Last updated: January 28, 2026
Six of Swords meeting The Devil marks a turning point. This combination rarely appears without indicating that the winds of change are already blowing through your life.
Transition from difficulties, gradual healing, and guided journey toward better times. The Six of Swords represents transition, moving away from difficult situations toward calmer and more positive circumstances. This card indicates that while you may still be carrying the wounds or lessons from past challenges, you're making progress toward healing and better times. The keywords most associated with this card—transition, moving on, guidance, journey—give us insight into its core energy.
Bondage to material desires, temptation, and the illusion of being trapped. The Devil represents bondage to material desires, addictions, and limiting beliefs that keep you trapped in patterns of suffering. This card often appears when you're caught in cycles of behavior that you know aren't good for you but feel unable to break. This card carries the themes of bondage, temptation, materialism, addiction, which interact meaningfully with Six of Swords's energy.
Here we see intellectual, communicative air energy from Six of Swords meeting practical, grounded earth energy from The Devil. This opposition creates creative friction—uncomfortable perhaps, but ultimately productive when you learn to honor both energies.
When you encounter Six of Swords and The Devil together, consider what area of your life requires the integration of transition with bondage. The cards don't appear together randomly—their pairing is meaningful and specific to your question or situation.
This combination often surfaces during times when you're being asked to hold multiple truths simultaneously, finding wisdom in the space where both cards' messages overlap and inform each other.
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In love readings, Six of Swords with The Devil signals that your love life is undergoing or about to undergo significant transformation—endings that create space for new beginnings.
When these two cards appear together in a love reading, they bring a nuanced message about your romantic life.
Six of Swords in Love: Transitioning from relationship difficulties, healing from romantic wounds, or guided relationship growth. You may be moving past conflicts with your partner, healing from previous romantic trauma, or finding that couples counseling or wise advice helps your relationship reach calmer waters
The Devil in Love: Unhealthy relationship patterns, codependency, or sexual obsession. This card can indicate being trapped in toxic relationships, unable to leave despite knowing they're harmful
Together, Six of Swords and The Devil signals that your love life is undergoing or about to undergo significant transformation—endings that create space for new beginnings. This combination speaks to the heart of your romantic situation, asking you to consider how these two energies manifest in your love life.
Release what no longer serves your heart. Transformation in love, while sometimes painful, leads to more authentic connections.
Whether you're single and seeking, newly dating, or in a long-term partnership, this card combination offers relevant insight. For singles, consider how these themes might relate to what you're attracting or need to develop before finding love. For those in relationships, reflect on how these energies play out between you and your partner.
The intersection of transition's energy with bondage's influence creates a specific romantic signature that's meaningful for your situation.
For career and finances, Six of Swords with The Devil signals career transitions, job changes, or major shifts in your professional identity.
In professional matters, this card combination carries specific guidance for your work life and financial decisions.
Six of Swords at Work: Professional transition, moving from job difficulties, or career guidance toward improvement. You may be leaving a toxic workplace, transitioning between career phases, or finding mentors who guide your professional development toward more satisfying work
The Devil at Work: Career bondage, work addiction, or compromising values for money. This card can indicate jobs that drain your soul, workplace environments that bring out your worst qualities, or careers that require you to act against your principles
The combination of Six of Swords and The Devil signals career transitions, job changes, or major shifts in your professional identity. These cards together paint a picture of your current professional landscape and the opportunities or challenges ahead.
Embrace change rather than resisting it. Your career is evolving toward something more aligned.
Consider how the themes of transition and bondage apply to your specific work situation. Are there projects that need this combination's energy? Relationships with colleagues that reflect these dynamics? Career decisions that these cards illuminate?
While this combination primarily speaks to career, it also influences financial matters. The transformative energy suggests potential financial changes on the horizon.
Spiritually, Six of Swords and The Devil together marks a pivotal moment in your spiritual journey—an initiation or awakening.
On a soul level, this combination speaks to your spiritual path and inner development.
Six of Swords's Spiritual Wisdom: Spiritual transition, moving from spiritual difficulties, or guided spiritual growth. You may be healing from spiritual trauma, moving past religious doubt, or finding spiritual teachers who guide your development
The Devil's Spiritual Wisdom: Spiritual materialism, shadow work needed, or being trapped by false beliefs. This card can indicate using spirituality for ego purposes, being controlled by religious dogma, or spiritual practices that have become compulsive rather than liberating
Six of Swords meeting The Devil marks a pivotal moment in your spiritual journey—an initiation or awakening. This is not a random pairing—the universe is highlighting specific spiritual themes for your attention.
