Succedent decan of Libra: A man, dark, yet delicious of countenance.

The Three of Swords, Sorrow, middle decan of Libra. Libra is ruled by Venus. The decan is ruled by Saturn, exalted in Libra. Saturn is also the ruler of the decan in the triplicity system.

Egyptian God per 777: Omphta. Hellenistic god per the 36 Airs of the Zodiac fragment: Kairos

Color of Binah in Yetzirah: Dark Brown

This is the only card with a truly close up portrait, due to the decan description focused on the man’s countenance.

Brief excerpt from the upcoming book, from the chapter on Libra 2 decan, about some of the symbolism of the Telos Tarot of 777 image:

“Yes, he looks very much like those depictions of Jesus opening his chest to reveal a flaming heart, serene face and all. That was of course intentional. Jesus and Buddha are avatars, with many parallels and similarities. The Picatrix image description says “a black man, a bridegroom having a joyous journey.” In the Bible, God uses the metaphor of the bridegroom for Jesus.

The Sacred Heart images of Jesus represent his suffering and love for mankind. Sometimes the heart is shown encircled by piercing thorns, or penetrated by the holy lance, and flaming or emitting light. Here it is surrounded by the three swords of the suit, run through by the central one.

In Egypt, the heart was the ib, a part of the soul essential to the afterlife. It was weighed in the Hall of Judgement, where if it weighed more that Maat’s feather, it was devoured by the monstrous goddess Ammit. The pure heart was lighter than the feather.

The heart is winged, lightening it, for via this piercing there is the possibility of ascending, transcending the physical and the traumas of life to achieve true spiritual growth. When you see the Egyptian winged scarab, you are seeing their amulet of the winged heart. The purpose of the heart scarab was to bind the heart to silence while it was being weighed in the underworld to ensure that the heart did not bear false witness.

The central sword is marked with the hourglass symbol of time, corresponding to Saturn. The two outer swords have hilts marked with the glyph of Libra, which is said to represent the bar of the scales, or the uppercase letter Omega. Omega as the last letter of the Greek alphabet is often used to denote endings and limits, like Saturn. For we encounter the sorrow of endings all the time.

The three swords are bound together with a chain. It is an obvious reference to the bindings of Saturn. But not all bonds need to be sorrowful. Marriage is a contract, a promise and a binding. It is an ending of one state of being, but also a joyous union. There are the chains with which we bind ourselves, which can be restrictions or promises. The chain can be a union through matrimony, or a link of blood relations. Austin Coppock uses “two links of a chain” as the symbol for this decan in 36 Faces.

The chain can also symbolize the bonds that link heaven and earth. This is interesting as Binah (Saturn) is the first sephira above the Abyss on the Tree of Life, and part of the heavenly unknowable trinity. Binah is considered the divine mother, whose daughter is Malkuth, representing life here on earth. Chains also have a connection with prayers, chains of communication with the divine. The ancient philosophers used “iron and adamantine chains” as a metaphor, linking human happiness to the practice of Justice – a concept of the scales of Libra.

Behind the figure is the “dark sea” associated with Binah, the cosmic womb of the Great Mother. The clouds in the sky are parting to reveal three bright stars, symbolic of the triune nature of deity, divine guidance, and liberation of spirit.” [end of excerpt]

This is a very interesting decan. Though it is called Sorrow, the clouds have a silver lining, in that Saturn is exalted here. Yet Saturn is still difficult, and this card is Saturn times three: rules the decan in both Chaldean and triplicity system, and the card is a Three, associated with Binah, the sephira of Saturn.

It seems to indicate karmic bindings [Saturn] between people in some sort of relationship [Libra/Venus], whether marriage, contractual/business, or familial. The heart is pierced, the rose of nature torn asunder in order to reveal its secrets. It also is associated with painful truths, the sorrows that nonetheless are steering us towards enlightenment.