World Spirit Tarot - 3 of swords

coolpm

Ok well in all the decks i have ever seen i have hated the 3 of swords,Why you may ask well first, it looks horibal with 3 swords sticking out of a heart, 2 when someone sees the card its so obvious what it means, i would rather of the tower then the 3 of swords, becouse i feel like when u get the tower, it will teach you something, and when all the bad stuff is over, things will be better but with the 3 of swords i dont feel like something that the 3 of swords repersent will teach you a lot, and also i dont feel that things may get better, and who wants to know that a realshinship is over soon, so any way the 3 of swords on this deck i like becouse i feel like it repersents something diffrent the the normal 3 swords through a heart.
 

RubyRuby

The very nature of swords is conflict. But with the three, the heartbreak does lead to honesty. The words or the heart break may hurt, but at least you are no longer in the dark. You know the truth about the situation.
 

Bonnie

Powerful Sword

The Three and the Four of Swords (along with the Ace) are the only cards in this suit that I don't automatically pull back from a bit. While the Three speaks of heartache and sorrow, in acknowleding that pain and sorrow we can begin to move through it ... to heal.

I feel that when this card comes up in a reading it can be a key to the help that the Seeker needs ... a key to their understanding a situation and healing.

Blessings,
Bonnie
 

Sulis

I don't like that RWS style 3 of Swords with the heart pierced by 3 swords either.
The reason I don't like it is because as well as image, I use element and number to get my card meanings and I just don't get heartbreak (if that's what those 3 swords are supposed to mean) from the 3 of Swords.

Swords to me are about communication, thought and conflict - the conflict comes from the sword of communication and thought being double edged though. Words and thoughts can hurt just as much as they can heal.
Threes to me are the culmination of the one and the two.
They relate to The Empress and are about creativity, productivity, community, growth, expansion and integration.
Put the two things together and every now and then you'll get heartache but not always.

With the 3 of Swords we have something to break the stalemate of the 2.
Something needs to be said or has been said and that may have hurt someone but now you can move on (as there is no movement in the stalemate).
The 3 of Swords is about expressing your thoughts, about making plans, about seeing a result.

I like this card but I don't really understand it that well in this deck. I guess it's been so long since I've used this deck for readings for other people that I've just not experienced it's energies yet.
It seems to me from looking at the image as if something has been said on the paper on the wall and whatever it is has upset the person in the dressing gown.
It seems that something probably needed to be said.
The rest will come in the context of a reading (I hope).
 

the_surfacer

One thing that came up for me when I found the Three of Swords in a reading for myself was, interestingly enough, insomnia, which ordinarily I would associate with the Nine of Swords.

After I thought about it more, I concluded that the Three is when you have so much heartache you can't even bear to lie down because you know you'll never be able to sleep anyway, whereas the Nine is what happens when you lie down for what you think will be a rest. Actually *getting* restful sleep would be the Four.

I think the image on this card also encapsulates, for me, the sad frustration of the things that keep you up at night -- maybe it's just my longstanding personal battle with insomnia, but I always imagine that just around the corner there's a bed whose comfort is even more painful than the information on the scroll pinned to the wall, or the look on the face of the figure in the mirror because that comfort is completely inaccessible.

Bit of a melancholy post, but that's where I am with this card right now.
 

afrosaxon

different take on 3 of Swords

I just got the World Spirit deck and this card has been popping up in some personal readings I've done with it, to break the deck in.

I get something different from the card (definitely not heartbreak and sorrow! :D).

The man is cringing from the map (letter?) on the wall, but I get the sense that someone (the person in the mirror around the corner) threw the knives to get the guy's attention...and he's cringing, like most of us would if someone suddenly threw knives at us, and out of nowhere at that. ;) I don't know if he's even focused on the map yet (and to me it looks like a map), I think he's just freaking out from the knives, especially if he thought he was in the house alone.

The person in the mirror seems to be hiding so that he can see the guy's reaction.

Some flashes that came to me about this card:

--"nailing it down"
--"driving it home"/"making a point" (3 knives to pin something to the wall is overkill)
--"not wanting to face the writing on the wall"

If we go with the thought that the item on the wall is a map, the man in the picture may have been resisting a certain path and those knives are making it blatant that he NEEDS to use that map to achieve his goals. Someone on AT used the analogy of a guy who wants to be rescued but doesn't want to leave his dog (it could have been for another card, but it fits here as well). I also think of the movie The Perfect Storm and the man who was on that little boat in Bermuda with the two women. The storm got really bad and even after the women called a mayday and the Navy rescuers came to get them, the man refused to leave his boat because it was HIS boat and HE was the captain.


I like this card better than the traditional RWS bleeding heart with 3 swords stuck in it.

Just my $.02.

T.
 

pasara

I know this is an old thread, but I just got this deck yesterday on a whim and jumped in with it doing some readings before even cracking the LWB for a peak. This card came up and I was really interested that it was more a different and more complex image than the usual bleeding heart.

No one has mentioned the third person that I see (nor is it mentioned in the LWB), but if you look at the very end of the hallway in the card, it is as if another person is peaking around the corner, you can just see their head. Do you see this too?

Before looking in the LWB just now to see what it said, I saw the person in the hall as feeling very alone and either afraid to face up to whatever the "map" (that's what it looked like to me) with the knives stuck into it signified. His dreams maybe were destroyed. Or there was dispute on how to proceed and they all gave up. It looks like a threat that came in the night, a warning. The figure reflected in the mirror is watching his reaction, or was not able to steal away after putting that threat there because the guy woke up, and he is waiting for his chance to get away. He (the guy in the mirror) does not look compassionate at all, but hardened or unfeeling.) The person at the end of the hall, even though you can't see her (feels/looks female to me), seems to have some regret or sadness that it has to be this way, or sees what is going on but does not have the strength to help.

I like this card because there seems to be a lot to work with as far as interpretation. Some of them I see off the top of my head:

- Being stabbed in the back (guy in mirror)
- Varying agendas (knives in map/scroll thing)
- Pain of the truth (main figure cringing)
- Having to face problems
- Betrayal in general
- Love triangle
- People working against you behind the scenes
- Alienation from those you are working/involved with

Sulis, I like what you wrote about the number 3 being creative and associated with the Empress. Here though, in the suit of swords, I find it hard to get past seeing it as a more difficult experience. I see more the conflict aspect of swords, and the image on this card seems to leave less room to see the more positive side of the 3 of Sw. In general I can think of this card as about getting to the heart of the matter or hard truths that need to be faced. In this deck these interpretations are hard to find because the people are not directly interacting. They are not even facing each other. Also, you tend to identify with the main figure, when I suppose you could just as easily be one of the other two.

Hm. Lots to think about here.