We are all wanderers on this earth. Our hearts are full of wonder, and our souls are deep with dreams.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Coming Up For Air
10 comments
Hellllooooooo! Feels great to be back. I finally got most of my stuff moved to the new place and I'm feeling much more settled and able to breathe a bit easier. Finally getting caught up on readings, too, though my turn-around time is still about a week. The new place is small but comfortable and starting to feel like home now that I have my belongings there. All I need now is to have my kids come and spend some quality time and it will really feel like home. It's been a difficult transition and difficult to know what the "new normal" will feel like, but it is a life change that was entirely necessary for me to make.

I've been thinking a lot about the Three of Swords. It's a difficult card to see in a reading as it's undoubtedly referencing something painful occurring. The Rider-Waite-Smith rendering of the pierced heart and clouded, raining sky reveals that the realization is not merely cerebral but emotional as well. The water falling from the sky and the pierced heart are a graphic representation of the kind of emotions that proceed from this revelation. This is the "truth hurts" card, and yet it isn't without hope. It reminds me rather of lancing a boil or cutting out a cancerous tumor. The process is painful but the truth revealed is a necessary one that brings the situation to a head and clears away the confusion so healing can begin.

If we look at the cards immediately preceding and following the Three of Swords, one can almost feel the angst of the Two of Swords, the refusal to face the issue, trying to decide not to decide, then the relief felt in the Four of Swords where the subject is able to finally be at peace. The Three is the event between them which brings about the healing and recovery of the Four.

Some truths are just incredibly difficult to look full in the face. I've lived for years in that Two of Swords place, knowing the pain of the Three would be just too difficult that I could not and would not decide nor face the reality of what was actually true. I had to fully recognize and admit that my marriage of fifteen years was over and that the differences were irreconcilable and that I would have to begin the process of starting over in a new life. I wavered and hesitated for an extremely long time in the hope that something could be resuscitated. When it finally became clear to me that I had no more strength to hold those two swords crossed over my chest, their weight had become unbearable and heavy, they, along with the third sword dropped and all three pierced both mine and my ex-husband's hearts. Certainly the pain felt and the truth realized was different for each of us, but my hope is that with this truth and the reality of the divorce genuine healing can begin for everyone.

In a reading when the Three of Swords appears, there's no denying it hurts. Nobody likes to tell a seeker that. Being the bearer of news of a heartbreak or painful revelation is uncomfortable. However, if you understand and convey that this is a truth that must be told, understood, and accepted before anything else positive can happen, there is less to fear from this card. Denial only works for so long before it becomes destructive. If this card shows up, you might ask your sitter if there's something they've been avoiding facing, or if they've felt there is something "hanging" in the air, things left unsaid or unclarified that is making them uncomfortable. In this way you may get to the root of the Three of Swords and identify exactly what issue will be revealed or should be addressed. You might even show the sitter the Four and tell them the way through to that peace and recovery is only through the Three, hurtful though it may be.

If we could avoid the Three of Swords in life, we would. We can't. So it's best to face them honestly and head on. Otherwise, being stuck in that Three of Swords place is much like having your heart pierced again and again and again, over and over and that is far more painful and destructive than one brutal blow that cuts away the bullshit and denial.

10 comments :

  1. Sometimes the 3 of Swords show in a reading when the mind wants something and the heart wants another thing...

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  2. Anonymous12:43 PM

    Welcome back.

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  3. Yes, welcome back!

    "When it finally became clear to me that I had no more strength to hold those two swords crossed over my chest, their weight had become unbearable and heavy..." Wow, thanks for this comment on the Two of Swords. I'd not quite seen it this way before.

    This entire post is very helpful, especially showing the progression from the 2 through the four, and your comments on how best to help a client hear what the 3S may be saying.

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  4. Anonymous5:09 PM

    Truth will set you free, but it will first piss you off.
    The above quote always resonated with the three of swords to me.
    Your post was very insigtful :)
    Glad to hear things are getting smoother for you!

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  5. Anonymous8:15 PM

    Keep the good work with that very cool blog.

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  6. You all should see the smile on my face as I read your comments. I've missed you!

    I agree, aurora, that the 3 of swords can reveal a conflict between the heart and head, but the third sword is the deciding factor that gives way to deciding which way to go. One might also see the two of swords as that time when one is trying to avoid what one's emotions are trying to say, what with the woman's back to the waters, and also blind to the swords before her. The conflict there is also between head and heart, but the approach is more one of denial or or putting the choice or decision off until later. With the three, the choice is made, often painfully and decidedly. Also, because the swords are embedded in the heart, it is a decision that takes into consideration BOTH head and heart.

    Roswila, I'm always looking for ways to effectively communicate the "harder" cards because all cards have both positive and negative, light and dark, and while you know I'm not one to sugarcoat, I also know that when one sees a painful card the fearful response one feels can sometimes hinder the communication of the message. Explaining the more fearful cards in a way that might allay those fears helps us all see the nuances of what these cards are really trying to say.

    anon...I love it! Truth will indeed piss you off, LOL! I will forevermore associate that with the 3 of swords now. Thank you!

    Thanks for the welcome backs...they feel like a warm hug.

    Ginny

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  7. So great to see you back!

    There's so much wisdom in this post. And, yes, it's reaaly hard to face that the journey through the 3 is the way to the 4. Well said!

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  8. Welcome back, we missed you. Now if you had picked the three of cups instead of the three of Swords, the mood would have been lighter.

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  9. LOL, hmmm...yeah...I kinda pooped on the party atmosphere, huh? :)

    These days it's been a mix, that's for sure.

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  10. Anonymous5:33 PM

    your post was very insightful, specially since I'm currently living through a Three of Swords moment of life. I just need to stab the heart one more time by confronting the issue (at least I've grown to accept it) before I can say I've moved on. I just truly hope I have the courage to put that last sword through.

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