Bohemian Gothic Tarot

THREE OF WANDS

Lighter or more conventional meanings

Planning big * Letting your ambitions and your imagination take flight * Expanding your projects, even internationally * Feeling confident and trusting in your ability to make things happen * Strong, energetic leadership * Day-dreaming about the future - and knowing that you can make it a reality.

Darker, shadow or more hidden meanings

Escape from a threatening or oppressive situation * Ambitions and plans - but beware, you do not know all the facts yet * An ability to "rise above" the doom and gloom surrounding you * Forgetting the nightmares and dreaming of good things instead.

A calm, confident-looking woman stands in a ruined castle by the sea and gazes out across the water. She doesn't seem in the least worried by her bleak surroundings, instead she's focused on what she sees in her mind's eye; far, far away from her immediate location. Although all around her is ruined and in decay, she seems full of life and hope. Looking at her expression and her stance we see someone who is about to make things happen.

The Three of Wands is about plans, ambitions, hopes and, on occasion, anxieties about the future. In general it's about times when you want to think big and expand your projects, business and influence. It could indicate an artist deciding to aim for a big national or international exhibition, a business-person who makes plans for significant expansion or simply someone making up their mind to travel more extensively and broaden their horizons. It's a much more optimistic card than the Two of Wands, and when it comes up in a reading it tends to indicate that all these exciting possibilities are feasible and not just pipe-dreams.

From a Gothic perspective, this card shows someone who decides to leave a depressing, destructive environment and make something of her life. She is the survivor, the one who gets away. Gothic literature is, sadly, full of people who don't escape, but are tragically trapped and doomed by their circumstances. From the infamous Roderick and Madelaine Usher, crushed and maddened by their ghastly family mansion the theme continues right up to modern times with characters like Stephen King's Carrie, who tries but fails to shake off the influence of her nightmare home, and the same author's Jack Torrance, locked up in the Overlook Hotel and gradually going out of his mind. This card, though, is a glimmer of hope. Even in the most suffocating and controlling surroundings, we can look beyond what's around us and make plans for a better future. It encourages us to turn our back on the environment that's oppressing us and aim for something, or somewhere, that can fulfil our dreams and ambitions.

Some further ways to consider this card

There is often confusion, in readings, about how the meanings of the Two and Three of Wands are distinct. Take out both cards and lay them together. Compose a sentence or two that sums up what you think each of these images is about, don't go by the RWS keywords, just describe what you see. How are these descriptions similar and how do they differ? What pointers does this give you for interpreting these cards?

I've taken an optimistic view of this card, but what about a darker reading? Could this woman in a similar position to Mina from Dracula who stood gazing out across Whitby harbour unaware of the approach of the Count's black ship? If this scene is the calm before the storm, then how does this change our reading of the card?