Queen of Swords

Upright

perception · honesty · boundaries

Sees exactly what is happening and says it kindly but without softening it.

Reversed

coldness · cynicism · cutting words

Clear sight turned cold, or experience mistaken for a reason to expect the worst.

Why this astrology

The pips two through ten map onto the thirty-six decans, ten degrees of the zodiac each, so Queen of Swords is water of air — a planet working through a particular third of a sign. Aces are the root of their element and the courts carry it as temperament.