The Archetype and The Tarot: The Analyst and Three of Swords
Through the Analyst and Three of Swords, this week we’re being called to let go of our need to understand. Can we embrace our wounds without needing to know why they happened?
Welcome everyone! For an overview of what I’m doing here, please check out this post all about it. THANK YOU to all my subscribers! My heart and soul are filled with gratitude for your presence here. I LOVE this community that we are building! (If you’d like to support this work by making a one-time donation, you can buy me a cup of coffee here.❤️)
The Analyst Archetype
For this one, I dove into the etymology of the word ‘analyze’ and learned that it’s all about the act of cutting, of breaking things down into simpler parts. Given that, then, the Analyst is one who breaks down a concept or experience into simple terms, or smaller, digestible bits that are easier to understand.
The Analyst is an astute problem solver, possessing tremendous gifts of reason, discernment and logic. With great powers of observation, they have the ability to see patterns and the underlying meanings of things. In this way, the Analyst is a sort of poet. In short, the Analyst looks at a data set and can unlock its meaning.
This is usually the pattern we connect with when we want to know WHY we’re experiencing something. When it comes up in a reading, we might be called to get the root cause of something.
In the light, the Analyst can get us to a place of deeper understanding. They use their mental powers to build a bridge between our outer and inner experiences. In this way they are also able to tap into the wisdom of the heart. The Analyst in the light can detach themselves from any bias and see with profound clarity. Thoughtful and considerate, the light side of the Analyst helps us feel the true joy that comes with making sense of an experience.
In the shadow, the Analyst can have a sort of tunnel vision, becoming fixated on the smaller parts and no longer able to see the bigger picture. They can get stuck in their heads and block out the emotional factors of a situation which can lead to cold-heartedness and cynicism. Through this tunnel vision, the Analyst in the shadow can fall victim to perfectionism as well as a lack of imagination and waning enthusiasm for their work. Most commonly, however, the shadow Analyst has become overwhelmed by the analyzing needs of modern life, which leads to what we know as ‘analysis paralysis’.
Some questions to consider this week:
What are some ways you can remind yourself to stop overanalyzing something?
Do you need to understand the why of something in order to accept it?
Can you utilize the skills of the Analyst to see possibilities in a situation where you hadn’t seen them before?
What is your favorite way to gather information?
Three of Swords
This is one of the cards in the tarot that people usually dread. Generally speaking, interpretations are often about betrayal and heartbreak. In the more traditional deck, this card has an image of a heart being pierced through by three swords. I used the Mary-El tarot deck (2nd edition) this week which shows the three swords piercing through a heart, but the heart is enveloped in red roses. The background shows a stormy, rainy sky.
This feels like a pretty clear depiction of pain. The thing is, though, I don’t believe that messages from Spirit ever carry the intent of causing fear. Sometimes, Spirit might give us a gentle warning of a possible outcome, but not so that we’ll be afraid, rather so that we can empower ourselves.
That being said, I don’t think the Three of Swords is even a gentle warning. I think it is a call, or an invitation, to look at our own wounded heart; to look at the wounds that are already there. With the red roses here, I think the wounds might specifically have to do with love.
How does this pair work together?
With these two, I see the Analyst getting stuck in a loop of wondering WHY the wound(s) happened. Fueled by an inner need to make sense of these painful past experiences, the Analyst keeps trying to pull each sword out of the heart in order to understand it better.
The Analyst's mind races, dissecting every detail of the wounds, searching for clues, for closure. Each question posed leads to another. As the Analyst delves deeper into the heartache, however, they begin to realize that the key to moving forward lies not in unraveling the past, but in embracing the present. If they allow the swords to remain lodged in the heart, they can become a sort of scaffolding of wholeness, strength and resilience. In this way, the heart guides the Analyst towards a path of acceptance.
I believe our call this week is to try to include our wounds as part of our wholeness even if we never fully understand why they occurred.
As someone with a Gemini sun and moon, I feel particularly called out by this week’s message. My tendency is to need to know the why of absolutely everything. I’m curious to see if I can let go of that need this week. And I’d love to know how you do with it too. Let me know by replying to this email, sending me a DM or leaving a comment below.
P.S, Please know that your comments and discussion on these posts mean the world to me. I’ve been traveling and am currently attending an ancestral healing intensive, which has been amazing, but has also gotten in the way of my replying to all your wonderful thoughts and insights. And I’ve really missed it! I love engaging with all of you. I hope to get caught up and be on a more normal schedule starting tomorrow. Blessings, love, and gratitude to each of you!
Jenna another amazing combo. They all are really, another facet of human existence! I loved what you wrote here around the 3ofS, especially around keeping the swords in the heart rather than taking them out. Maybe at some point that can happen, but not through the needing to know or trying to figure it out. The mentalization that lacks heart, love and care. This also brings up the wounded healer. Wounds that are not meant to heal but are the doorway in supporting others. Not all challenges, difficulties and hardships need to be analyzed. Yes breaking things down can help open to a deeper understanding as long as the pieces are put back together so the whole picture can be seen. Yep another great archetype and tarot! Hope you had a great trip!
Jenna,
What you have analyzed so poetically of the analyst is brilliance and of the two of these together is a light shining on the collective gestalt about over-analyzing (psychologizing and pathologizing) our lives. Could we give ourselves a break? Let ourselves be humans who hurt and yearn in the face of and in spite of being wounded? Just be intimate with fact of our lives right here, right now, careful not to tell a story and then analyze the story—immediately sweeping us away from living presence to this moment.
You could write a book about these draws, and people would read it, and lives would be transformed, and so, the collective.