My First Steps into Tarot Threes
Alright, so yesterday I decided I really needed to get a better grip on the number 3 cards in the deck. I always found them kinda tricky, popping up in readings but feeling like they meant way different things depending on which card it was. That felt messy.
I dragged my old Rider-Waite deck off the shelf – the one with the corners all worn soft. Spread ’em all out face down right there on my slightly sticky kitchen table after wiping down crumbs. Took me a minute to actually hunt down the three Threes: The Empress, the Three of Cups, and that gloomy Three of Swords. Flipped ’em over one by one.
The Head-Scratching Begins
Just looking at ’em side-by-side felt… confusing. How could a number mean so many things?
- The Empress sits there all lush with fruit and wheat. Feels like abundance, creation, motherhood. Full-on life mode.
- Three of Cups? Three ladies lifting cups to the sky. Joy, friendship, getting together. Party time vibes.
- Then BAM! Three of Swords – a heart stabbed by three swords stuck in a rainstorm. Pain, loss, heartbreak. Major ouch factor.
My initial thought? “How the heck is three supposed to tie these together? One’s like making a baby, one’s like having a beer with mates, the other is like getting dumped. This makes zero sense.“
Trying to Find the Glue
I needed a starting point. Okay, forget the specific pictures for a sec. What does the number three usually mean? Stuff popped into my head:
- Beginning, Middle, End
- Past, Present, Future
- Idea, Action, Result
- Groups of three people (like the Graces)
- Just… more than two, less than four. Expansion maybe?
Then I flipped back to the cards. Ah! Okay, maybe that “expansion” idea clicked better. The Empress? She’s the ultimate expansion of life and creation. Three of Cups? Expansion of social circles, shared happiness – growing good feelings. Even the Three of Swords… maybe it’s the expansion of pain? Like a small hurt that got bigger?
Lightbulb moment! The number three seemed to signal the results of something starting to manifest, for good or bad. It’s not the seed (Ace) or the building (Two), but the first clear shape that thing takes.
Putting it Into Practice (aka Playing Pretend)
To see if this idea held water, I pretended I was giving myself a reading. Shuffled slowly, focusing on “What should I understand about growth right now?” Drew three cards. Imagine my face when the Three of Cups landed right there in the middle! My first thought wasn’t just “friends!” anymore. It was “Okay, the results appearing… expansion of connection… celebrating progress made together.” Felt way richer than just a party.
Later, I deliberately pulled the Three of Swords for a hypothetical tough situation. Instead of instantly doom-spiralling to “heartbreak confirmed,” I thought: “Ugh, the painful result showing up… the expansion of this hurt… the unavoidable consequence that needs dealing with.” Still sucks, yeah, but felt more like recognizing a stage rather than a life sentence.
Wrapping My Head Around It
This little exercise wasn’t about memorizing rigid meanings. It was about finding a hook for the number itself, a lens to understand what it does in that specific card’s context. The Empress? Creation thrives and shows its beauty. Three of Cups? Connection works and feels great. Three of Swords? Pain has arrived and can’t be ignored. Three = the thing that started becoming visible.
It still takes practice, especially pulling out the core number meaning under the specific card’s picture. But now, when a Three pops up, I don’t just think “huh?” I think, “Ah, something’s reached a point where it’s clear.” That little shift makes a massive difference in actually reading the card properly. Still learning, but this helped untangle the knot big time.
