Three of Swords

A great sword and two lesser ones pierce a rose whose petals fall apart; the sky is dark and stormy.

Binah, Understanding, in Yetzirah, the world of formation. Understanding, the Supernal Mother, the great sea in which the Father's line becomes a triangle and so a form. Binah is Saturn, time and limitation, and also sorrow, because to be understood is to be bounded. The Threes are Binah in the four worlds, and the Queens belong here.

Binah in the world of Air: the Great Mother's sorrow, the price of understanding. Saturn in the second decan of Libra is the planet of limitation exalted in the sign of balance.

Saturn in the second decan of Libra (10°–20°, about Oct 3–12). Saturn is time, limit, structure, old age and the boundary of the known. On the Tree it is Binah; among the trumps it is the Universe, where Saturn and Earth together seal the work.

Libra is cardinal Air: the scales at the autumn equinox, balance, partnership, judgement. Venus rules it and Saturn is exalted here. Its trump is Adjustment. The trump of Libra is Adjustment.

This decan is ruled by the Queen of Swords, whose arc runs from 21° Virgo to 20° Libra. The two Shem angels of the decan are Rehael and Ieiazel.

The Plane: three points enclose a surface and form begins. Binah, Understanding. The Threes show the element taking shape; the Empress is trump III.

Thinking that understands its own loss; the mind grieving for what clarity has cost. The Swords are usually read as the thinking function in Jung's typology, an interpretive convention rather than a text of Jung's.

Rider-Waite calls the suit Swords. Its small cards carry scenes; the Thoth small cards carry the suit emblems arranged geometrically, with the keyword printed at the bottom and the colours of their Sephirah and decan. The Golden Dawn title (Lord of Sorrow) is shared by both traditions.