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The Two & Three of Wands

I’ve always had trouble distinguishing between the Two and Three of Wands, partly because Pixie’s illustrations are so similar (men, backs to us, gazing out over water from above). So I pulled those cards from some of my favorite decks to see if I could get the differences ingrained in my head.

I see Wands as passion, high callings, active, development, growth, making/doing. Then 2s are duality and passing through it, balance, a union of two things, connection, receptivity. 3s, fruition and expansion, amplifying, growth.

I’m getting that the Two of Wands is about having something to offer the world, and the world can offer you something too. Maybe the old world is collapsing and you can help the process of joining different factions together. Or maybe there’s stability now, but you want to expand. But there’s personal power and mastery here, but also passionate exchange or united passions. Someone has a vision, and shouldn’t hesitate. If there’s polarization and there’s stress see the two sides as working together. That stress is the price of the change you want to make. This is being bold and knowing your own mastery.

The Three is more about exploration and adventure. There’s a risk-taking spirit, you should go down that path. If there’s a sort of unstable anxiety, use it to prepare for action. This is an inventor, a wanderer. Boldness is needed. Is there risk of looking before you leap? I see a lot of curiosity here.

So I’m thinking of explorers and sailors. The Two are ones with specific goals and commerce/power on their minds: Magellan, for example, or Nelly Bly. The Three is about explorers who are in it for curiosity, not specific goals, who want adventure, who try to think of new and better ways to do things: more of a Gertrude Bell or Isabella Bird.

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Michellars.com!

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I’m an incredibly thinky person. It’s incredibly difficult to get outside of my thoughts and feel my body, rest in my hara, feel my energy, get in touch with my intuition, or even name my current emotion (once a therapist told me, Anxiety isn’t an emotion). I’m that little guy on the left, staring at the brain and dropping the heart. In most decks the 8 of Coins is about work/creativity. And even there I tend to be too cerebral and have a tough time letting go and playing, taking risks. In Justice we see the head and the heart being considered equally. Justice cuts to the heart of things, she doesn’t spend too much time dilly-dallying. Air/swords are the element of thinking and the mind. The 8 typically shows a blindfolded woman seemingly trapped by swords. But she’s very loosely bound, and there’s easy escape—she just can’t see it. When we believe in our own helplessness, believe that we can’t do it, we get terribly stuck. We should recognize our ignorance and stay always in beginner’s mind, open mind, playful mind. To listen to myself and my body I need to take off the blindfold and rejoice in what I don’t know. Then I can learn to see in a new way. I also need to remember to always look past appearances and assumptions, and to not let myself get so caught up in my work that I miss out on human connections.

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The World shows unity, fulfillment, transformation. Being whole. We may not see it, but we all have this, right now. We just haven’t realized it yet. How can we see it? Through the Hierophant and the Hermit. Many people see the Hierophant negatively, thinking him stodgy and demanding. But traditions are there for a reason. As one of the senseis said recently, They’re not there because we forgot to take them out. Spirituality, discovering your conscious isn’t something most of us can do on our own. We need books and teachers and chants and groups of people being silent and singing together. We need a guide. The Hermit is also a guide, one lighting the way toward your enlightenment. He calls you to be introspective and withdrawal for awhile. Our world is incredibly distracting, and sometimes we need a chance to separate from the constant stimulation to find out what we really want, or just what our minds are really doing. Have you ever been to a silent meditation retreat? Over the course of a few days you learn that your mind is very full, and repetitive. You get bored with those sorts of thoughts. And then with that realization you can start to work on really concentrating. And then back to the World—when we drop body and mind we realize that unity. Then it ends. And we start again.

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Star, Moon, Sun. My first tarot-related art project.

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Blue moon in Leo spread. Dropping old anxieties and unhelpful memories and taking on more of what’s good. Don’t wallow or get stuck, and don’t burn it all to the ground—take the risk of looking around and seeing what you have right now. Be diligent in your creative life, work hard, maybe even try to make money from your creative side. Watch when you seek validation in your meditative/spiritual or your restful side. Is that healthy or not, or somewhere in between? 🌕 (Spread by Ethony.) 🌝

