Cedars, you just gave me the right cue to start this thread with your question about the 2 and 3 of Wands. I meant to do it anyway because maybe having all 78 cards in a single thread can be a little daunting. And also some people are more familiar with one part or the other.

I agree with you wholeheartedly about the difficulty with these 2. For me, the problem has always been that they look so similar: two apparently calm men looking out to sea while leaning on a wand.

So I picked out all threes and twos from my trusty mini Rider in order to compare them.

Twos are said to depict balancing of choices, affirming, establishing or vindicating, as well as meetings, anxiousness, polarity and explanations. I must say I do see most twos as maintaining an uneasy balance -best showed in the 2 of Pentacles, but also in the Swords- and they all seem to show a little fear of commitment or contact with the world outside them.

The 2 of Wands is very sparingly described in the board's thread on Rider White: mostly maturity, success, contemplation and further planning. My own notes on it talk about unsatisfying achievements, greediness and arrogance. What I see is someone who looks afraid to leave his present material security while at the same time wondering what he may be missing from his secure position. I must say meanings become more evident when in context with surrounding cards in a reading.

Now, threes are usually described as much more positive, creative, constructive, expressive and more mature. They do look a little more experienced and relaxed than the twos, although the three of Swords is learning to cope with grief. In fact, each seems to be experiencing the energy of its suit: mental hurt is very typical of the Swords, skill mastering is the heart of Pentacles, inspiring projects are what moves the energy of Wands, and happiness is what we seek through the Cups suit.

The 3 of Wands has a lot more input in our thread here. I have it as being strong, calm, fulfilled, successful and emotionally mature, which allows you to keep up what you already have -including personal relationships- while opening up toward new interests and future projects.

Of course, this is highly subjective, since each person will read each card in a different way.  And the same person will read each card differently depending on the spread, neighboring cards and particular querent.

Cedars sees the 2 as a matter of picking out the best choices in life and regretting them or not. Some in the Rider White thread see it as future planning while others see it as a look back at the past.

The 3 is even more of a challenge, since some see it as positively planing the future while others see the man stranded in a barren landscape. By the way, barrenness is a regular feature in RW's cards of Wands. Since it is a Fire suit, dryness and heat are fitting. I also think Fire energy can be dangerous when uncontrolled, tending to devastate and destroy everything around it in a moment -like my temper, for example-.

As you see, each card in the deck deserves a whole thread of its own -which it has in this site, goody!-. And still we are only talking about one deck here. So many of you with different decks will have very different views on these 2 cards. For example, these twos and threes are from Marchetti's, Wood's and Llewellyn's, respectively:


By pirbid


By pirbid

Let me try to give my view on it...

I chose not to look at the descriptions, but more on the pictures.

If you look at the two's, then it looks like you have arrived at a goal you have put up for yourself. The view is more focused on the arrival or on the globe.

If we stay in this "state", then we slowley will crumble, because we get no new nourishment or goals.

The three tells this by having the "symbols" behind us, we ourself are looking forward, and must put up new goals for ourself.
Let old disapointments or victories be thing that belong to the past, try to do the best out of the future, and not go around carry these things, only then can you still grow, and get a rich life

:

You hit it on the nail Pirbid. They both look so similar and that is where the ‘confusion’ lies.  I have recently acquired the Universal Rider Waite where the colours and the images are a lot crisper than the Original Waite. It gives me a clearer picture and I see it here even more vividly that the man in the Two of Wands has secured the Wand No 1 to the marble wall, as if saying, “OK, I got that in my pocket and now let me hold on to the second one and see how I can make this world mine.” Others may say, Oh, well, I will only hold on to the one in my hand. I also notice this in your two cards - the Robin Wood and the Llewellyn where there is that element of securing the one wand to the wall.
Whilst I see the Two’s as making a choice, a duality such as the Two of Cups, but the other Two’s are the duality within us – the choices we make within our own mind and psyche.

By looking at the man in a brown cloak (Rider Waite) on the Two of Wands, I don’t get any feelings of greed or unsatisfied dreams. I feel he is grounded and has made that decision to go ahead with his plans. There is serenity as well as passion by the depiction of a white lily and a red rose on the marble wall. I feel he is a calm man, in spite of being a fire element; one who has decided to put his money where he feels may bring in good returns.  And, by the same token, the Three of Wands, I see the same man, now in a red cloak (possibly a lot more passionate now than before) waiting for the result of his investments……. Whether he invested in dry land or bad business, he is still waiting. Some would say he shows leadership qualities. That is equally correct, depending on the question and the cards surrounding it. Of course, of course, let us not forget these meanings and insights always change and can be adapted to the question asked by the querent.

Now isn’t it strange that in your Marchetti’s Two of Wands, the man has not even made a choice yet. He sees two wands in front of him and has to make a choice or go through them. This is easy to interpret, isn’t it so? Or perhaps not so for the querent  

While each deck’s imagery may give us a slightly (and sometimes not so slightly) meaning, I still believe the cards will bring out what the querent needs to know at the time of the reading, in whichever deck.

My penny's worth?