Baroque Bohemian Cats: Three of Swords

The second card that I pulled today.

A grey cat sits in an ornate pale-red bedroom, a heavily curtained bed in the background--obviously a room of great wealth. She is dressed simply in a white top and blue skirt, but the material looks fine, and the shirt has gorgeous black and gold brocade on the front. She is seated and is holding a golden statue of a cherub, who is in turn holding a red heart with three small swords through it in the classic manner.

I really like this card. For one, it says that wealth will not assure you joy. The cat's expression is sad but resigned--she seems to be holding the cherub not only as a remembrance for herself, but as a warning to others. "Don't do what I did, don't make my mistakes, beware." But what DID she do, what can we avoid? That is a mystery.

I see this card having all the regular connotations of the Three of Swords, especially that of a broken heart, but also with the addition that a privileged life does not mean a happy one, so be careful what you wish for.

Maybe the cat is unhappy in love. Maybe she is involved in a relationship that is turning bad for the cat. And the cat can't get out of it. The little cherub seems to be a comfort object she need to hold close.

This card has come up in my live readings a couple of times now. It is a good example of why I think this deck is deeper than some people give it credit for.

The typical definition for this card is heartbreak. However, this card is so multidimensional. Yes, the heart being pierced by three swords is there. However, it is being embraced by a cherub. A motherly looking cat in turn embraces the cherub.

I read this as being the card of the maternal protector. The child is susceptible to potential heartbreak, but his/her mother is helping to shield this pain. On a more grander scale, one can say that someone in their life is there to turn to when things are not going very well.

Dan

contrascarpe said:

I read this as being the card of the maternal protector. The child is susceptible to potential heartbreak, but his/her mother is helping to shield this pain. On a more grander scale, one can say that someone in their life is there to turn to when things are not going very well.

Dan

Click to expand...

What a great insight! This was teasing at the edge of my mind, but I could never quite get it to coalesce--you just brought it totally into focus, thank you.

You know, when we were making the deck, some people who saw the first drafts of this card thought it was TOO sad. But I think we almost never produce cards (said on a huge total of two and a half decks!) that are totally without redeeming features - largely I think because to us it seems as though even the worst situations can produce something positive also. So yes, this little cat looks sad, and she is definitely holding the cherub tightly - she wants to keep firm hold of it. The cherub by the way is a bit rusted - to me, it means that her love isn't bright and shiny any more, it's taken some knocks and it's now a bit tarnished in a way - but still beautiful to her. Behind her is a double four-poster bed (took us a while to find that!) but she is alone. It seems as though there is a partner - or has been - but where is he now?

One thing that strikes me about this card is that she is able to achieve some objectivity and even begin to distance herself from the heartbreak. She is recovering and she has turned her feelings into an object of beauty that is outside herself. She has become a better cat (I almost said a better person) by her experience.

This is probably the most amazing three of swords I've ever seen. I see everything that's already been mentioned. In addition, depending on the context of the reading, I could see her as having stabbed that little heart on the cherub as per a voodoo doll type of thing ... doing the heart-breaking herself. She looks so beautiful and sweet, but it reminds me that we all have the capacity to hurt others, sometimes without knowing we're doing it, and sometimes out of some real or perceived hurt of our own.

I drew this card today in my daily draw and saw even more in it than before ...

I normally don't resonate with this card at all. I tend to see it as immediate romantic heartbreak, and I haven't been in a relationship in years. But I've been reading "Tarot for the Healing Heart" and this card says a lot to me today.

A beautiful gray cat sits in her bedroom holding an angel doll/statue who is, in turn, holding a heart with three swords in it. Her look seems to say many things to me today as she looks out of her card at me. See my wounds? They're not so bad are they? Maybe I can ignore them and they'll go away. After all, they're not really so very big, and I've moved them out onto this statue instead of in me. I've distanced myself. Haven't I done a good job? I can insulate myself from the pain, right? It'll work, won't it?

And I'm inclined to lean forward and hug that sweet kitten and help her accept the wounds, my wounds, so that they might finally and completely heal. We don't need to walk around the world completely broken. We are sometimes hurt. We sometimes seem to break. We are the walking wounded. But we can learn our new selves, and if we walk a little funny, or have a little extra weight, or can't quite see as well as we used to ... well, that's ok. We're all wounded in some ways, and we can open up to them, share them, and allow the healing in. That healing might not take the form we want. A quadraplegic might not learn to walk. A blind man might never see again. A cancer survivor might never grow her breasts back. But we can heal in other ways and move forward as we are now.

For the first time in my life I love this card.