In today’s (Feb 2) Gospel for the feast of the Presentation of Christ and the Purification of the Virgin (Candlemas), we read:
S imeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:34-35)
The thoughts of many hearts will be revealed because a “sword” will pierce Mary’s soul. I take this to mean that the interior life of the believer is made known as he or she is able to appreciate the sorrows of Mary.
Vigil Of The Two Hearts
The heart of a president is made known when he visits the sorrowful mother of a dead veteran. The heart of a murderer is made known when he visits the sorrowful mother of his victim.
My suspicion is that hostility toward the Virgin Mary reveals an inability to appreciate the Gospel of Christ. The Blessed Mother’s heart was pierced as she watched her Son’s sinless body pierced upon the cross. Our response to this reality reveals the thoughts of our hearts.
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What Is The Sword That Pierced Mary's Soul?
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”Before diving deep, as it were, into a meditation regarding love and language inspired by this particular tarot card I wanted to start by saying that I don’t claim to be a psychic, nor do I own or use a set of tarot cards.
Not that there is a problem with owning or using a deck of these cards — or any other type of oracle cards, for that matter.
In fact, I have benefited from more than one reading by an intuitive (or psychic) who used tarot and oracle cards as part of their “work.” And on every occasion I have found that the cards which were drawn helped to shed some light on a question or issue I was having, and any insights I received inspired by the cards were certainly “true” for my particular situation.
Devotion To The Immaculate Heart Of Mary
That said, the “reason” for sharing this upfront is because this meditation is based solely on the imagery of the Three of Swords card directly, rather than any prior knowledge of the tarot.
As for choosing this particular card, recently someone in a Facebook group I’m a member of shared this image with us. And what immediately struck me was the heart and overall “look” of the card, especially as it seemed to relate to an essay I had just started earlier that day regarding love and language.
As you can imagine, the synchronicity of seeing this card beautifully representing some aspects of what I was already thinking about meant that, to me, this wasn’t simply a question of “chance” or “luck.”
The Sacred Heart Of Jesus
It really is amazing how the Universe / Source / God / Love / Spirit works. Because behind every apparent “accident” or proverbial “wrong turn” is sometimes (most times?) the direction that is the best possible one helping you along your journey of realizing your “true” self.
Iconography and “meaning” “The reader of poems is asked to consider an image not as an object and even less as a substitute for an object, but to seize its specific reality.” ~ Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space
When looking at the Three of Swords there are five (5) basic elements which form, if you will, the complete “landscape” of the card.
The Sacred Heart Of Jesus And The Immaculate Heart Of Mary: A Beautiful Explanation
For me, the overall imagery is eye-catching, most notably the pierced red heart which takes center stage. And surrounding this red heart, in no particular order, you’ll also find…
Like any work of art these elements are put together for a reason. So let’s explore each feature and what it might mean, one by one, and then we can fit each “puzzle piece” together to uncover what the overall “message” of this card might be.
First, it’s located at the top of the card. Secondly, the three swords stand out as one of the major elements visible on the card’s face.
Heart With Arrow Symbols Sticker
For me the number three symbolically represents our world. And by “world” I mean the world of our daily experience, the world in which we live in the here and now. So the card starts by emphasizing or focusing on the way things are in our day to day reality.
Because the number three shows up in a variety of ways with respect to our lived “reality.” For example, we experience our world in three dimensions: length, width and height. We experience time (sometimes referred to as the “4th dimension”) as linear with a past, present and future. And there are three “normal” states of matter as well: solid, liquid and gas.
The number three is also found within various religious contexts as well, most notably in Christianity where God is understood as father, son and spirit. And within the “twin flame” or “divine love” community the number three is often seen as signifying the divine masculine, the divine feminine and Source.
The Symbols Of The Sacred Heart
So it wasn’t surprising for me to discover that according to the tarot the number three is understood to represent a “unifying force.”
That much is obvious. Go inside any mall, shop or restaurant just before Valentine’s Day and you’ll see what I’m talking about, in a thousand different ways. So clearly the red heart in the center of the card symbolizes love.
Because the heart can also represent that which is most important. For example, consider the expression “get to the heart of the matter.” This typically means to get to the “point” or the essence of something. Note, too, that the heart stands at the center of the card just as our own beating heart is centrally located (more or less) within our body. A beating heart indicates life, just as the red in the card can symbolize blood. Blood represents our life force as it brings much needed oxygen to every part of our body.
What Is The Meaning Of The Sacred Heart Of Jesus?
So a beating heart is alive, pulsating, forcing blood to flow throughout the body. Which means that the heart symbolizes life, or better yet, the essential “part” of your life — that which is most important to you. That which is “central” to your existence.
That the most essential aspect of life is love. And that love is the “blood” that “nourishes” us and that which we most need in order to live a happy, healthy, fulfilled and meaningful life here, and now.
In fact, all three swords pierce the heart and seem to cross each other in the heart’s center, or “heart of the heart.”
List Of Catholic Symbols And Meanings
When thinking about swords a number of words or images come to mind: action, conflict, authority, strength but also our thoughts and the mind. For example, in England the tradition of “knighting” someone occurs by laying a sword across someone’s shoulders.
So swords represent authority (of a ruler or monarch who can bestow authority upon another person) but they can also represent ideals or standards, for in being “knighted” one is given a designation or title which essentially “raises” someone to the rank of the “nobility.”
Status and labels are creations of the mind. They have no reality on their own, and rely upon “authority” for their very existence.
The Pierced Heart Of The Blessed Virgin Mary
Additionally, swords can also represent ideas — either our own thoughts and beliefs or the cultural “norms” of the society in which we live.
Consider the phrase “the pen is mightier than the sword, ” which is a reference to strength but also to the similarity between swords and words which can potentially wound another person if not used carefully. After all, words said in anger often “cut” more deeply than any sword and can leave a “scar” as well.
This represents how a sword can “cut both ways, ” symbolizing reciprocity — how I treat others is how I wish to be treated. Or, better yet, how I think about others is a reflection of how I think about myself. And likewise, what people think of me and how they give voice to their thoughts as expressed in conversation can become “internalized” by me and “carried” by me like so much “baggage.”
Heart Of Jesus, Pierced By A Lance
For me, this is very significant and not simply an oversight or mistake by the artist because it indicates that the “wounds” caused by the swords are internal and invisible to others. The pain you bear from the words of others and from painful ideas about yourself are hidden from view and, therefore, not obvious to the “outside world.”
The one on the left angles in through the heart and comes out on the right
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