Three of Swords - not really Sorrow?

Zephyros

I have been agonizing over what both Duquette and Crowley say of this card, and I still don't get it. From what I could gather, it is "sorrow" because of the imminent descent below the Abyss, because it is the reflection of the Peace in Chochma, and is attributed to cold Saturn in balanced Libra. This high up the Tree the astrological attribution should be less intense, and Binah seems like a good spot for Swords. Is it because swords are phallic and Binah is feminine? Is "sorrow" here meant to describe something like "love for all creation?"

Hmmm... that just occurred to me while writing this, and it rings well.

On the other hand, this could be a"beautiful mind" kind of thing, all knowing and sympathetic, due to the astrological attribution, devoid of all emotion but in a good way(?), kind of like Vulcans.

meh.


Still, I don't "get" it. Duquette says that we should all have this kind of sorrow, and resembles the Budda's sorrow trance, of which I know nothing. And if it is a "good sorrow" what does that say as to it's divinatory meaning.

Any thoughts?
 

Teheuti

I think it's important to remember that the GD and Thoth Tarot isn't just a reflection of the Tree of Life but derives from a combination of sources. It takes into account Etteilla and cartomantic traditions and astrological decans and more.

There's an excellent thread that discusses the Thoth 3 of Swords in depth:
http://www.tarotforum.net/archive/index.php/t-100762.html
 

Always Wondering

Scion said:
Gerald Suster has a lovely riff in his book on the Thoth about this card as the Lord of Sorrow: he points out that the 3 of Swords isn't about Suffering as in "waaaahhh I'm sad!" or "Rats I should've known he was cheating" but more an awareness of the price we pay to be alive. It is Suffering in the Mahayana sense: Suffering which always arises from Desire, the same Desire which is the underpinning of all Material Life. It's Suffering on a cosmic scale, global. The pain in Truth... I always see it as a reminder that part of being a conscious mind is accepting the pain that is a manifest part of living, not in a fatalistic sense, but in a gnostic sense. And in context it can be a beautiful positive uplifting card.
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I always liked this that Scion wrote. I miss him. :(

AW
 

Aeon418

Closrapexa, sorry for being brief but I'm pressed for time at the moment. Try reading Genesis chapter 3 - the eating of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the expulsion from Eden - but try to see it as a story that symbolically depicts the development of the self conscious intellect-mind from an original state of "Edenic" animal awareness.
closrapexa said:
Still, I don't "get" it. Duquette says that we should all have this kind of sorrow
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The apprehension of this "Sorrow" is what makes a person begin to tread the mystic Path of Return.
 

Aeon418

closrapexa said:
cold Saturn in balanced Libra. This high up the Tree the astrological attribution should be less intense,
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No, the influence of Saturn is very intense here because Saturn also corresponds to Binah. And don't forget that Saturn is the planet of Karma. Saturn in Libra - Karmic balance.
closrapexa said:
and Binah seems like a good spot for Swords.
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Quite the opposite actually. Binah is the sephira of the collective, the big All, the great Whole. The Sword cuts this unity in half and creates the perception of duality, division and separation. The birth of Sorrow.

Some people have compared the 3 of Swords to the symbolism implied by the cutting of the umbilical cord. The Sword of Intellect cuts the human consciousness off from the Mother-Universe and the awareness that All is One.
 

Teheuti

Aeon418 said:
Try reading Genesis chapter 3 - the eating of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the expulsion from Eden - but try to see it as a story that symbolically depicts the development of the self conscious intellect-mind from an original state of "Edenic" animal awareness.

The apprehension of this "Sorrow" is what makes a person begin to tread the mystic Path of Return.
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Brilliant! Thanks for this one, Aeon.
 

WolfyJames

Aeon418 said:
Some people have compared the 3 of Swords to the symbolism implied by the cutting of the umbilical cord. The Sword of Intellect cuts the human consciousness off from the Mother-Universe and the awareness that All is One.
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I really love that part. Thanks!
 

Zephyros

Wow, fantastic replies everybody, you really cleared the card up for me, and gave me a lot to think about!
 
The Ace of Cups am i missing something?