Known also as the Lord of Sorrow, the Three of Swords is aligned with Saturn in Libra and represents tension, worries and doubts. Libra is relating and represents balance, while Saturn is time, restriction and burdens, so these two energies do not sit well together. Often there is a heaviness around important relationships, which mars the flow of emotion and positive interactions.
The Three of Swords often represents a need to put something on the table, get to the heart of the matter, which often means conflict because you need to speak your truth while knowing this truth is not palatable to the receiver. But the consequences of holding your tongue will be much more damaging in the future if you let sleeping dogs lie.
And so this is a difficult card to come up in a reading as it points to pain, emotional pain, but it is also a catharsis which is like lancing a boil in order to start the healing process. The other side of the coin of Sorrow is Forgiveness, and this is important to contemplate also, since this is an important step in emotional healing.
This Three brings a difficult decision between matters ruled by the heart and the head, and often this situation results in the head winning at the cost of the heart. The path that your heart is wanting to lead you on is one thing, but this card is saying that your patterns of thinking, logic and beliefs will take precedence over what your heart wants.
At some point your patterns of thinking have thrown you out of balance (Libra) so there is a need to make a logical decision to restore that balance and bring things to rights again.
Time to examine where you have hesitated to make the right decision and start to put things right - and remember, every problem contains the seeds of its own solution.
Image Voyager Tarot @thetarotclub.com