Given this combination's energy, consider incorporating letting go rituals, transformation meditation, and embracing the unknown into your spiritual routine.
The intersection of Six of Swords's wisdom with The Devil's teachings creates a unique spiritual lesson. Meditate on both cards together, allowing their combined imagery and symbolism to speak to your soul. What message emerges when you hold both energies simultaneously?
This combination appears when you're ready to integrate transition with bondage of your spiritual understanding. The growth available now requires honoring both cards' teachings.
When either card appears reversed, the combination's meaning shifts toward internal work and blocked energies.
Six of Swords Reversed: Resistance to change, delayed transition, or difficulty accepting help.
The Devil Reversed: Breaking free from bondage, overcoming addiction, or recognizing personal freedom.
Both Cards Reversed: When both Six of Swords and The Devil appear reversed together, this signals a period of significant internal processing. External action may be premature—focus instead on inner work and self-reflection.
The reversed combination asks: What needs to be unblocked or healed before these cards' upright potential can manifest?
The imagery of Six of Swords and The Devil creates a rich visual dialogue.
A figure guides a boat carrying passengers and six swords across water from rough shores toward calmer waters. The passengers appear to be leaving behind difficulties, symbolizing transition, gradual healing, and the journey from troubled times toward greater peace and stability.
Key Symbols: **Ferryman**: Guide through transition - Help navigating difficulties
A horned, winged devil-like figure sits on a throne with an inverted pentagram on its forehead. The figure holds a torch in one hand and raises the other in a gesture of false blessing. Two naked figures - a man and woman - are chained to the throne, but their chains are loose enough to remove. They have sprouted horns and tails, showing how base desires have transformed their nature. The entire scene is set against a dark background, suggesting the realm of illusion and spiritual blindness.
Key Symbols: **Horned Devil Figure**: The shadow self and lower nature given form - The aspects of self that we deny or repress, now demanding recognition
**Inverted Pentagram**: Spirit trapped in matter, materialism over spirituality - The reversal of natural spiritual order through materialistic focus
**Bat Wings**: False power and the illusion of freedom in darkness - The appearance of power that actually keeps one bound to lower vibrations
Though these cards use different symbolic vocabularies, together they create a visual story greater than either tells alone. Consider how the imagery of one card might respond to or continue the narrative of the other.
Six of Swords (6) and The Devil (15) combine to 21, reducing to 21—the number of new beginnings, independence, and leadership.
Six of Swords - Number 6: The number of harmony, transition, healing, and guidance. Healing journey - the necessary passage from troubled waters to calmer shores
The Devil - Number 15: The number of temptation, materiality, and the choice between light and shadow. The energy that tests spiritual development through material challenges and shadow confrontation
The combined numerological vibration of 21 brings the energy of new beginnings, independence, and leadership. This underlying numerical influence colors how these two cards interact, adding a layer of completing and transcendent energy to their combination.
Six of Swords
The Passage, The Guided Journey, The Healing Transition
The Devil
The Shadow, The Tempter, The Illusionist
When The Passage, The Guided Journey, The Healing Transition meets The Shadow, The Tempter, The Illusionist, these archetypal energies catalyze profound change when they meet, each transforming the other. Consider which archetypal patterns are active in your current situation and how their interaction might be playing out in your life.
The Major Arcana The Devil brings archetypal weight to the everyday energy of Six of Swords.
The Devil's Archetypal Journey: After Temperance's balanced integration, The Devil tests that balance by presenting temptations and illusions. This is where the soul learns to distinguish between real limitations and self-imposed bondage, between authentic power and false control.
Six of Swords's Suit Progression: The Six of Swords offers hope after the conflicts of the Five - the journey toward better circumstances. A ferryman guides passengers across water, carrying their swords (troubles) but heading toward calmer shores. This is the bittersweet transition that acknowledges pain while moving toward healing.
When Major and Minor Arcana appear together, the Major card often shows the larger life lesson or theme, while the Minor card indicates how that theme is manifesting in your daily experience. The Devil's archetypal energy infuses the practical situation shown by Six of Swords.
Use these questions for journaling or meditation with this combination:
Combined Affirmation
“I trust in my ability to navigate through difficulties toward calmer waters while also embracing the wisdom to recognize my freedom.”
Understanding the astrological and elemental energies behind each card reveals deeper layers of meaning in this combination.
Mercury (Six of Swords) meets Saturn (The Devil) - this combination blends Mercury's energy of communication and intellect with Saturn's influence of discipline and structure.
About Six of Swords and The Devil
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