All spreadsLove and relationships

The Wounded Heart

Nine cards shaped as a heart with the wound at its centre. For anyone living through betrayal, a break-up or long indifference and unsure how to carry on.

Take it after a blow — betrayal, a break-up, long indifference — not for a relationship still in progress.

Cards
9
Minutes
20
Reversals
On
AI reading
3 credits
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How to read it

Begin at the centre: card one names the wound itself, and everything else is read around it. Cards two through five run along the top and right of the heart, the story of the blow and of what you lost. Card four is often the heaviest, showing what you blame yourself for, usually unfairly. Cards six and seven concern the armour: what you closed yourself with and what that defence is costing you now. Card eight offers a remedy available today, and card nine says who you become once the wound turns into a scar.

Positions

  1. The wound itself

    What actually broke in you: trust, self-worth, faith in the future, or the bond itself.

  2. The blow

    The event or act that struck, seen without softening and without excuses for anyone.

  3. The loss

    What you lost along with this person: not only them but a part of your own life.

  4. What you blame yourself for

    The charge you keep bringing against yourself, and which is most often unjust.

  5. What still bleeds

    The part of the story that still hurts and comes back to you at night.

  6. The armour

    What you closed yourself with: coldness, humour, work, a new romance, or total refusal.

  7. Cost of the armour

    What this defence costs you and what you are no longer letting anywhere near you.

  8. The remedy

    What genuinely heals this wound: a conversation, rest, help, time, or an honest admission.

  9. The scar

    Who you become once the wound closes, and what new thing you learn to recognise.

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