Three of Wands

Alternate name: Virtue

 

First impressions

What feeling do I sense within the card scene?
Something outside oneself is carrying one's heart, effort or some such valuable. Trusting and letting it go out of one's hands.

What feeling do I sense within myself when I see this card?
Being left behind. The pain of letting go, even when it's a good and right thing. Staying and watching rather than going along. Waiting, for results or feedback.

Am I attracted, repelled or neutral about this card?
I always have such a hard time with this question.

What aspect of my life comes to mind when I see this card?
Motherhood, i.e. teaching someone you love to be independent of you.

Does this card remind me of someone?
Myself and my daughter.

What details seem important in this card, and why?
The main figure stands on a cliff, like the Hermit. Perhaps it is the Hermit, on his way up the mountain, gaining wisdom.

BASIC RWS DESCRIPTION: A man stands on a cliff, facing away from the viewer. It seems he has armor on under his red robe and green shawl. His hand rests on one of three staffs upright in the ground surrounding him. It seems as if he could have stepped through the two wands (2W) he's not holding, as if through a door. He overlooks a [in my deck] yellow and orange sea with three ships sailing to the left of the picture. Across the sea are mountains.
FIRST THING THAT STRUCK ME: Looks like he could be the RWS Magician from the back.

UPRIGHT MEANINGS: strength, enterprise, effort, trade, commerce, discovery, able co-operation in business (Waite)
REVERSED MEANINGS: The end of troubles, suspension or cessation of adversity, toil and disappointment.--Waite; Disappointments. Usury. Being taken advantage of. Help offered that benefits only the one making the offer.--Hansson

BIBLICAL: This is one of the cards I associate with Jesus' baptism, the start of his ministry. Also, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace.
MYTHOLOGICAL: Perceval leaving home.
HISTORICAL: Sir Walter Raleigh, and his Virginia colony project. (Which he finally made viable by planting tobacco, btw.)

ANIMAL: A sea monster from an ancient map.
LANDSCAPE/LOCATION: English Channel
TIME/SEASON: indeterminate

MUSIC/FILM/BOOK/POEM: Well, Perceval, Percival, and Parsifal, of course. I also think that I could find something fitting in Le Mort d'Arthur if I looked.
PUBLIC PEOPLE OR EVENTS: NASA?
OCCUPATIONS: entrepreneur, manager, merchant, driving instructor, teacher on graduation day
QUOTES FROM OTHER SOURCES: "Don't wear heels on this trip."--Mauri Stott
"Every successful enterprise requires three men--a dreamer, a businessman, and a son of a bitch."--Peter McArthur

PEOPLE OR SITUATIONS IN MY LIFE: Did a reading on my daughter's sleeping situation and 3W came up in the "possible solution/advice" position, which I read as "Move her crib to her own room." I said I would let her ride in her crib when we moved it to the next room. And so I did.
On her first night in her own room, after she had finally gone to sleep, I pulled a card. Three of Wands. The particular deck for these two readings was Healing Tarot, which is a photographic RWS derivative. It was interesting to identify with the person standing there, back to the viewer, looking out to sea, as I saw that my daughter wasn't the only one with discoveries to make. She had to learn a bit of independence; I had to learn to let her. She cried and I cried. So my husband said, "What are you going to be like when you send her off to kindergarten?" And I understood, at least in one sense, why this card has the keyword "Preparation."

PERSONAL THOUGHTS: I just realized that I have a hidden assumption that the background of card images is west (in the distance), and the viewer is in the east. I also always think of the RWS landscape as England. That's why I think the ships on the 3W are leaving, rather than coming, because they're going south.

FAVORITE REPRESENTATION: Wheel of Change. Also RW, because it most closely reflects my personal experience.
COMPARABLE CARDS: Magician, Fool, 8 Cups, Emperor, 3 Pents
COMPARED TO OTHER DECKS: Wheel of Change shows three electric guitars.

ANCESTRAL PATH Three of Staves
In the Ancestral Path, the suits have stories which flow from card 10 to the ace. In this card, the main characters are (briefly stated) coming back from their honeymoon--he to the reigns of power, she bearing new life. They disembark from the ship while a slave or porter carries their stuff. The three staves are their two royal scepters and an ankh she carries (symbolizing her pregnancy, literally "bearing life").
LWB: "Successful conclusion of a journey or project. Leaping back into the mainstream of activity following a period of withdrawal or inactivity. Inheritance; passing power, wealth or wisdom to the next generation."
I'm used to the idea of the ships moving *away* from the figure in the RW and derivative decks, but in the Ancestral Path card, the ship has arrived. This card symbolizes finishing a preparatory or beginning phase which initiates the longer-term phase. The honeymoon is over, and now the couple returns to begin their marriage, family and reign. Another good example is graduating from school and starting a career. Finishing a deck and deciding on publishing options. Turning on the stove after you've got the veggies all chopped. Meeting with the playgroup director.
Looking back at the LWB meanings, I would amend "successful conclusion of a journey or project," and add, "which is yet the first stage of a larger journey or project." As to the second meaning, as a parent I can only say that whatever one is leaping into is frequently something that makes whatever went before seem pretty tame. The third meaning makes me wonder who is passing the power. I get more of a sense of power received (or claimed) in this card.
 
HALLOWEEN TAROT Three of Imps
Two imps stand on the beach with tall torches, looking at a third whose staff has leaves at the top. The moon and black cat look on.
LWB: "A successful endeavor and creative pay-off. Business savvy. The possibility of barriers between people."
This card emphasizes the difference (gap?) between the achiever and the support staff, as the imp with the leaved rod stands apart from the two torch bearers, who both face him. It shows that, whatever we achieve, we don't do it alone. It all has to come together, whether it be people, physical resources, knowledge, etc. The secret formula has been invented, and now it can be sold. (For which we will need more people, more resources, more knowledge, etc.) In this card, all the elements are present: the shore, the sea, the night sky, and the torches.
I could also see the two torch bearers as imp parents, as their offspring starts its own "family tree" or whatever its got growing there. I started my garden today, and am reminded that a plant needs all four elements, in proper proportion. Starting a garden is also a Three of Wands endeavor, as I've done a lot of work hoeing soil, pulling weeds and planting seeds and seedlings. Yet it is all preparation for the project to come.
 
NAVIGATORS OF THE MYSTIC SEA Three of Wands
The Three of Wands has the printed keyword, "cohesion." In a room presumably by the sea, a giant purple egg balances on a pedestal. Two wands or torches lean against the base so that their fires embrace the bottom of the egg, while a figure holds a third with its fire also against the egg. The figure is gray, and seems to have an egg motif on his (?) attire. The floor is covered with large stripes in dark colors--maroon, green, taupe, red.
LWB: This is a card of creative conception and preparation, which will be brought to fruition by silent contemplation. This is a good time to formulate images which have been knocking at your intuitive doors. Do not ignore your ideas; they hold valuable insights.
The ideas, the resources, and the people are coming together to get a new project off the ground. But one person is singled out for something that's both an honor and a task. It rather reminds me of a ribbon- cutting ceremony. A business is started by bringing together the original idea with planning, finances, and staff. A project is successfully launched, but can it keep itself afloat? The egg is not yet balanced. There is work to do.

 

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This page contains excerpts from my original contributions to an online Tarot discussion. The Comparative Tarot list is made possible by Valerie Sim and Yahoo! groups.
Three of Wands IMHO page created July 16, 2002.
http://www.moonchild.ch/Tarot/minor/wands/w03/w03imho.html