nisaba
From http://grannyjonestarot.blogspot.com/2012/01/three-wands.html
Today, I'll be looking at the Three Wands, a card I'm quite fond of. At first glance it seems quite different to its equivalent in the Rider-Waite deck, the template of Tarot that the majority of modern readers carry around in their minds, but as I'll show as we go along, the differences are minor if at all. In the distance, a town is outlined on a hill before a glowing sun. Above it, three birds fly, symbol of the living goddess and a mark of happiness and favour. A winged light-globe in the air indicates the presence of "bright ideas".
The group in the foreground is made up of a simple soul and his cat, their meagre supplies tied up in bundles on sticks, seeking the advice of a hooded figure whose waist is ringed with a glowing gold rope-belt, a monastic, mysterious figure very reminiscent of the Hermit card, with its gentle little monk in a seashell. This figure is pointing out the way to that distant town even though the route seems fairly direct.
(I am intrigued by the roadside marker stone beside the group: "30 Miles"? "30 Kilometres"? Even "30 Lemons"? I love the idea of an idealistic destination being a mere thirty lemons away - lemons are to me all that is good and stimulating and optimistic in the world-of-food.)
In the Rider-Waite deck, we see a gentleman from behind, leaning on a staff overlooking a river or cove in which a few distant boats are sailing, with two other staves nearby. Most readers and Tarot-writers interpret that as related to ambition, to watching the fruits of your labour come in. They identify with the figure itself in the RW image.
But what if you identify with the boats, not the figure? Does not this figure then become a protective presence overseeing your safety and fulfillment, guiding you in to shore correctly? Just as if you identify with the travellers in Granny's image, the mysterious monk becomes a protective presence overseeing your safety and fulfillment and guiding you to the distant town correctly. It's a matter of identification: where do you see yourself in this card?
I must admit, in the years before I acquired this deck when I had worked with the RW as well as a number of other Tarots, I had never been keen on this card. Then I picked up this card in this deck, saw the monk and the travellers, and immediately thought "Oh, yeah!". That winged light-globe came on in my own mind, and I never looked at the RW image in the same way again. Instead of seeing someone with an investment in boats, I saw small boats on a big sea, guided in by a protective god-presence on the cliff-top, inspired by Granny's gentle little monk guiding in the lost travellers.
This card has become for me, very firmly, an indicator of spiritual (and real-world) guidance from a higher source: listening to one's guides, listening to one's own intuition, and I've even pulled it to remind me to grab my street directory (as I am old-fashioned and do not own a GPS) and throw it in the car before seeking out a new address!
If you want to get somewhere special, in the car or in life generally, you need to know where to go. So open yourself to guidance, whether that is a battered street-directory, a hooded monk (who reminds me of the Hermit, adrift from the Major Arcana!), or the whispering of your own gut feelings or intuition. On your travels through life you will always receive the information you need to reach your destination - you just need to know where to look for it, or whom to ask.
Today, I'll be looking at the Three Wands, a card I'm quite fond of. At first glance it seems quite different to its equivalent in the Rider-Waite deck, the template of Tarot that the majority of modern readers carry around in their minds, but as I'll show as we go along, the differences are minor if at all. In the distance, a town is outlined on a hill before a glowing sun. Above it, three birds fly, symbol of the living goddess and a mark of happiness and favour. A winged light-globe in the air indicates the presence of "bright ideas".
The group in the foreground is made up of a simple soul and his cat, their meagre supplies tied up in bundles on sticks, seeking the advice of a hooded figure whose waist is ringed with a glowing gold rope-belt, a monastic, mysterious figure very reminiscent of the Hermit card, with its gentle little monk in a seashell. This figure is pointing out the way to that distant town even though the route seems fairly direct.
(I am intrigued by the roadside marker stone beside the group: "30 Miles"? "30 Kilometres"? Even "30 Lemons"? I love the idea of an idealistic destination being a mere thirty lemons away - lemons are to me all that is good and stimulating and optimistic in the world-of-food.)
In the Rider-Waite deck, we see a gentleman from behind, leaning on a staff overlooking a river or cove in which a few distant boats are sailing, with two other staves nearby. Most readers and Tarot-writers interpret that as related to ambition, to watching the fruits of your labour come in. They identify with the figure itself in the RW image.
But what if you identify with the boats, not the figure? Does not this figure then become a protective presence overseeing your safety and fulfillment, guiding you in to shore correctly? Just as if you identify with the travellers in Granny's image, the mysterious monk becomes a protective presence overseeing your safety and fulfillment and guiding you to the distant town correctly. It's a matter of identification: where do you see yourself in this card?
I must admit, in the years before I acquired this deck when I had worked with the RW as well as a number of other Tarots, I had never been keen on this card. Then I picked up this card in this deck, saw the monk and the travellers, and immediately thought "Oh, yeah!". That winged light-globe came on in my own mind, and I never looked at the RW image in the same way again. Instead of seeing someone with an investment in boats, I saw small boats on a big sea, guided in by a protective god-presence on the cliff-top, inspired by Granny's gentle little monk guiding in the lost travellers.
This card has become for me, very firmly, an indicator of spiritual (and real-world) guidance from a higher source: listening to one's guides, listening to one's own intuition, and I've even pulled it to remind me to grab my street directory (as I am old-fashioned and do not own a GPS) and throw it in the car before seeking out a new address!
If you want to get somewhere special, in the car or in life generally, you need to know where to go. So open yourself to guidance, whether that is a battered street-directory, a hooded monk (who reminds me of the Hermit, adrift from the Major Arcana!), or the whispering of your own gut feelings or intuition. On your travels through life you will always receive the information you need to reach your destination - you just need to know where to look for it, or whom to ask.