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9. The Hermit

When I was a child I didn’t want to be a teacher, or a doctor, or an artist. I wanted to be a hermit. As an introvert and a spiritual person I feel a particular affinity for the Hermit, hence my desire to pull out so many cards to compare. The Hermit is the time to back away from the crowd and see what insights you can come to when you have time to sit with yourself in silence and really see the inner workings of your mind and unconsciousness. It’s also a teacher who can light the way for you and help you see more deeply, create more intuitively, and live more in tune with yourself (as opposed to how your parents or friends or society may tell you to live). There can be negatives to isolation too, loss of friendships or feeling distant from your surroundings, and the Hermit can show us those as well (as seen the in Hexen 2.0 card, which has Ted Kaczynski as the Hermit). Be aware of when your isolation has become limiting instead of an opportunity for growth.  The RWS Hermit stands on a desolate, rocky ground with nothing behind him but grey sky. He wears a dark robe and holds a lantern with a six-pointed star and a staff. The star, being composed of two triangles, can stand for the masculine and the feminine, or water and fire, inner and outer, all joined as one bright light visible for everyone to see. The walking stick is also the Magician’s staff, here acting as a support system. Robert Place sees the Hermit as using his light to follow the Anima Mundi, the world soul (a concept that reminds me of Indra’s Net and Buddha nature).  In the book that accompanies the Raziel Tarot, Rachel Pollack writes of the Hermit (here seen as Moses and the burning bush), “The Hermit card touches upon one of the great mystical truths, sometimes called “co-creation.” God alone cannot change the world, but must align with humans, who in turn need to accept the call, must be willing to say “I am here.” And even more, God, whom we call “the Infinite,” and “the Eternal,” God too cannot evolve, cannot “become what I am becoming,” without human participation.” One way to participate is to step back and look deeply within. Without seeing ourselves, really seeing, I don’t believe we can accept the call in the long term. We need to be honest with what we are, to keep seeing and learning and growing. The Hermit can be our guide.  (A note to tarot creators: more lady hermits, please!)

(Bottom image shows the Spirited Away Tarot, a set of three cards created by artist Brighton Ballard in 2017. Decks in the top image, from top left, are: Hexen 2.0, Golden Thread, Enchanted Tarot, Camoin Jodorowsky, New Orleans Voodoo, Raziel, Centennial RWS, Hermetic, Medieval Scapini, Lioness Oracle, Mystic Mondays, Laughing Eye Weeping Eye, Dali, Slow Holler, Wooden, Stretch, Alchemical, and Pagan Otherworlds.) 

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8. Strength

I have a meditation practice, and when you meditate regularly you start to really see inside yourself. Fears, desires, and feelings float to the surface, things you don’t want to face, and things you can let take over your mind. Strength is about taming those things. Not denying them, not giving in to them, but instead releasing and calming them. A Jungian might see the woman in the card as the anima, the unconscious, feminine side of the prototypical hero, mediating between Man’s ego and the more primitive aspects of the mind. The RWS symbolism connects the women with the Magician (the lemniscate above her head) and the Empress (white dress, blonde hair, flowers). She’s the Magician’s power of consciousness linked with the Empress’s sensual connection to the earth. She gives the power direction. The lion is the unconscious being tamed by conscious understanding. 

The Raziel Tarot’s Strength is the Queen of Sheba, a powerful queen who was the equal of the great Solomon. In the accompanying book, Rachel Pollack notes the difference between this image and the RWS image: the Queen of Sheba is not taming her lion. She is using her intelligence and her power to be in comfortable equanimity with the lion of her desires. She is self-assurance and self-containment. She’s riding into Jerusalem but is on her own throne, with her own treasures. Her white dress symbolizes her spiritual advancement, and the six emeralds in her hair connect her to the Lovers card and to Venus. Her sash with its equal-armed cross and four dots stands for the earth, over which she is queen/goddess. 

Robert Place’s Alchemical Tarot puts Strength back at its original number, 11 (RWS has Justice at card 11). Place links Strength to the alchemical process of fermentation, where matter is changed to a higher form. The green lion is the “destructive aspects of Mercury” and his color can also stand for antimony, a substance used to purify gold. Strength in this context is about burning away those negative urges and desires, also symbolized in alchemy as a green lion eating the sun, the green lion purifying the gold sun. The woman on the lion is the virgin aspect of the triple goddess--think of virgins being able to tame unicorns. She holds a flaming heart, the symbol of the divine love that can tame, with a sun and moon pouring into it. The sun and moon symbolize the higher aspects of the Lovers. This is a card of self-control and discipline. 

The Slow Holler tarot has a different take on Strength. This card is more about quiet determination, and finding the space to shore up your strength. 

And Mystic Mondays is just purty.

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Project spiral spread with the Stretch Tarot.

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Telling myself a story about the year ahead.

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November’s new month spreads.

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Autumn Equinox spread by New Age Hipster.

