The Seven of Swords as Intentions: To Keep Something From You

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Seven of Swords as intentions is a plan made while glancing over the shoulder. Here is what I would read in it, upright and reversed, and why it is not always deception.

If you want the short answer, I would read the Seven of Swords as intentions that are hidden or strategic. In an intentions position the card suggests the person's plan toward you includes something they are not telling you: a motive, a situation, a feeling they are managing, another person. The intention is concealed. Whether what is concealed would hurt you is not something the card can say, and behaviour can.

This is the figure creeping away from camp with five swords, looking back. They intend not to be seen. They have not got away yet.

The Seven of Swords upright as intentions

Tina Gong's the Seven of Swords guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with deception, strategy, getting away with something and acting alone. When the card lands in a position that asks what someone intends toward you, I read those meanings as the shape of their plan rather than as a promise about what they will do. Feelings and intentions are different questions; the Seven of Swords as feelings covers the first, and this page covers the second. The general card meanings at Biddy Tarot are a useful second reference.

Upright, I read the Seven of Swords as a person who is being strategic about you: showing less than they intend, or more, or keeping part of the picture out of sight. There may be a good reason. There may not. The glance over the shoulder says they know they are doing it.

What I would not read into it is certainty about what is hidden. The Seven of Swords can be a person concealing how much they want you. It can be a person concealing someone else. The card does not distinguish.

What the card does not tell you

The card does not confirm infidelity, that the concealment is about you rather than about the person's own vulnerability, or that what is hidden would change your mind if you knew it. No card lets a reader see another person's plans. What a card can do is describe the kind of intention that fits the person's behaviour, and give you something to check against what they actually do.

The Seven of Swords reversed as intentions

Reversed, the Seven of Swords as intentions describes a plan to come clean or a plan exposed: a person who intends to tell you what they have been holding back, or whose concealment has been found out and who must now decide what to intend in the open.

In your own question, ask whether the person has recently told you something they had been holding back, or whether something has come to light that they did not choose to reveal. A reversed card as intentions is a prompt to compare what is said with what is done, not a diagnosis of bad faith.

The Seven of Swords as an ex's intentions

Asked about an ex, the Seven of Swords as intentions can suggest they intend more than they let on and are managing it privately, or that there was something about the ending you were never told. A direct, calm question is the only thing that opens this camp. My guide to asking a psychic whether an ex will come back explains what a reading can and cannot say about that question.

The Seven of Swords as a new person's intentions

For someone new, this card asks you to be awake. The person may intend something sweet and be hiding it, or may intend something you would not accept if you knew. Watch whether what they say matches what you can see, and ask plain questions early.

What their intentions look like in action

Look for inconsistency: stories that shift, warmth that depends on who is around, a sense that you are getting part of the picture. A Seven of Swords intention is visible in the gaps. If there are no gaps, the card may be describing hidden tenderness.

What to record before drawing again

Keep three short notes: the question you asked, what does not add up as far as you can see, and the one direct question that would settle it. Ask the third note out loud before you draw again.

For comparison, the Five of Swords as intentions and the Moon as intentions describe different intentions. The the Seven of Swords card meaning page covers the card in full, and the Seven of Swords as timing and the Seven of Swords as a yes or no cover the other questions people most often ask of it. For a personal interpretation, my guide to a love psychic reading online explains how I work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.