The sword as a weapon doesn't have a positive or a negative context. The context is given by the owner and his attitude. The Ace in all suits symbolizes the initial impulse, the essence of its element, so does the Ace of Swords as a representative of the air element bring the initial mental impulse for a positive or a negative. If wielded with the positive and spiritual tendentions it can crash the illusion and bring the change that we need, otherwise it can bring misuse of power, conflict and illness. Around the sword we see the Hebrew letter Yod, the first letter of the name of the God symbolizing the divine spark, further emphasizing the fact that without responsbility swords are dangerous weapons. One way or the other, this card surely brings the beginning of something new.

Positive: beginning of victory, change for a positive, new beginnings, power, rebirth, clarity of thought, right decision, see through deception.

Negative: delusions, violence, tyranny, embarrassment, misuse of power.

   A hand issues from a cloud, grasping a sword, the point of which is encircled by a crown. Divinatory Meanings: Triumph, the excessive degree in everything, conquest, triumph of force. It is a card of great force, in love as well as in hatred. The crown may carry a much higher significance than comes usually within the sphere of fortune-telling. Reversed: The same, but the results are disastrous; another account says--conception, childbirth, augmentation, multiplicity.

— The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, by A.E. Waite