noby
I was thinking about the Two and Three of Wands the other day. And to me, it seems that the Two represents an initial condition, a tension, which sparks the reaction depicted in the Three. And upon pondering it further, it seemed like the transition from the Twos to the Threes in each suit could be seen this way.
-> : In the Two of Wands, the man we see is rich and powerful beyond belief. The entire kingdom below him, the mountains and the sea, are in his scope. But his majestic castle begins to feel like a prison, and he begins to feel he is not free at all. He realizes that his love of worldly power has caged him in, and goes on to cast off his regal garments for the patchwork rags seen in the Three. Without walls, the person on the Three of Wands sees freedom and possibility dawning all around him, and feels a very different sort of power. (Of course, Waite's note that the ships are "his ships" gets in the way of this, but this post is intended to express my interpretation, rather than the intent of the original designers of the cards.)
-> : In the Two of Pentacles, the man encounters the state of flux that defines the world, which tosses us all about on the waves of uncertainty. Of course, he seems to dance with it with grace, but he still ponders what he could do to develop a stable base which will keep him from having to be so constantly exhausted by this dance. So in the Three, we see the building of a solid foundation and support system. Just as a building's foundation and support structure hold it steady in the face of powerful forces, so we gain strength by building a solid base for ourselves.
-> : In the Two of Swords, we see a woman (I think maybe it's meant to be a man, but I usually see it as a woman) holding two swords crossed at her chest. She has reacted to the pain and sorrow of the world by blocking her emotions to keep her from feeling so raw and vulnerable, to keep her from having to feel so much hurt. But she begins to feel how the rigidity and tension of this keep her from really living. In the Three, she has let the swords of life's suffering pierce her through to the very core, no longer resisting her experience.
-> : I had more trouble interpreting these two cards according to the schematic I used for the other three suits, and this one doesn't feel as natural as the others, but here's what I came up with. In the Two of Cups, we see two people encountering each other. They want to unite completely, but in the realization that they each have individual cups and lives, there is also the realization of the impenetrable distance between them, as there is between all people. Even in the experience of new love, we are brought to the realization of our fundamental separation.
So in the Three, we see people who are not trying to unite completely as in the Two, but people who appreciate friendship by giving and sharing of themselves, but who also appreciate it by understanding boundaries. By recognizing their differences and embracing them, these three actually appear to be closer and more intertwined than the couple of the Two. They embrace their fundamental separation as a source of fascination and strength, rather than something to struggle against, and as such, actually draw closer to one another.
-> : In the Two of Wands, the man we see is rich and powerful beyond belief. The entire kingdom below him, the mountains and the sea, are in his scope. But his majestic castle begins to feel like a prison, and he begins to feel he is not free at all. He realizes that his love of worldly power has caged him in, and goes on to cast off his regal garments for the patchwork rags seen in the Three. Without walls, the person on the Three of Wands sees freedom and possibility dawning all around him, and feels a very different sort of power. (Of course, Waite's note that the ships are "his ships" gets in the way of this, but this post is intended to express my interpretation, rather than the intent of the original designers of the cards.)
-> : In the Two of Pentacles, the man encounters the state of flux that defines the world, which tosses us all about on the waves of uncertainty. Of course, he seems to dance with it with grace, but he still ponders what he could do to develop a stable base which will keep him from having to be so constantly exhausted by this dance. So in the Three, we see the building of a solid foundation and support system. Just as a building's foundation and support structure hold it steady in the face of powerful forces, so we gain strength by building a solid base for ourselves.
-> : In the Two of Swords, we see a woman (I think maybe it's meant to be a man, but I usually see it as a woman) holding two swords crossed at her chest. She has reacted to the pain and sorrow of the world by blocking her emotions to keep her from feeling so raw and vulnerable, to keep her from having to feel so much hurt. But she begins to feel how the rigidity and tension of this keep her from really living. In the Three, she has let the swords of life's suffering pierce her through to the very core, no longer resisting her experience.
-> : I had more trouble interpreting these two cards according to the schematic I used for the other three suits, and this one doesn't feel as natural as the others, but here's what I came up with. In the Two of Cups, we see two people encountering each other. They want to unite completely, but in the realization that they each have individual cups and lives, there is also the realization of the impenetrable distance between them, as there is between all people. Even in the experience of new love, we are brought to the realization of our fundamental separation.
So in the Three, we see people who are not trying to unite completely as in the Two, but people who appreciate friendship by giving and sharing of themselves, but who also appreciate it by understanding boundaries. By recognizing their differences and embracing them, these three actually appear to be closer and more intertwined than the couple of the Two. They embrace their fundamental separation as a source of fascination and strength, rather than something to struggle against, and as such, actually draw closer to one another.