52-Three of Athames – Reversed Salem Deck

When reversed, the Three of Swords implies that you are not allowing yourself to grow as a result of your suffering. Rather than hanging on to hard feelings and keeping a dispute going, it may be time to bury the hatchet and clear the air. Clinging too long to rancor and sadness will only result in prolonged heartache. Consider the five stages of grief outlined by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1969): (1) denial and isolation, (2) anger, (3) bargaining, (4) depression, and finally (5) acceptance. The Three of Swords is about the process of grieving and ultimately accepting and letting go in order to restore balance in your life (Saturn in Libra).

Keywords Reversed: Stormy weather for the emotions, heartache, breakup, anguish, tears, sadness, loss, grief, sorrow, alienation, lost friendship, miscarriage, death of a loved one, painful separation, rupture, loss of love, divorce, unhappiness, betrayal, a broken heart, distress, affliction, feeling under the weather, illness, quarrels, disruption, interrupted plans, disappointment, wounds, a broken heart, misfortune, suffering.

Timing: 10 Libra–20 Libra. Tropical, 3 October–12 October. Sidereal, 27 October–5 November.
Astrology: The stern taskmaster Saturn (exalted) in the second decan of airy Libra, also the realm of the Queen of Swords (Water of Air) and Justice (Libra). Saturn is linked to the World.
Number Symbolism: 3 – fertility, creativity, a triadic relationship, the first fruits of a joint venture.

Etteilla: Separation, estrangement, rupture, absence, departure, severance, detachment, aversion; (R) bewilderment, confusion, distraction, mental alienation, insanity, error, loss, miscalculation, detour.

When Three of Athames is reversed you can pretty much take it that life is going well but that’s when life takes us by surprise.  If Three of Athames is unclear it may help to choose a card from the Major Arcana to provide more insight into what it is Three of Athames is trying to tell you.  If you had a particular issue in  mind, or want to seek clarification on something else, you can also choose again to get more guidance.

This chosen card is part of your reversed card reading for Three of Athames using cards from the Salem Tarot Deck. You will find many more tarot pages that will be of great help if you need tarot card meanings. Use the search at the bottom of the page. We have some amazing tarot books for you to browse. Please see below.

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Here are some snippets from a few of my favorite books

Elements of the Psychic World: According to legend the wisdom is contained in 42 books, known as the Her-metica, allegedly written by Hermes Trismegistus, a philosopher-priest-king and metaphysical equivalent of the Egyptian and Greek gods Thoth and Hermes. The books were written on papyrus and stored in the great library of Alexandria. After fire destroyed the library most of the books were lost but surviving fragments, The Corpus Hermeticum, were supposedly buried in a secret location.

Tarot Books

Portable Magic: Another more productive approach is to use the negative tarot cards to embody the hurtful forces they represent, as a way of neutralizing them. For example, the Three of Swords might be used in a malicious way to cause unhappiness, separation, or disruption. However, it can also be intelligently employed to represent a source of disruption, and by acting on this card with limiting or modifying energies represented by other tarot cards, the source of disruption can be banished or neutralized.

Tarot for Beginners: Reversed, the card indicates a downturn in luck due to negative external forces over which you have little or no control. Unfortunately, you may have little influence over events at this time, but the situation will not prevail. This card is gently reminding you that everything—the good and the bad—is temporary.

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Reversed Cards: Sometimes what you need is what you already have. When this card shows up in the protection aspect, the universe may be telling you to dig deeper. It may seem like you need outside assistance, but the truth is you don’t. More to the point, you’re not in the right position to accept. Think of it like this: you want to ask the bank for a loan but you don’t have all your paperwork in order or you still have some outstanding debts that could cause your loan application to be tanked. This means you need to do more work. You have to put yourself in order before asking for more.