Three of Swords

Heartache. The hurt that needs to be felt before it can ease.

The picture

A red heart hangs in the air with three swords driven through it, one straight down the middle and one from each side. Heavy grey clouds fill the top of the card, and rain falls in long slanting lines behind the heart. There are no people in this picture at all.

Upright

Three is the number of growth and first results, and this is the hardest of the Threes to sit with. Grief, disappointment, a betrayal, the news that lands in the chest.

I read this card as a mirror. It shows you a hurt you are already carrying, so you can look at it squarely. It hands down no sentence about the future.

Notice which suit has done the piercing. Swords are thoughts and words. Much of the pain in this card arrives through something said, something read, or something the mind keeps replaying at night. The heart is the one that feels it, and the head is often the one keeping the wound open.

Then look at the rain. It falls steadily, and there is nobody standing in it trying to stop it. I take that as permission. Let the tears come. Rain is also how a storm spends itself.

Reversed

Reversed, this card is still a mirror, and I never read it as the opposite. The two ways I use most are turned inward and delayed. Turned inward is grief that has been kept private for too long, carried quietly while you look after everyone else. Delayed is healing that has started and is going slowly, the swords working their way out a little at a time.

To tell which, ask two plain questions. Does anyone know how much this hurts? If the answer is no, it has turned inward, and it may be time to tell one person or write it all down. Does it hurt a bit less than it did a month ago? If so, it is healing, slowly, and patience with yourself is the medicine.

When it turns up

Who could you let see this hurt?

If you would like the cards read against your own chart, my readings are here.

Related pages
The Number 3