An empty crossroads on a heath at night, a leaning signpost and poppy heads in the verge.

Swords · III

Three of Swords

Lord of Sorrow

The face of Three of Swords, engraved in gold on black, with its title, Lord of Sorrow.

A clean cut heals faster. Let the truth do its work.

Upright

Heartbreak, grief and painful truth. The wound that clarifies.

Reversed

Healing, release and forgiveness.

Show the spirits

The spirit work

In the Goetia, Barbatos reconciles friends by day; Shax, who takes away sight and hearing, by night. Let yourself feel it fully, then close the wound.

Where the card sits

Correspondences

DecanSaturn in Libra, 10° to 20°, the second face
Tree of LifeBinah in Yetzirah
Governing angelsHariel by day, Hakamiah by night
Image of the decanTwo furious men, and a man in fine robes seated in a chair.
Show the spirits
Day spiritBarbatos, duke
The seal of Barbatos

Appears when the Sun is in Sagittarius, with four kings and their troops. Gives understanding of birdsong and animal voices, breaks enchanted treasure open, reconciles friends and powers. Goetia 8.

Night spiritShax, marquis
The seal of Shax

Appears as a stock-dove with a subtle, hoarse voice. Takes away sight, hearing or understanding, fetches what is wanted, discovers hidden things. Goetia 44.

Three of Swords in the guidebookAll seventy-eight cards

The Sablerune Tarot

In the making

Seventy-eight cards in fine gold line. Hear when the deck is ready to hold.

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Notes on sources

The meanings, the questions and the correspondences are the guidebook’s own. The paths, letters and astrology follow the Golden Dawn’s attributions; the angels are the Shem ha-Mephorash, as the deck gives them; the spirits, shown only when you ask for them, are the seventy-two of the Goetia. Where each comes from, and what is old and what is modern, is set out in the guidebook’s Notes on sources and seals.