Overview
The Ten of Swords shows a figure lying face down on the ground with ten swords in his back. The horizon is dark but beginning to brighten — dawn approaches. The card is one of the most dramatic in tarot — it represents the absolute ending, the betrayal that concludes a cycle. But the dawn in the background signals that what falls here is the end of the chapter. The Ten of Swords often appears when a situation has run its complete course and there is no further pain possible — the wound is exhausted. The card is not inviting but it is liberating. What ends here stays ended. The new day begins now.