The Threes
Major arcana: Lovers, Balance Position on wheel: Beltane. Chakra: throat.
Three of Wands: Fulfilment
	A figure has stepped through the gateway of the two of Wands, arms open to receive the blessing of fulfilment. They stand in the healing radiance of the afterglow created after a loving polaric interchange. This is represented by the caduceus of intertwined serpents on their cloak (see Adder). This energised peace does not require another person, it can be achieved after an act of Creativity or Joy.
Three of Arrows: Jealousy
	Three arrows pierce a tender, bleeding heart. A triangular interaction that causes pain to all. A heart that is pinioned by the weight of other’s wishes.
Three of Cups: Joy
	Cranes were considered very sacred (their plumage being red, white and grey/black). Their return from migration heralded the beginning of warmer weather; they leap in the air, seemingly to dance. The ‘crane dance’, performed once by people in many European countries was a celebration of joy, creation and life energy. Happy and creative friendships, community, warmth, fun; a bonding on many levels.
Three of Stones: Creativity
	The card depicts a trilithon (a three stone) gateway, similar to those at Stonehenge. Two stone pillars representing the primal gateway of dual energies, with a solar horse and lunar oxen, bridged by a third, creating an environment in which an artist stands inspired but grounded, a mediator, alive and radiant.
Greenwoman (traditional card The Empress)
Minor arcana: Fours Position on wheel: Midsummer Solstice. Element: Air
Chakra: heart. Colour; white
	The Greenwoman is she who blesses those that come through the gateway of life, with love, healing and protection. She is the spiritual and actual warmth of the midsummer sun, and gives the breath of life to nature, and the newly born.
Wild roses, symbol of an open heart, flow from her. Round her neck is a gold torc, a symbol of her sovereignty as Empress. Her golden cup is of amber, a translucent resin often called the teardrops of the sun. The Greenwoman is also a tree in full leaf supporting many other species in its branches. She is abundance made manifest. The winged dragon, or wyvern is green, as the energies are rich and fertile. There are very few carved representations of foliate green women. I only know of four in the UK of which three are in Oxford. This is because of the msygogny of the Middle Ages, when the Greenman had usurped the creative power of the woman and the Goddess. Whilst these green male faces breath forth the greenery of the divine logos, or fertile power of male wisdom, the Oxford green women hide behind rather than issue forth the creative life force. So my Greenwoman breaks with tradition.
The Sheila-na-gig is the gateway of life. The flame on her third eye burns with divine intelligence and inner wisdom. She is also the oracle , voicing the heart of the land. She is the empowered heart, at one with herself, independent, creative, loving, stable, abundant, nurturing herself and others.
The Greenman (traditional card The Emperor)
Minor arcana: Fours Position on wheel: Midsummer Solstice. Element: Air.
Chakra: heart. Colour: white/gold.
	The Greenman or carved foliate face disgorges vegetation.This is the force behind the ancient gods of nature and vegetation deities, enriching and revivifying the land. The Greenman like the Greenwoman balances position with love, and radiates this outwards for the benefit of others. They are the guardians of others, mediators between the spiritual, the natural and the human, hence the original titles, The Emperor and The Empress. Ideally their stable abundance is shared with their community for the good of the land, with an empowered heart. A sharing without arrogance. A kind and forceful personality. A good and responsible father. A speaker of truth on behalf of the land.
Sometimes the Greenman and Greenwoman live ‘in their heads’ alienated from the realities of life outside their own world, not wanting to face the shaky foundations of their lives; when these cracks can be suppressed no longer, the fall comes in The Blasted Oak.