Three of Swords

Upright meaning

Heartbreak, separation, or a painful truth. The hurt needs recognition rather than being explained away.

Something to consider

An uncomfortable truth can hurt without meaning you were foolish to care. Give yourself room to feel it before deciding what to do next.

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Historical texts

Waite: the card

Three swords piercing a heart; cloud and rain behind.

Source: The Pictorial Key to the Tarot — A. E. Waite (1922) · Public domain

Waite: divinatory meaning

Removal, absence, delay, division, rupture, dispersion, and all that the design signifies naturally, being too simple and obvious to call for specific enumeration.

Source: The Pictorial Key to the Tarot — A. E. Waite (1922) · Public domain

Waite: reversed

Mental alienation, error, loss, distraction, disorder, confusion.

Source: The Pictorial Key to the Tarot — A. E. Waite (1922) · Public domain

Mathers: meaning

61. Three of Swords.-A Nun, Separation, Removal, Rupture, Quarrel; R. Error, Confusion, Misrule, Disorder.

Source: The Tarot: Its Occult Signification, Use in Fortune-Telling, and Method of Play — S. L. MacGregor Mathers (1888) · Public domain