Life Lessons: Three of Wands
At this moment in time, I am sitting in my in-laws’ beautiful house in Andorra, and as usual Gummy Bears are the theme of the holiday. My in-laws are obsessed by them, so when I read about a Gummy Bear Tarot deck (by Dietmar Bittrich, US Games) in the TABI forum I instantly googled them, and less than twenty four hours later I was the proud owner of my own deck. It comes in a tin, so it now travels with me wherever I go in the campervan… but especially when we visit the in-laws. It’s a very simple deck. Using Rider Waite Smith imagery, the colours are very bright and basic – in fact, I think they have been taken from an early years colour palette, using only primary and secondary colours. The lines are heavy, as though taken from an infant colouring book, so some of the imagery is lost, but nevertheless, the cards tell their stories well. This is a simple deck, reminding us that life can indeed be simple, if we remember to keep it so.
As I was shuffling the deck to draw this month’s card, I was thinking, in particular, about the awesome new blog team we have going. Anyway, I was online with them at the time, and chatting about Lent. The subject came up because I was telling them about Shrove Tuesday when I was playing cards with the in-laws and we used Gummy Bears as the stake since none of us had enough money to play with after buying all the Gummy Bears! I ate so many out of my pot that I didn’t get to sleep till three in the morning, and as a result felt so bad the next day that I missed skiing and decided right there and then to give up Gummy Bears forever. But they say to take baby steps, so as it was the first day of Lent, I settled for forty days rather than forever.
I digress. The card I pulled was the Three of Wands. As usual I was overwhelmed by the appropriateness of the card. As a symbol of Lent, here we have a portrayal of a young man on the verge of setting out on his journey, venturing into new lands, ready to forge a better life; leaving behind the comforts of the past, but needing to move forwards.
As I said, when I was shuffling, I was thinking about our team, who have recently gathered and are also setting out on a new venture together. Whilst the TABI blog might not be new per se, we now have a new editorial team, a new home with a new look, a new structure to help with site navigation, and new writers coming on board to help us make this an informative place to learn about tarot… to help as many readers as possible along their tarot journey.
Having made a decision to set out on this new journey, having chosen the path I am taking, this card lets me know that we have made the right choices. That there will be smooth water ahead. I had been wondering whether I had been a bit hasty in taking on as much as I have. Whether I have been a little over bossy when railroading some of our members into contributing regular pieces (well, we do, to be fair, have some excellent writers among our members, and it would be a shame not to harness all that talent)! So the Three of Wands came as reassurance for me.
This card is missing the ship waiting at anchor to collect me and take me on the journey, so I feel tempted to swim over to the other side of the calm water before me to continue on this journey. And the bear facing forwards symbolises that this will, indeed, be a forward journey.
The bright yellow sky, giving the feeling of an amazing sunset, makes me feel as though I am heading to some warm, welcoming destination. That I can believe very easily. The people I have met so far in this tarot journey with TABI have been warm and welcoming. They have been refreshingly honest as well, so I am very aware that when I go off course they will let me know and gently set me back on the right path. They will, of course, ask me which path I want to be set on; they are very aware that there are different strokes for different folks. And these are the folk to be seeking advise from about the different paths which are open to me.
So, to conclude? I guess we’re on the right path. We’re changing, we’re moving forwards. We’re taking on board new ideas, a well as embracing the traditional. And we’re not doing it alone. We’re in good company, and we feel as though we’re on the right track. But how do you feel about it? Is there anything YOU would like to see us do? Now is the time to make your suggestions, we are ripe for moving forwards, so please do feel free to comment with your ideas below. Thank you!
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