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The above-linked Introduction page will give you an overview of what this series is about and provide a course contents listing.

The Threes is the third of seventeen videos in this series, “Tarot Card Meanings with Benebell.”

Reconciling Card Meaning and Actual Reading

Tarot reading is an art because the reconciliation of a card’s inherent attributions with what’s going on in the querent’s life or what that querent has asked about is where the artistry and talent of a tarot reader shines (or doesn’t shine).

For example, in this video installment, we covered some general attributions for the Three of Wands and the slight variations to those general attributions across four different deck styles.

Now let’s say you ask the question, “What will be the next phase of my career?”

You pull the Three of Wands.

A tarot reading is a reconciliation of key attributions for the card(s) you pulled with the specific situation at hand.

In several videos from Sightsee the Tarot, we covered the three components and buildable layers of a reading: card knowledge, intuition, and then the third layer, the application of psychic ability.

Card Knowledge: Study the card meanings for the Three of Wands and consider how they answer the question, “What will be the next phase of my career?” As noted in the video, typically the Three of Wands (in direct comparison to the Two of Wands) is about ongoing developments that, due to past hard work and merit, will yield fruition. So the next phase of the querent’s career will likely remain within the same trade or profession the querent is already in. It’s going to be more of an advancement in that specific line of work than a career change.

Intuition: Accounting for your impressions of the querent, based on the extent of interaction you have in that moment with the querent, what impulses of specific forecasts do you intuit? I believe that the application of intuition in a reading can often mirror social inductive reasoning. I have a free download and write-up all about tarot and social inductive reasoning, which you can access here.

There is also an undercurrent energy of birthing to the Three of Wands, so perhaps, applying intuition, you consider how the querent might take all past knowledge and experience in the particular profession he or she has been in and turn it into an entrepreneurial business, or independent solo practice of some kind. The Three of Wands appearing in this particular scenario suggests to you that such a path bodes success for the querent.

Psychic Ability: I would argue that it’s hard to give an example of a psychic reading for this scenario, because either you can do it or you can’t (though I definitely believe psychic ability can be cultivated and activated, no matter how un-psychic you think you are).

Nonetheless, let’s say you get presented with that question, “What will be the next phase of my career?” You pull the Three of Wands and it’s almost like scrying in to a crystal ball– the symbolism on the card triggers a download to happen. You see a work opportunity overseas, that would call for a geographic relocation, and the job will involve international trade. If the querent takes that job, it will catapult his or her career advancement. “It’s really going to be a new phase, a new dawn in your life path,” you conclude to the querent.

What about a different question, such as, “What do I most need to know about my relationship with Bobby?”

For practice, let’s say you pull the Three of Wands reversed.

Chapter 17 in Holistic Tarot, “A Step-by-Step Analytical Process” will help train your reconciliation process between card meanings and questions presented. Turn to pp. 478 – 483 in your text and apply the step-by-step method to interpreting the Three of Wands reversed for answering your querent’s question, “What do I most need to know about my relationship with Bobby?”

Card Knowledge: Study the given card meanings for the reversed Three of Wands. You can work from just the ones provided in the video lecture or supplement it with card meanings provided in a couple of your favorite tarot books. How does the card meaning on its own answer the question?

Intuition: To practice this with the hypothetical, imagine an entire back story for the querent first, and the relationship between this querent and Bobby. Imagine what your querent looks like, acts like, and a character profile for this querent. Then practice application of your intuition and impulses to answer the question, integrating into your answer how seeing the Three of Wands reversed makes you feel, what thoughts and impressions this imagery conveys to you.

Psychic Ability: Check out the Eden Gray episode from “Sightsee the Tarot” for a tarot reading technique that activates your clairaudience. Try applying that to this exercise. Several techniques for developing psychic ability in tarot readings is also given in my independent study course, “Tarot as a Tool for Craft.”

Practice, Practice!

Choose one of the four deck styles covered in this video series: the TdM, RWS, Thoth, or SKT, one that you are not familiar and proficient with yet.

Pull out just the Aces, Twos, and Threes from your deck, so a total of 12 cards.

Shuffle the 12 cards to randomize and practice a couple of readings for yourself, presenting inquiries that relate to starting something new, conceiving something, or forecasts for the next milestone of your life path, reading with just those 12 cards.

Practice by going back to the basics and starting with the given card meanings for your chosen deck, based on the three videos you’ve watched so far. Apply the reading reconciliation techniques covered in this write-up.

Independent Study

To maintain control over video length, I opted not to cover each and every symbol or detail in the cards. However, given the format, you can pause the video on a large screen or monitor and then take your time studying, exploring, experiencing the cards imagery. I recommend that you take the proactive measure to pause the videos in this series when the cards appear and, detail by detail, note for yourself the symbolic anatomy of the cards. Research what each of the symbols might mean and what relevance it bears to the underlying themes of each card. Add your independent findings to your tarot journal or notebook.

Previous Video In the Series

The Twos

Purchase an Independent Study Course

To support free content like this video installment on the Threes, consider purchasing one of my independent study courses. A listing of all online courses offered is provided here: Independent Study.