Hello, I'm Amelia Hruby, and you're listening to My Tiny Tarot Practice.

On this show, we're exploring the tarot card by card, starting with each suit of the Minor Arcana.

In today's episode, we will be discussing the Three of Swords.

In the Rider-Waite-Smith edition of the tarot, the Three of Swords depicts a

bright red heart pierced by three swords, cards, one going directly down the center of the heart,

one crossing the heart from left to right, and the other crossing the heart from right to left.

In the background of the card, we see clouds and what appears to be rain.

And it feels obvious to me looking

at this card that this is the card of heartbreak, of sadness, of sorrow.

This is a card that arises when our heart is breaking for any reason.

And it's a card that can also arise in my experience when we may be feeling

some type of break in how we make sense of the world.

I love how Rachel Pollack approaches this card in 78 Degrees of Wisdom,

where she writes, for all its gloom, the card brings a a certain calm in the symmetry of its swords.

To true sorrow, we can only make one response.

Take the pain into our hearts, accept it, and go beyond it.

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.

And I love how even in her description, we see multiple threes.

So when we experience and sorrow, we have to take the pain into our hearts,

accept the pain and go beyond the pain. That's one three.

Also, this card for her seems to represent pain, courage, and love.

Jessica Doerr in Tarot for Change also talks about how some psychologists think

of hard feelings as as coming in threes,

and that we might lead with one feeling because we are struggling to name or

accept the other things that we're feeling, perhaps on a deeper level.

So for instance, when we experience grief, we might lead with anger because

we are struggling to name or communicate our sorrow, our heartbreak.

And I think in this card, we're invited into that moment moment of pain,

of sorrow, of heartbreak.

And this card is not rushing us past it. It's allowing us to surrender to it.

It's inviting us to make space for the hard feelings.

And I'm always struck that this card is in the suit of swords,

that the most vivid image of heartbreak is in the suit of swords, not the suit of cups.

And I think for me, that is a reminder, a warning, an invitation, I'm not really sure,

but this moment of remembering that part of what we do with our feelings is make sense of them.

And I think heartbreak can be one of the hardest emotions to make sense of.

How do we make sense of sorrow, of grief, of heartbreak?

The swords invite us even within the suit of swords, even within the suit of the intellect.

They remind us that sometimes we have to put down our sense making.

Sometimes the mind has to meet the heart where it's at.

Thank you for listening to this episode of My Tiny Tarot Practice.

As always, I'm Amelia Fruby, and I curate a bookshop of my favorite tarot books

and decks, which you can find in the show notes.

If you make a purchase through that link, I'll receive a small affiliate payment

that helps me keep this podcast going.

If you landed here because you've pulled the three of swords,

please know that I send you so much love amidst any sorrow or pain you may be

feeling. The tarot brings us many more cards to come.

This is simply a moment in your journey.