Three of Swords

RemovalAbsenceDelayDivision

Upright

Removal, absence, delay, division, rupture, dispersion, and all that the design signifies naturally, being too simple and obvious to call for specific enumeration.

Reversed

Mental alienation, error, loss, distraction, disorder, confusion.

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §2

The picture

Three swords piercing a heart; cloud and rain behind.

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §2

Older readings

For a woman, the flight of her lover. Reversed: A meeting with one whom the Querent has compromised; also a nun.

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §4. Waite collected these and says they often disagree with the main meanings.

Waite wrote in 1911 and some of his meanings show it. Tarot is a tradition of reflection, not a prediction, and no card decides anything for you.