrates us and the unfairness irritates us.
