The Six of Swords shows two people sitting in a boat with a ferryman using a pole to move. There are six Swords in the boat. The burden of the swords appears light. Even so, they seem to obstruct the people’s view.
The water nearer to us looks agitated; the boat appears to be traveling into calmer waters. One possible meaning of this card is finding a safe haven, a refuge from calamity. There is something sad about this image.
The seated figures are ambiguous. They are faced away from us, their identities hidden. Who are these people? It looks as though the passengers are a mother and her child. Why are they hunched up? The larger figure – I’ll call her the mother – seems to have a posture hinting at dejection or despair, or of bearing a heavy burden.
And what about the Swords? What do they stand for in this scene? Could it be “baggage” that is being carried? If the people are moving towards refuge, it appears that they’re taking some of their trauma with them. Evidently the people still haven’t let go of some of the pains life has dealt them.