Card glossary › Rider-Waite

Three of Swords

Rider-Waite

General meaning

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↕ Reversed

By topic

Love

a heart broken by the relationshipthe pain of romantic betrayala painful truth about your partnera necessary breakupdeep sadness over lost lovehonest romantic disappointmentan open wound from heartbreakaffliction over a separationpain that reveals a truth about the relationshipa necessary emotional break in order to heal

↕ healing a broken heart, moving past romantic betrayal, forgiving an ex-partner or yourself, freedom from romantic grief, emotional recovery after a breakup, romantic pain transformed into learning, genuine reconciliation, relief after the emotional storm, closing the romantic mourning period, the ability to love again

Friendship

pain from a friend's betrayala painful truth about a friendshipa necessary break in a social bonddeep sadness over losing a friendshiphonest disappointment with a friendan open wound from growing apartaffliction over the loss of a social bondpain that reveals a truth about the friendshipa necessary break in a social relationshipan emotional cut with someone who damaged your trust

↕ healing after a friend's betrayal, moving past a broken friendship, forgiving a friend or yourself, freedom from social grief, emotional recovery after losing a friendship, social pain transformed into learning, genuine reconciliation with a friend, relief after the social storm, closing the mourning period for a friendship, the ability to trust again

Family

pain from a family betrayala painful truth about a family membera necessary break in a household dynamicdeep sadness over a family conflicthonest disappointment with the familyan open wound from family estrangementaffliction over a loss within the family unitpain that reveals a truth about the familya necessary break in a household relationshipan emotional cut with a family member who damaged your trust

↕ healing after a family betrayal, moving past a break at home, forgiving a family member or yourself, freedom from family grief, emotional recovery after a family conflict, family pain transformed into learning, genuine reconciliation within the family, relief after the family storm, closing the mourning period for a household bond, the ability to trust the family again

Career

pain from a professional disappointmenta painful truth about your own careera necessary break with a path that isn't workingdeep sadness over a lost opportunityhonest disappointment with your own journeyan open wound from a professional failureaffliction over a vocational setbackpain that reveals a truth about your own purposea necessary break to redirect your careeran emotional cut with unmet professional expectations

↕ healing after a professional disappointment, moving past a vocational failure, forgiving yourself for career decisions, freedom from professional grief, emotional recovery after a setback, vocational pain transformed into learning, reconciliation with your own path, relief after the professional storm, closing the mourning period for a career chapter, the ability to trust your own purpose again

Work

pain from a work disappointmenta painful truth about your own performancea necessary break with a work dynamicdeep sadness over an unexpected resulthonest disappointment with your own rolean open wound from a workplace conflictaffliction over a mistake madepain that reveals a truth about the worka necessary break to change your approachan emotional cut with unmet work expectations

↕ healing after a work disappointment, moving past a conflict at work, forgiving yourself for a mistake, freedom from work grief, emotional recovery after a setback in your role, work pain transformed into learning, reconciliation with your own performance, relief after the work storm, closing the mourning period for a work chapter, the ability to trust your own team again

Studies

a fail that hurtsharsh criticismdisappointment with a teacherleaving a degreesadnesspainful truthbreaking with a grouplearning from pain

↕ recovering from a fail, forgiving criticism, healing frustration, learning from disappointment, leaving the upset behind, relief, starting again, healing

Money

pain from a financial lossa painful truth about your own financesa necessary break with harmful financial habitsdeep sadness over a failed investmenthonest disappointment with your own financial situationan open wound from a money problemaffliction over a lost financial opportunitypain that reveals a truth about your financesa necessary break to reorganize your moneyan emotional cut with unmet financial expectations

↕ healing after a financial loss, moving past a financial setback, forgiving yourself for money decisions, freedom from financial grief, emotional recovery after a financial crisis, financial pain transformed into learning, reconciliation with your own finances, relief after the financial storm, closing the mourning period for a financial loss, the ability to trust your own money decisions again

Pets

pain from the loss or illness of the peta painful truth about its healtha necessary break with an expectation about its behaviordeep sadness over its absence or sufferinghonest disappointment about its carean open wound from something related to the animalaffliction over a health problem in the petpain that reveals a truth about its wellbeinga necessary break to change its carean emotional cut with unmet expectations about it

↕ healing after the loss of a pet, moving past the pain of its absence, forgiving yourself for decisions about its care, freedom from grief related to the animal, emotional recovery after its loss, pain transformed into learning about the bond, reconciliation with your own grieving process for the animal, relief after the emotional storm related to it, closing the mourning period for the pet, the ability to open up to a new animal bond

Health

pain from a diagnosis or physical changea painful truth about your own bodya necessary break with harmful habitsdeep sadness over a health limitationhonest disappointment with your own processan open wound from a physical problemaffliction over a loss of capacitypain that reveals a truth about healtha necessary break to change your approach to carean emotional cut with unmet health expectations

↕ healing after a difficult diagnosis, moving past a physical limitation, forgiving yourself for past habits, freedom from grief related to health, emotional recovery after a physical setback, health pain transformed into learning, reconciliation with your own body, relief after the storm related to wellbeing, closing the mourning period for a health change, the ability to trust your own process again

Choices

pain from the consequences of a past decisiona painful truth about a choice madea necessary break with an option that didn't workdeep sadness over a path not chosenhonest disappointment with the outcome of a decisionan open wound from having chosen wrongaffliction over the consequences of a choicepain that reveals a truth about what was decideda necessary break to reconsider the directionan emotional cut with expectations about a decision

↕ healing after a painful decision, moving past regret over a choice, forgiving yourself for past decisions, freedom from grief related to a choice, emotional recovery after a difficult decision, pain from the choice transformed into learning, reconciliation with your own chosen path, relief after the emotional storm of deciding, closing the mourning period for an option not taken, the ability to trust your own judgment again

Creative projects

pain from criticism of the creative worka painful truth about your own projecta necessary break with a direction that isn't workingdeep sadness over a failed projecthonest disappointment with the creative resultan open wound from rejection of the workaffliction over work that didn't come togetherpain that reveals a truth about the projecta necessary break to redirect the workan emotional cut with unmet creative expectations

↕ healing after painful criticism, moving past a failed project, forgiving yourself for the result, freedom from creative grief, emotional recovery after a rejection, creative pain transformed into learning, reconciliation with your own process, relief after the creative storm, closing the mourning period for an unachieved project, the ability to trust your own talent again

Creativity

pain from criticism of your own talenta painful truth about your own processa necessary break with a style that no longer represents youdeep sadness over feeling your inspiration losthonest disappointment with your own expressionan open wound from a painful comparisonaffliction over a prolonged creative blockpain that reveals a truth about your own talenta necessary break to artistically evolvean emotional cut with expectations about your own art

↕ healing after criticism of your own talent, moving past a painful creative block, forgiving yourself for your own process, freedom from artistic grief, emotional recovery after a painful comparison, personal creative pain transformed into learning, reconciliation with your own voice, relief after your own artistic storm, closing the mourning period for a creative chapter, the ability to trust your own talent again

✨ 3 tips for combining it

1. With The Tower, a breakup or painful news. Example: Three of Swords + The Tower hurts, but shows you something you needed to see.
2. With The Star, the heart starts healing. Example: Three of Swords + The Star speaks of slowly recovering from heartache.
3. With the Three of Cups, watch for third parties. Example: Three of Swords + Three of Cups can point to a love triangle or betrayal among friends.

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