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Combinations · Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot
King of Swords combinations
He sits facing the viewer with his blade raised, and every partner turns into a case weighed on its facts. All 78 pairings, a second King of Swords included, are set out below in each orientation.
Card meaning: King of SwordsCombinations are common patterns, not rules
The readings here describe how a pair most often reads. Check each one against two things before you apply it. The first is the question: the same pair says one thing about a relationship and another about a job offer, and the question decides which side of the pair matters. The second is the background, meaning what the querent already knows about the situation, the position each card holds in the spread, and the cards around the pair. When the question or the background points another way, go with them over the general reading. Each pair page lists the exceptions that come up most often.
Set the King of Swords next to another card and its subject ends up on trial. Upright, he weighs it with objectivity, fairness and a strategy built on facts, and he keeps his word once the ruling is made. Reversed, the same intellect turns to manipulation, rigid rules and cold criticism, or loses its grip and cannot decide at all. The picture holds both sides: he faces the viewer straight on from a stone throne, his heavy two-edged sword pointing upward in a hand that looks strained by it.
Upright, sixty-two of his seventy-seven partners read well. Cards of feeling gain honest terms: the Two of Cups a fair agreement, the Lovers a promise kept, the Seven of Cups one choice out of many. The Tower becomes a failing structure taken apart on purpose. Fifteen stay mixed, the Fool, the Devil, the Moon and the Three and Ten of Swords among them, wherever a leap, a bind or a loss asks for more than logic. Seventeen reversed partners read well under him, mostly troubles already on their way out, since a release is something he can plan.
Reversed, he never reads well beside an upright card: forty-three such pairs are mixed and thirty-four hard. With two reversals only seven pairs hold at mixed. When he stands for a judge, a manager, a lawyer or a former partner, the reading describes how the querent meets that authority. Kings have no number, so none of his pairs carries a quintessence.
King of Swords beside other cards in a spread
Beside Major Arcana cards
Eighteen trumps read well with both cards upright: the Emperor and Justice add law and fair rules, the Hermit a decision reached in solitude, the Tower a planned demolition. Four stay mixed, the Fool's leap that has to pass his scrutiny, the Hanged Man's verdict that must wait, the Devil's binding terms and the Moon's hunch that deserves a hearing first. A reversed Fool, Emperor, Hierophant, Hanged Man or Devil reads well under him. His reversal turns nine trumps hard, and with both reversed only the Devil escapes.
Beside Wands
Fire feeds Air, so a Wand puts drive behind his strategy: the Ace's new venture, the Three's expansion, the Eight's fast execution. Twelve of fourteen read well upright. The Seven stays mixed while the querent defends a stand with facts, and the Ten because sorting the load still leaves a cost. Reversed under him, the Ace, Five and Ten read well, as a delay becomes preparation, a fight is settled and duties are divided fairly. Turn him over and ten Wands read hard.
Beside Cups
Water and Air stand neutral, and most cups gain honest terms beside him: new affection kept clear-eyed with the Ace, a fair agreement with the Two, a hard decision made both fair and kind with the Queen. The Four and Five stay mixed upright, a flat mood or a loss that reason can examine but not finish. Reverse the Four, Five or Seven under him and the pair reads well. A reversed King makes the Four through Eight hard, and two reversals leave only the Five at mixed.
Beside Swords
Air on both sides keeps a Swords pair in thought and speech, and the partner's wound decides how much his verdict helps. Upright, the Ace, Two, Four, Six, Page, Knight and Queen read well beside him. The Three, Five and Seven through Ten stay mixed: grief, a dirty win, a scheme, night fears and an ending all need more than a ruling. Five of those read well reversed under him. Reversed, he makes nine Swords hard, and with both reversed only the Five, Eight and Nine hold at mixed.
Beside Pentacles
Earth is contrary to Air, yet coins give his planning something solid to run: savings managed by the numbers beside the Four, fair terms beside the Six, a family enterprise with clear rules beside the Ten. Thirteen of fourteen read well upright. The Five is the exception, mixed as hardship is faced squarely, and it reads well once reversed under him. A reversed King leaves most coins mixed and the upright Five hard, and two reversals are hard for every coin but that Five.
Beside court cards
All sixteen court pairs read well with both cards upright, each partner adding something to his logic: the Queen of Cups' empathy, the Knight of Pentacles' patient labour, the Page of Wands' fresh idea given a workable plan. With the partner reversed under him, every court reads mixed. Reversed, he turns the Pages of Wands and Swords hard and the rest mixed, and two reversals are hard throughout. Where a court stands for someone, the pair shows what the querent meets in dealing with that person.
Beside a card of the same number
Kings carry no number, so his kin are the Kings of Wands, Cups and Pentacles and a second King of Swords, and no quintessence enters any of those pairs. They behave alike: well with both upright, mixed once either card turns, hard with both reversed. The King of Wands brings vision, the King of Cups emotional wisdom, the King of Pentacles resources. Two upright copies settle a question on its facts and plain words; reverse one, and his fairness has to answer to his own rigid side.
Beside reversed cards
No reversed partner turns him hard while he sits upright, and seventeen such pairs read well. Most are releases he can organise: the Devil's planned exit, the Five of Cups' healing, the Eight and Nine of Swords' fears loosening, the Five of Pentacles' recovery. A reversed Emperor or Hierophant reads well too, misused authority or an outdated doctrine checked against the facts. The remaining sixty are mixed, his judgment brought to a problem the partner still carries.
King of Swords with every card
Each row gives the outlook in all four states, read from King of Swords's side: King of Swords first, then its partner.
Harmonious
Mixed
Challenging
↑ ↑
↑ ↓
↓ ↑
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Strength
Fair authority with a human touch: decisions rest on facts and are delivered with patience.
The Hermit
Wisdom found in solitude becomes a fair, firm decision based on facts and clear thinking.
Queen of Swords
Honest judgment and fair authority work as equals, and well-reasoned decisions hold.
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