The Suit of Swords corresponds to the element of Air. This is the designation given to it by the Order of the Golden Dawn. It is associated with mental activity, thinking, clarity, but also strife, difficulty and power issues. Generally speaking, it's the Suit that seems to reflect the most difficulty, and in a broad sense, there are only a few Swords cards that readers typically welcome in a spread unfortunately.
 
That does not mean that the Suit is without merit, and on the contrary, these are the difficulties in life that push us to stretch to the next great thing. When Swords come up in a reading, it can indicate difficulties, hardships or endings in whatever area is being asked about. As a matter of timing, it usually indicates a month to a few months. The Suit of Swords corresponds to the Fall Season, again with the Autumnal Equinox falling in the third Cardinal sign, which is Libra, an Air sign.
 
Some key concepts for the Suit of Swords that are positive include mental acuity, sharpness in mind and speech, the ability to create and articulate clear ideas and directions, and forward movement. This is the desire to seek, and share, the truth. To "call a spade a spade so to speak". On the negative side, this card is ripe with painful emotions such as heartbreak, indecision, unfairness, theft, deception, aggression and painful finalities.
 
The Suit of Swords corresponds in a deck of playing cards to the sharp, cold Suit of Spades. In other decks it goes by the names of Daggers, Blades and Knives. Of course this does not change the meanings of the cards, different Tarot Scholars over the years have used different systems of identification. If you use a deck that uses these different correspondences, you can convert them to Swords. The Sword cards are typically associated with the Air signs, and as such, the Court Cards from this suit are generally used to represent people who have their Sun in the sign of Gemini, Libra and Aquarius.
 
Major Arcana cards that correlate to the Suit of Swords are as follows: The Fool, The Magician, The Lovers, Justice and The Star. In each of these cards you will find the Swords mental energy.