The Three of Swords is the broken heart of the deck. It symbolises a painful romantic split and is more likely to refer to a messy sprawling break up than an amicable divorce. This card is not about falling out of love, but more accurately the paradoxical coexistence of intense love and intense hate for another within a person, and how these incompatible emotions tend to cleave a heart into pieces. This may refer to an inconceivable and unforgivable act committed by an irreplaceable loved one, things done or said that cannot be undone or unsaid. It is a translation of romantic stalemate when you cannot let go and cannot forgive when you cannot stand to be around someone and yet cannot be without them, what then happens next? Often, it ends in a tumultuous trainwreck of conflicting emotions, a series of vicious arguments and passionate reconciliations that can never last.