King of Swords

The King of Swords is intellectual authority. Judgement, structure, ethics applied without favour. The judge, the surgeon, the strategist. He decides on principle and does not revisit it because someone is upset.

Impartial judgement and clear reasoning. Set the standard and hold to it. Excellent for legal, ethical and strategic decisions. Truth applied consistently.

Cold, controlling, using intellect as a weapon. Judgement without compassion. Or reasoning bent to justify a conclusion already reached.

A rational, principled, sometimes emotionally reserved partner. Reversed, someone who argues you out of your own feelings.

Senior authority in law, medicine, academia, strategy. The person whose judgement settles it.

Rigorous, principled financial governance. Advice worth paying for.

Ethics as practice. Truth held above preference, including your own.

Clear diagnosis and a disciplined treatment plan. Reversed, over-intellectualising a physical problem.

He sits facing forward, sword held slightly tilted rather than perfectly upright. Even absolute judgement leans. Butterflies and a crescent moon are carved on the throne. Two birds fly above; the clouds behind him are still.

Golden Dawn made him airy air, the purest intellect in the deck. The slight tilt of the blade is one of Smith's most-discussed details and is generally read as the acknowledgement that no judgement is perfectly impartial.