What does the Two of Swords mean?

It means a decision you are avoiding by refusing to look at it. A blindfolded woman holds two swords in perfect balance. The key detail is that the blindfold did not tie itself. Not seeing is a choice she keeps making. Waite read it as balance and peace held under arms, like an armed truce.

How do I break a Two of Swords stalemate?

By accepting that you probably already know. The card rarely describes missing information. It describes information that has been kept out of view, because looking would force the decision. It also helps to ask what feeling sits behind the deadlock, since the water is at her back for a reason.

Two of Swords meaning (upright & reversed)

Somebody tied that blindfold. It is knotted at the back of her head. Either she did it herself, or she let someone do it, and neither is comfortable.

Behind her is water she could not see even if the blindfold came off. The balance she holds looks like a problem of logic. What is underneath it may be something else.

Two of Swords upright meaning

A decision avoided by refusing to look at it.

The Two of Swords is a picture of a stalemate held in place on purpose. A woman sits blindfolded, with two swords crossed over her chest in perfect balance and rocky water behind her. Nothing is happening, and it takes effort. Waite's meanings were balance, courage, friendship, and peace kept under arms, like an armed truce. He added tenderness and closeness, but warned against reading too much harmony into a Sword card. The blindfold is the important part, because it did not tie itself. This is someone who has arranged not to look at what she knows, because looking would force the decision. In readings it points to a deadlock, a choice being avoided, or two options so evenly balanced that neither can be acted on. It often appears for people who say they need more information, when what they really need is to accept something they already know. The water behind her matters too. A stalemate that looks purely logical usually has a feeling underneath, and the balance is a way of keeping away from it.

Two of Swords reversed meaning

The blindfold coming off, and the choice becoming obvious.

Reversed, the Two of Swords usually resolves. The blindfold comes off, information arrives, or the person can no longer keep up the effort of not knowing. The decision that follows is often much clearer than the months of deadlock suggested. People often say the choice was obvious the moment they let themselves look. Its second reading is a stalemate breaking badly. The balance fails instead of being resolved, and circumstances make the decision because nobody else did. That still settles things, less comfortably. It is the usual price of holding the upright position too long. Waite's reversed meanings pointed somewhere else: fraud, lies, two-faced behavior, and disloyalty. If that fits, someone in the situation may not be dealing honestly. There is also a version about information overload, where too much is now visible, and the clarity is not helping.

A reversal is rarely the upright card's opposite. Reversed tarot cards covers the four conditions a reversal usually describes, and how to tell which one a spread is asking for. Every card's reversed meaning sits beside its upright one on reversed tarot card meanings.

Two of Swords in Waite's 1910 key

The meanings above are Reflecta's reading. These are the ones A. E. Waite gave in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), the guide he wrote for the deck Pamela Colman Smith drew. He wrote them for fortune-telling, a use tarot took on centuries after it began as a card game in fifteenth-century Italy. Some of his words are blunt, and none of them can tell you what will happen.

Upright: Conformity and the equipoise which it suggests, courage, friendship, concord in a state of arms; another reading gives tenderness, affection, intimacy. The suggestion of harmony and other favorable readings must be considered in a qualified manner, as Swords generally are not symbolical of beneficent forces in human affairs.
Reversed: Imposture, falsehood, duplicity, disloyalty.

Symbolism in the card

The blindfold, tied on: Waite describes the figure as hoodwinked, which means blindfolded. It did not land on her face by accident. Not seeing is a decision she keeps making. That is different from simply not knowing.
The two swords balanced on her shoulders: Waite says she balances two swords on her shoulders. They are crossed over her chest in exact balance. Her own arms hold the balance in place, so it costs energy for as long as it lasts.
The rocky water behind her: The sea is at her back, out of view even if the blindfold came off. There is a feeling behind this stalemate, and the careful balance is not dealing with it.

Two of Swords in love and relationships

Upright. A relationship decision being avoided: staying or leaving, choosing between two people, or a conversation that would settle things and keeps not happening. The avoiding is active.

Reversed. Clarity about a relationship arriving, often suddenly. It can also mean the decision gets made for you because you did not make it, which is the less pleasant version. Waite read dishonesty and disloyalty into the reversal.

Two of Swords in career and work

Upright. A career decision on hold, two offers neither accepted nor turned down, or a workplace conflict everyone is carefully not addressing. Stable, and costly.

Reversed. A decision finally made, or information coming to light that breaks a deadlock. It can also mean a choice taken away because someone else acted first.

Two of Swords in money

Upright. A money decision put off, or deliberately not looking at the numbers. The avoiding usually costs more than whatever the figures would show.

Reversed. Looking honestly at your financial position. The picture is usually less frightening than the avoiding made it seem, though not always.

Two of Swords as feelings

Upright. Feelings held at arm's length, which is different from not knowing them. The card cannot say what is happening inside someone else. This kind of stalemate is rarely moved by asking about it.

Reversed. A conclusion forming, or being forced by circumstances. The card describes a position becoming clearer. You may see it in what they do before anything is said.

Is Two of Swords a yes or a no?

Upright, it leans no. Reversed, it leans yes.

Upright it reads as no, or more exactly not while things stand. Nothing can be answered from behind a blindfold, and the stalemate is being held in place. Reversed it leans yes, because it usually describes the blindfold coming off, and a decision becoming possible and often obvious.

Every card's leaning in one table, upright and reversed, is on yes or no tarot, along with what a maybe is asking you to do.

Two of Swords card combinations

+ Two of Swords and Ace of Swords: Clarity available, and refused. A pointed pairing: the information is already in hand, and the blindfold is self-applied. That makes the deadlock a choice. It is no fixed condition.
+ Two of Swords and The Moon: Not looking, next to not seeing clearly. Together they lean against deciding now, and suggest giving the fog time to lift.
+ Two of Swords and Eight of Swords: Two cards about limits you put on yourself. Both describe binds that are mostly in the mind. Together they suggest the situation is far less fixed than it feels.
+ Two of Swords and The Lovers: A choice being avoided, next to a real one. Usually it means a decision about a person that has been put off so long that putting it off has become the answer.

Every pairing on this site, Two of Swords's included, is collected on tarot card combinations.

I can take the blindfold off before I decide.

Two of Swords: common questions

What does the Two of Swords mean?: It means a decision you are avoiding by refusing to look at it. A blindfolded woman holds two swords in perfect balance. The key detail is that the blindfold did not tie itself. Not seeing is a choice she keeps making. Waite read it as balance and peace held under arms, like an armed truce.
How do I break a Two of Swords stalemate?: By accepting that you probably already know. The card rarely describes missing information. It describes information that has been kept out of view, because looking would force the decision. It also helps to ask what feeling sits behind the deadlock, since the water is at her back for a reason.
What does the Two of Swords mean in love?: A relationship decision being avoided: staying or leaving, choosing between two people, or a conversation that would settle things and keeps not happening. Reversed it usually means clarity arriving, sometimes as a decision made for you because you did not make it.
Is the Two of Swords a yes or no?: Upright it is closer to not while things stand, because nothing can be answered from behind a blindfold and the stalemate is being held in place. Reversed it leans yes: the blindfold comes off, and the choice usually turns out to be obvious.