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Slow Holler Tarot

“Slow Holler's tarot deck is collaboratively illustrated and imagined by over 30 artists and 3 writers who have Southern ties, identify as queer or both.” 

“The Chariot--Try something you’ve never tried. Throw away your atlas. Let yourself move... Release the past.”

“Ten of Vessels--Take joy in an abundance dripping around you.”

“The Guild--Find your place. Root into deeper soil... Join forces with lineages., unbroken and renewed. Question whatever feels restrictive in your group. Balance the I with the We.”

“Intersection--Accept responsibility. Make larger connections. See the invisible. Stretch beyond your solo self. Be an agent of change.”

“Six of Vessels--Hum your favorite song from your childhood... Trust that your inner child has hints about what you need to feel loved, safe, and embraced.”

“Eight of Stones--Give your full attention to the task at hand...”

“The Navigator--Participate in social norms and codes of conduct without internalizing them. Learn the ropes... Take the lead.”

“Four of Branches--Admire the beauty to which you’ve contributed... Step back and let others build on your efforts.”

“Visionary of Vessels--Let your song be the song of the world... Tap into a massive power that isn’t yours by letting your heart break open--in joy or pain. Be a vessel for healing and you heal the world.”

“Nine of Stones--Celebrate your endurance, your stamina, your resilience. Enjoy your harvest. Savor all of your fruits. Be merry in abundance.”

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7: The Chariot

The Chariot is about victory and conquest through self-control. The charioteer is working to control two opposing forces by his will alone. If he can manage it he’ll be master over his ego, the part of himself that mediates between the conscious and unconscious mind. The Smith Waite image is full of images of duality. The charioteer wears a laurel wreath of victory and an eight-pointed star on his head. The eight-pointed star is halfway between the square of the material world and the circle of the spiritual.  On his shoulders are two moon-shaped plates, Urim and Thummim (lights and perfections), associated with divination and the High Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem. He’s decked out in armor, like the crab of Cancer, the astrological sign often associated with this card. A square glows on his chest, showing his “vibrant nature,” according to Rachel Pollack. His clothing is embroidered with magical symbols. Above him is a canopy of six-pointed stars, and affixed to the front of his chariot is the lingham and yoni, a symbol of the male/female and internal/external dualities. A winged sphere represents his great potential. The man seems to be merging into his chariot, becoming like stone, stiff and immovable. His chariot is half on land, half on water. He can use the power of the unconscious, but not directly, not like the previous cards where people were standing in rivers or merging with streams. The most obvious symbol of duality is the two sphinxes, one black, one white, looking in opposite directions. The charioteer isn’t using reins to control them—he needs only his willpower. The tension between the two opposing forces drives him onward. The sphinxes have a further meaning. They bring to mind their famous riddle to Oedipus, the riddle with the answer “man.” Oedipus was a man who had worldly success, but did not know his true self, to horrible ends. We can see the Chariot as a person who has created a very successful persona, but that’s not who they really are. It’s a sign that it’s time to work on uncovering the true self and how it connects with the divine, which, as Pollack explains, is the purpose of the remaining major arcana. 

The Medieval Scapini Charioteer has the traditional horses pulling the chariot. The black horse pulls toward the earth, the material plane, while the white horse leaps upward to the spiritual plane. The charioteer uses blue and red reins to control them, mirroring his blue and red shoulder plates, which symbolize his knowledge of past and future. The horses’ tails form a winged circle, mirroring the symbol of potential in the Smith Waite image. The overriding message is that of learning to control opposing forces in order to attain victory. The LWB connects this Chariot to Aries, the sign of bravery and leadership, ruled by Mars, the god of war. 

Dali’s Chariot uses the symbol for Sagittarius, half human, half horse, whose intelligence bridges Earth and the heavens. A figure with his back to us is crowned with a ring of fire for the ordeals he’s gone through, and for his fiery ambitions. Flames also appear at his head, heart, and groin, for he can control his passions, feelings, and thoughts. At the center is a mask-like image, the persona you need to see through before you can truly know yourself and develop as a person. The Egyptian sphinx connects the card to Waite’s. 

The Wooden Tarot’s Chariot is a snail, slow and steady, armored with a shell that grows moss and mushrooms. The snail’s spiral shell reminds me of the sun, and the symbolism of fire in the Chariot. I also think of the fable of the tortoise and the hare, where the slower creature wins because of his constancy over the faster, lazier animal. The growth on his shell could be the growth we need to do in ourselves to accomplish what we want and to conquer our egos.