General Book of the Tarot: Swords: Three of Swords

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Three of Swords

TRADITION: Departure, absence, rupture, delay, division, removal, being-far-away. Also aversion, hatred, disgust, etc. Contrarieties, opposition, unsociable qualities, gruffness, separation, etc. Reversed: Mental worries, troubles and even alienation. Error, mistake, loss. A nun.

THEORY: The element of Earth on the Third house acts in the way of the mind and mental processes, and must appear as 'troubles,' etc., because it gives the feeling of the mind being burdened, which might easily go as far as oppression. If the burden becomes too heavy, either the body or the soul may suffer severely, and pain, affliction or mental aberration may ensue. This card must generally mean bad news too, the message which brings news of the affliction. It may be a corrective to a too easy and volatile imagination. It will in most cases denote some sickness, as a result of the pressure or oppressed feeling in the mind or in circumstances in general. It may be the result of worrying. The house of Gemini also suggests some suffering on account of distance, separateness, being far from one other. And the oppressed mind, which cannot have its