The Three of Wands
Symbolism
Here stands a man looking out to sea while supporting himself on his wand. He is looking out to the future or seeing where he has come from. From his vantage point, he can see far into the distance.
Behind him are two more wands planted in the earth. These grounded wands show the spiritual and creative support we have behind our backs when we can hold strong to our individual fire. We only see the back of this figure so this card talks about the unconscious help we receive from life.
The ships in the waters show the potential of going places and creating movement and big changes.
Keywords
Upright: Support, guidance, foresight, intuition, faith and trust, creativity in vision, planning, commitment, channelling.
Reversed: Blocks, feeling unsupported, disappointment, afraid to choose, uncertainty, self-doubts.
Upright meaning
This is a card of support and feeling backed up by spirit and by life in general. We don’t have to see the support to feel it and know that it is there. This is why this figure is gazing out to his future. He feels safe and grounded and supported in whatever journey he plans to take. It is a great time for planning and catching some inspiring ideas about where to go and what to do. His primary direction will always be about growth and expansion.
The two wands were not easy to ground, but now that they are, there is a feeling of safety and assuredness that brings out the courage to lift our heads up high and creatively expand our horizons. We feel ready to take a few risks and plan something a little bigger than usual. We feel supported enough to be able to make mistakes and still work things out. We are on a spiritual journey and we are committed to this truth.
Because of this support that we have, we open up communication channels to receive higher guidance and intuitive help. This card calls for us to be aware of our psychic connection to our spirit guides. They can guide us directly, speak to us clearly and openly in dreams and meditations. We need to call on them and ask for help and it will come.
Whether our support comes through our internal channels or people offering guidance in the outside world, doesn’t matter. If we can open to guidance from whatever source, this is a great time to draw it in from all directions and encourage ourselves to dream big.
Reversed meaning
This Shadow Three speaks about our twisted relationship with support and guidance the card speaks about. Maybe we have listened to bad guidance in the past, either from other people or from our inner self and we have experienced some type of trauma around knowing what good guidance is. If our discernment is poor, we won’t dare to dream big because we don’t trust ourselves to follow the right guidance.
The past is here to teach us and our failures are set up so that we can learn better discernment. We can move beyond previous misjudgements if we are open to see the lessons behind them. No failure was a wrong choice, just a harsh lesson and an opportunity for growth. When we look at life this way, we can transcend our fear of making bad decisions and release our self-doubt. This will help us connect with our inner guidance system.
This card comes up when we do not feel supported in life and when there are too many burdens on our shoulders. We may avoid asking for help because we were told we need to do it on our own and be independent and strong. We may fear that asking for help is a sign of weakness. We may feel unworthy of help and deny ourselves the ability to receive. All these programs will cut us off from our inner guides who are always open to guide us at all times.
If we have isolated ourselves from support for whatever reason we don’t feel brave enough to reach out towards new opportunities and expansion. We can experience frustration, a lack of movement and fear of the unknown. The future may seem scarier than it needs to be and we won’t even see the options that are on offer. It is time to call in our guides and feel backed up from the inside. Let’s embrace the idea that a more beautiful future is waiting for us.