TAROTThree of Swords
Upright
A time of emotional pain and discomfort.
Being drowned in sorrow and hurt after a major emotional upset in your life.
A period of upset after a major emotional argument, breakup, or losing something or someone important.
The card suggests a period of sorrow today, but tomorrow you should rationalize the pain so you can begin to move forward again.
Intuition
This card is often seen as a card of emotional pain, but note that it is in the suite of Swords and that relates mainly to thoughts and intellect
The card is therefore about moving on from emotional pain by making sense of it.
Also notice that the three daggers in this deck do not pierce the heart (as per most decks). They instead protect it.
Reversed
Beginning the process of renewal after a major emotional upset in your life.
Acceptance of negative events as scars that in the future will harden into your warrior armor.
Releasing emotional pain and beginning to rationalize a way forward.
Astrologia
Relationships as a focus. Diplomacy and justice. Personal growth, especially through adversity (assuming there is a path to move on through intellect overcoming emotional wounds). Can become clingy in relationships. Reacts badly to feelings of being treated unfairly (i.e., when intellect does not win against emotional wounds).
Three of Swords
After the difficult decision of the Two of Swords, we suffer the aftermath: emotional pain and distress.
This card is not about emotion, because emotions belong to the Suit of Cups. This card demands rationalizing past hurts and coming to terms with them. You must view the scars on your heart and body as markers defining turning points in your life story.
None of them dictate the end of the story. They signify change, transformation, and moving forward. Denying them means wishing you were someone else. You might prefer that, but achieving it requires moving forward to create that person, not looking backward to remember who you once were.
Akhlys
Akhlys is a primordial goddess representing sorrow. Her name translates to 'mist', referring to the death mist that clouds the eyes moments before death.
The card displays a frieze at the top. It shows men dressed and ready for battle, alongside a woman trying to prevent the fight. This conflict causes the sorrow depicted in the card: a major upheaval bringing drastic consequences.
The image displays the traditional heart shape pierced by three daggers. The daggers are authentic weapons used during the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens (around 400 BCE), linking the imagery to this specific historical conflict.
Lower down, the mist of Akhlys connects the eyes of three women. Close inspection reveals they are the exact same person.
The figure on the left stands untouched by grief or physical damage. The middle figure starves, bearing the dirt and soot of catastrophe. The figure to the right shows the woman in death.
This points to the woman falling victim to the conflict in the frieze. We do not know the chronological order of these three images.
Your interpretation depends entirely on the question you ask:
- Perhaps the images go from left to right as the woman suffers the brutality and suffering of ancient warfare.
- Perhaps the images of the woman are from right to left, where she recovers from a place where she would wish she was dead to one where she is whole again.
- Perhaps the mist simply shows death always hangs over us. Our time is limited, and the way forward in any mortal life is to make the best use of the time allotted to us.
A burning candle sits below each figure. It never extinguishes, and the hearts on the chests of the three figures never diminish. Hope remains for those willing to accept it.
Description and Symbology
The card illustrates a catastrophic conflict and its victim. We see three versions of the same woman: untouched on the left, devastated in the center, and dead on the right.
We do not know the exact sequence. A left-to-right progression looks intuitive, but emotion defies linear time. A person feels ready to die, but the healing process pulls them back from the brink when caught in time. This is the core message of the Three of Swords.
An emotional disaster can be a difficult and very uncomfortable time, with injury, pain, and argument. Let that phase die down so rationality can take place. Even if you want retribution there are impartial rules (that come from places such as the law, common sense and a clear head, or patience and a plan) that make for better resolution than hot tempers and barely restrained emotions.
The heart
The heart represents emotion, with the three daggers/swords representing pain or distress. However, that is not what swords mean in any other card — they represent the element of Air and the mind and intellect. The message is that a clear head that looks to the future is the only way to fix the emotional pain. This is shown in the card by the daggers protecting the heart rather than being the cause of its anguish.
The three women
The three women are the same person seen through three stages: previous to any pain, full of pain, and death through anguish. What the card does not say is the order. It could be scenes towards death, or it could mean a transformation back to normality after catastrophe.
The frieze
At the top of the card, we see an image depicted in an ancient Greek style. Armed men appear to be setting off to war. A woman tries to convince some of them to stop. This could be the beginning of the catastrophe that befalls the woman.
The hearts and candles
Below each woman is a candle, and at the chest of each of the three women is a heart. The candles are always lit, and the hearts never diminish. The message is clear — there is always hope and there is always love.
Tips for Readings
The following table shows the upright and reverse meanings for general questions. The last row ('Yes/No') is useful when you are picking a single card to decide a yes or no decision.
Upright
Reversed
This card denotes a difficult time within your relationship (which may have already happened). There will be emotional problems: an argument, loss, revealed secret, unfulfilled promises or similar.
There will be a period of hurt and sorrow. You will need to think about your position when emotions die down, as that is the only real way forward. This is best for you in the long run, rather than getting into further emotional contests.
You have come through a difficult period with respect to a relationship, and that period may still be ongoing.
But however it may seem right now, you are over the worst.
It is time to now start thinking of the future and moving forward towards it, despite the fact that you may still be reliving the past.
There will be a personality or emotional problem at work; being belittled, demoted, personal attacks, or unfair or one-sided expectations.
These will make you stressed at the very least, but in the longer term, this card suggests there is a period of venting in private or discussion with close ones to calm your emotions. After this, you must emotionally detach whilst you spend a period to decide what your best next step is and the options in front of you.
Consider what is best for you rather than apologies without actions and/or more of the same behavior, and whether you had some part in the problems.
