Musing on Gaian Tarot Threes

Threes, to me, are about creativity, vision, expansion, growth, making (and breaking). Two out of four Gaian Tarot threes make perfect sense to me. The Three of Water shows seals frolicking, which speaks of good feeling, and I can't help but say reminds me of RWS, with the three girls toasting and partying. Three of Earth also makes me thinks of the RWS image, which features a craftsman 'creating' a stained glass window. In this case, three women are making herbal remedies in a well-stocked kitchen. Making, creating, expanding on the meaning of the suit, I get those two.

Gaian Tarot by Joanna Powell

I run into challenges with the other two, shown above. Three of Air, or Three of Swords, is almost always portrayed as a valentine heart pierced by three swords, and is said to mean heartbreak. To be honest, I never understood why this would be so, as the sword suit to me is about logic, thinking, problem-solving, study, settling disputes, being fair, etc. So how does heartbreak fit? Never got that. But I memorised it and am so used to seeing it, that this image of a man in his study writing in his journal really throws me. There he is with his bookshelves laden with books, possibly a pile of tarot decks in bags, an hour glass, what might be a fat little mortar and pestle. His shirt decorated with clouds or feather, speaking of the air suit...and tucked under his journal is a traditional RWS 3 of Swords! Is he journaling about it? Is he trying to figure out his 'heartbreak' or disappointment through journaling his thoughts and feelings? What is he making, creating, expanding, envisioning, growing? In other words, how is this image an embodiment of the suit of air? I think the card speaks more of the numerological meaning of the 3 of Swords than the RWS does. Because clearly the man is creating and expanding on his thoughts, and they may be pretty serious, based on his furrowed brow. The power of turning over that RWS 3 of Swords is lost here, but maybe...the 3 of Swords was never meant to mean abject heartbreak. It's possible. But I do think that this deck is sort of relentlessly positive, and a pierced heart may have been appropriate in the set, to address what, after all, is a real experience of life. But, the image IS there, even if it is only peeking at us from under his book.

Now, Three of Fire is presenting me more problems.  I see a woman dancing, with veils. She is levitating over the landscape. There are three points of light around her, sort of like setting suns. The veils are reminiscent of flames. But, how is she expanding, growing, creating?? She is moving, she represents movement...taking first steps in expressing the thing she conceived in the Ace of Fire, in terms of the real world. This seems like I'm stretching, working for it. Is she stretching, working for it? No, she's expressing. She's expressing what she is feeling inside...so perhaps this card represents the first expression or attempt to communicate the thing that was born in the Ace of Fire. And she has begun to move toward it. It's like she's advancing upon us, actually. Slinking toward us, like Gloria Swanson in her 'I'm ready for my close-up, Mr DeMille' scene. She's seducing, she's persuading. She's creating the fire in her audience. She's nurturing the fire in herself. I think this card is growing on me.

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