What does it feel like to have your heart broken? Many poets and philosophers have described the physical, mental, and emotional sensations involved in the breaking of trust and the breaking of hearts. Many descriptions reference the feeling of being stabbed through the heart. The Three of Swords takes this poetic description quite literally in its art.

The Three of Swords is a simple card... in fact, it is almost harsh in its simplicity. In the foreground is a large red heart – not a heart as you would expect to see it from within a person's chest, but a heart akin to those we see used as decoration and on Valentine's Day.

The heart, tragically, is deeply impaled by three large swords. The swords are cutting through the heart and jut out on the other side. Behind this scene, we see large, ominous rain clouds.

The Three of Swords represents all emotional pain – it stands for those times in our lives when we are cut to the core. It is a simple card because the feeling is, after all, a simple one – pain isn't too hard to understand. From the youngest person to the oldest we've all felt this heartbreak in one fashion or another. This card can be saying that you have already felt these cutting moments, are feeling them now, or will be feeling them soon.

Being let down – there are few feelings as soul-curdling as the feeling of being let down. When you're as high as a kite, excited, maybe trusting, enthusiastic, and ready to go, it can feel as if your heart has been dropped off a cliff when you learn that things aren't as you think they are. That life has let you down. It could be a friend, a lover, a group, an event... anything in our lives can let us down. This card could be saying that you are already suffering from this pain, or will soon.

All Things Will Pass With Time

Lastly, this card can refer to being stabbed in the back. To experience betrayal is as surprising as it is disheartening – those who stab us in the back are those that we trust, and no one enjoys having the carpet pulled out from underneath them. Assess whether you feel you've been betrayed recently, and see what you can do to move past that heartache.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when you see this card. Why is your heart aching? What can be done to remedy it? If you aren't suffering from heartbreak yourself, is there someone close to you who is? What lesson can you learn, from your own heartache and the heartache of others? What silver lining exists around this cloud?

The Three of Swords can be found in almost every other card with negative overtones. The Five of Cups shares the heartache and pain of the Three of Swords, specifically through loss and grieving. The Three of Swords can also be seen in the Nine of Swords... in fact, you could go so far as to say that the people on the Nine of Swords are pictured living in (and attempting to get through) the pain caused by the Three of Swords.

What Three of Swords Means for You Today

When the Three of Swords appears it is a sign that anxiety, grief, or depression could be a theme today. The thing about the three of swords is that the pain it causes is always caused by thoughts. Fortunately, you have the ability to stop this thought-induced pain at any moment, if only you would let go of the mental story attached to the heartache. When you see this card the best thing you can do is go outside and sit on the ground or put your bare feet on the earth and focus your attention down to your feet. This will ground your energy and bring a sense of peace and quiet. Even if the situation is bad, the pain is all in your head and you can bring it to an end with just a shift in your focus.