These are not decisions to take lightly but removing yourself from the situation whilst you make up your mind gives you all the time you need and frees you of pressure.
Something within your career is leaving you with bad feelings: a demotion or lack of expected promotion, clash of personalities, unfounded criticism, micromanagement… the list goes on!
Whatever the cause and even though you might not like what has happened, it is now a done deal and stability has returned.
Spend this time removing yourself from the blame game, personalities, and emotions and consider your real options for moving forward.
This will mean spending some time considering what you want rather than reliving past mistakes and failings, or changing your plans so they include some level of revenge or just actions.
Better to clear your head then make plans, and move on.
Emotional events will cause stress or grief soon (and the initiating event may have already occurred).
It is important to deal with the emotional hurt and then consider your situation with a clear head that is as free of emotion as possible. This is the quickest way to move forward and minimize the emotional impact in the shortest possible time, and safeguard your health.
Past events have taken an emotional toll, and both your body and mind may not be in the best place right now.
The good news is that the situation has stabilized (even though emotions may still be strong). Take time out to realize the worst is over and now is the time to start thinking of the future. Part of that future should include regaining yourself and your health.
Events have occurred or will soon come to a head, and these could be about a loss, arguments and disagreements, or failed promises.
Whatever the cause, the result will be the same; a period of emotional distress.
The card suggests a time of grief, but after that a time of clear-headed thinking regarding your way forward and your real goals in life must occur.
Most breakups and losses are the end of a chapter but also the start of a new one. Your aim now is to concentrate on writing that new chapter.
Recent events have pushed your emotions and your previous beliefs of what your future would be like, and perhaps even who would be present in it.
Although there may still be issues, the worst is over. It is now time to live with what you have rather than what you had.
Make peace with your old self and the world they inhabited. Start making a future with what you have now.
This should be undertaken with a clear mind and the understanding that what was done should now be laid to rest. That is the only way you can move forward.
Emotional events such as a breakup, loss, disagreement, an unexpected truth or reneged promise will affect both your finances and your emotional state.
It is important to separate the emotional side of things from the financial, by a short period of venting and calming down, as the emotion and planning do not normally mix very well!
After that, the difficult task of sorting out finances can begin, but not without a clear head and rational thought!
A difficult and emotional period has dented (or is in danger of denting) your finances. Although you may be tempted to fight emotion with emotion, the worst is already over and there is no need to fan the fires.
Instead, it is time to begin fixing the problem. This requires a more rational mind at the helm.
Spend time considering real implications rather than hurt pride and reneged promises, and start the slow process of fixing the future.
No, because you are not in the right frame of mind.
Yes. Although the cause of the issue has died down, the task will be difficult because there is much to fix.
Reading the Card
The Three of Swords is a difficult card to discuss in a reading. It describes an emotional event of the heart, yet sits within the Suit relating to intellect (Swords) rather than emotion (Cups). This significant point is frequently forgotten. It indicates the card is concerned with how you think and act tomorrow to overcome the impact, rather than how you feel today.
The card is difficult to read because the seeker is understandably emotional. The card asks them to release the emotion today, but demands they build themselves back up tomorrow. This places the Tarot reader in a difficult position; reading this card correctly requires profound sympathy.
The Three of Swords communicates the need to release emotional pain and rationalize a way forward to build strength. Think of acceptance of negative events as scars that will eventually harden into your warrior armor. In years to come, they become the very thing protecting you from future harm.
Think of acceptance of negative events as scars that in the future will harden into your warrior armor.
Be sorrowful and let it all out today, but this card tells you there should also be time set aside tomorrow to be level-headed in preparing for a better future.
The Upright Card
The Upright card predicts a time of emotional upheaval caused by loss, broken promises, betrayal, arguments, or an event beyond your control. This event clearly causes a period of anguish and high emotion.
While the card predicts this event, the event itself is not the true message of the Three of Swords. Swords represent the element of Air and the mind, not Water and emotion. The card advises that emotions cannot help you escape the problem. The way forward requires common sense and mind over heart.
Your heart wants to go back in time, rip out the eyes of the people who wronged you, and resurrect what you have lost. Indulging in those fantasies is fine, but not a plan.
The future must be planned by your head, not your heart. That is the only way to escape past hurts and move forward.
The Reversal
The Reversed Three of Swords delivers the same message as the Upright card, except you are past the worst.
This is a trickier position than the Upright card. There is a temptation to return to the past and attempt to fix it while still in a highly emotional state.
The card advises letting the matter go cold, gaining distance from the emotion so you can heal. Your mind is full of scars requiring attention; healing is your absolute priority. Step fully out of the boxing ring. Allow yourself a space without emotion. Once healed, carry on forward without looking backward.
Card Design Process
The message of this card differs from other decks. This deck views the Three of Swords as the need to rationalize emotional pain to allow movement forward (this is the only explanation that honors its placement in the Suit of Swords rather than Cups).
This assumption appears in the design via a crucial, subtle detail. Most decks depict three daggers piercing the heart. In this deck, the daggers are protecting the heart.
As a technical aside, the three daggers feature thin handles, reflecting how ancient daggers were forged. The blade has a long, thin tang running throughout the length of the handle, creating a remarkably strong weapon despite its apparent fragility. The design is taken from a historical dagger owned by a Spartan warrior.
Final Words
The Three of Swords considers the effects of an emotional upset in your life. It requires finding the balance between the emotions of the heart and the clear thinking of the head. Without this rational balance, your heart will endlessly drag you back into the past.
