Three swords piercing a heart ; cloud and rain behind.
Divinitory Meanings: Removal, absence, delay, division,
rupture, dispersion, and all that the design signifies naturally,
being too simple and obvious to call for specific enumeration.
Reversed: Mental alientation, error, loss, distraction,
disorder,
confusion.
The image on the 3 of Swords so clearly describes this sudden
pain. You literally feel as if someone has taken a sharp object and
jabbed it through your heart. . . . Notice how on this card there is
just a heart and the swords. When your heart is breaking, you feel as
if that is all that you are - an open wound. . . . These hurts are
especially painful because they often hit you when you least expect
them.
Here one is reminded of the darkness of Binah, of the mourning of
Isis; but this is not any vulgar sorrow dependent upon any individual
disappointment or discontent. It is Weltschmerz, the universal
sorrow; it is the quality of
melancholy.
A heart pierced by three swords hangs suspended in a cloudy, rainy
sky. The crescent moon in the center relates it to the decision
forced in the Two of Swords. The wounded heart denotes intense sorrow
and the raindrops fall like tears.
Of all the Swords, the Three most simply represents pain and
heartbreak. . . . The healing process becomes blocked when we fight
acceptance. If something in life appears too painful, we may push it
away, try not to think about it, and avoid any reminders. Such an
attitude deeps the pain forever with us, and in fact increases its
hold. The Three tells us that we must not push the pain away from
us, but somehow take it deep inside until it becomes transformed by
courage and
love.
The pain can be so intense that rather than attempting to heal,
one decides to cut away what is perceived as the source of pain: the
heart itself. . . . They will convince themselves that everyone is
selfishly pursuing personal ends, and so the best they can do is win
the competition. They may join a church or a political movement . . .
Yikes! The Three of Bats is a stormy, heart-wrenching card that
even makes the black cat's fur stand on end. In this scenario, being
"all heart" can be a bad thing.
This card warns us that although you may be faced with unbelievable
emotional anguish, you can't let your pain take over and destroy you.
The Bats as a suit call for courage and strength in the face of
strife, and the Three of Bats tells us to see beyond the quarrelsome
duality of the Two of Bats, perhaps even by finding an objective
mediator. Of course, if an unwelcome third is part of theproblem,
shake off the extra bat.--Karin Lee
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http://www.moonchild.ch/Tarot/minor/swords/s03/s03voice.html