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Combinations · Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot
Four of Swords combinations
A knight lies still on a tomb with his hands together, resting rather than dead. Each partner card shows what the querent is resting from, and whether the rest is taken or refused.
Card meaning: Four 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.
Rest is the subject of every pair here, and the partner supplies the reason. In the picture a knight in armour lies on a stone tomb inside a church, hands together at his chest, three swords on the wall above him and one along the tomb, under a stained-glass window whose standing figure carries PAX in its halo. In the suit the Four sits between the Three of Swords and the Five. After the Three's wound it is the withdrawal that lets the hurt close, and before the Five it warns that a rest cut short wakes the querent into a costly quarrel. The Hermit turns the pause into introspection, therapy or a retreat. With the Star, rest and hope arrive together and healing has room to take hold. The Lovers puts a decision on hold until the querent has the energy to make it, and the Devil asks whether the retreat is recovery from a draining tie or cover for a habit.
No upright partner makes an upright Four a hard pair. Fifty-nine read as harmonious, and the eighteen mixed ones bring a contest, a rush, an open hurt or an urgent call, the Five of Wands, the Eight of Wands, the Nine of Swords and Judgment among them. The trouble lives in the reversal. Burnout, restlessness and refused rest leave no pair with a reversed Four harmonious, and beside upright partners twenty-seven turn challenging, Justice, the Tower and the Eight of Pentacles among them.
Four of Swords beside other cards in a spread
Beside Major Arcana cards
Twenty of the twenty-two trumps make the upright pair harmonious, and each gives the rest a purpose: the Emperor schedules it, Temperance keeps it in proportion, Death closes the chapter it follows. The Devil and Judgment stay mixed, one because the pause may only postpone a habit, the other because a call to change is close. Reversed beside the upright Four, the Hierophant and the Devil turn harmonious and Judgment turns challenging. A reversed Four beside an upright Justice, Death, Devil, Tower or Moon is challenging.
Beside Wands
Fire is friendly to Air, so the Wands bring the drive the Four sets aside. Upright, the Two, Three, Four, Six, Ten, Knight, Queen and King sit well with it: plans forming, results arriving, a load at its limit. The Ace, Five, Seven, Eight, Nine and Page stay mixed, since each wants action now. Reversed under an upright Four, those six and the Ten all read well, as a quarrel winds down or a delay becomes rest. With the Four reversed, the same seven and the Knight are challenging.
Beside Cups
Water sits neutrally beside Air. Upright, twelve of the fourteen Cups read as harmonious: a new feeling surfacing with the Ace or the Page, a home that works as a sanctuary with the Ten, grief given room to heal with the Five. The Four and Seven stay mixed, since rest can slide into apathy or daydreaming. Reversed under an upright Four, those two and the Five read well, while a reversed Two is challenging, closeness fading into distance. With both cards reversed, only the Five softens to mixed.
Beside Swords
The suit runs from the Three's wound through this rest to the Five's quarrel, all in Air. Upright, the Ace, Two, Six and all four courts are harmonious, bringing an insight, a clear-headed choice or a calm crossing. The Three, Five, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten stay mixed while their pain or worry is still running. Reversed beside the knight, the Three, Five, Eight, Nine and Ten read well as the weight lifts, and the Queen turns his retreat cold. A reversed Four makes those six and the Two challenging.
Beside Pentacles
Earth is contrary to Air, yet twelve upright coins give the rest solid footing: savings protected with the Four, a fair exchange with the Six, a secure home with the Ten. The Two stays mixed because juggling leaves no room to stop, and the Five because hardship needs help as well as rest. Reversed under an upright Four, the Five reads well as recovery starts, and the Knight is challenging as rest settles into stagnation. A reversed Four turns the upright Five, Eight and Ten challenging.
Beside court cards
Fifteen of the sixteen courts sit well beside an upright Four. The Page of Wands stays mixed, an idea ready before the person is, and reads well reversed. The reversed Queen of Swords and Knight of Pentacles are challenging, one growing cold, the other stuck. Under a reversed Four, the eager Page and Knight of Wands are challenging and the other fourteen mixed; with both cards reversed, every court is challenging. Read as someone in the querent's life, a court still shows only how the querent rests.
Beside a card of the same number
The Emperor is card IV, and the Fours of Wands, Cups and Pentacles share the rank and the sephira Chesed. All four pairs take Strength as quintessence, the strength to stop. Upright, the Emperor makes the pause part of a strategy, the Four of Wands follows a celebration with rest at home, and the Four of Pentacles protects savings while the querent plans. The Four of Cups stays mixed, since needed rest and apathy look alike there. A second Four of Swords from another deck makes rest the whole subject.
Beside reversed cards
Eighteen reversed cards bring out the best in an upright Four. Most are heavy cards whose weight lifts on reversal: the Devil's tie loosening, a quarrel ending with the Five of Wands or of Swords, worry passing with the Nine of Swords. The knight's stillness turns that relief into rest. Four reversed partners pull the other way, Judgment, the Two of Cups, the Queen of Swords and the Knight of Pentacles, where the retreat becomes a hiding place, distance, coldness or stagnation. The remaining fifty-five stay mixed.
Four of Swords with every card
Each row gives the outlook in all four states, read from Four of Swords's side: Four of Swords first, then its partner.
Harmonious
Mixed
Challenging
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↑ ↓
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Page of Cups
Rest and quiet reflection let a new feeling, idea or intuition surface in its own time.
Page of Swords
A pause put to good use: rest, study and research while new ideas take shape quietly.
Ace of Pentacles
An opportunity arrives during a pause, and planning it calmly is what lets it grow.
Ten of Pentacles
A secure home and family support give the querent a safe place to recover and plan.
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