Getting your energetic bearings

This is one of my favourite cards from Spiral Tarot by Kay Steventon. I love this lady's dress, and the climbing vines on the three wands. It's a lovely card.

Golden Dawn call this card 'Lord of Virtue'. It represents our trueness to our own inner needs and aspirations. The 3s are all associated to Binah on the Tree of Life, the sephiroth of Understanding. In 3 of Cups, we have an understanding of happiness, in 3 of Swords, a first realization of our separate identities can bring a sense of loss or sorrow (it's about the thought life and how it can lead to pain--it's not just about a plain old broken heart or hurt feelings!), in 3 of Pentacles, an understanding of material works and craftsmanship. In 3 of Wands, we come to an understanding of our personal drives and energy, our motivations and needs.

The 'virtue' in this card that we are 'lord' of is being true to self, to our will and our own dominion.

So the lady is looking out on the lovely sunset (or sunrise) shining across the water and contemplating her goals in life, but more than that, she is simply feeling the energy of her life and the physicality of knowing she is on the track that is right for her. It's almost like she is pulling energy up from the earth, symbolised by the tangle of vines under her feet growing up the wands in a spiral.

Today I may be called upon to be true to myself. Or I may need to step back from the tasks of the day and check my personal moral compass, see that my activities are in alignment with my true self. And if they're not, I need to redirect myself. It's something we all need to do, periodically. Probably more often than we think.