April 2026 Tarot Card Astrology: Three of Wands
Every spring the Sun passes through the sign of Aries. When it moves into the second decan, it enters the decan of its exaltation degree. This decan correlates to the Three of Wands. The Sun is in one of its favorite signs in Aries. It feels like it’s waking up from a long nap, refreshed, excited and ready for whatever may come next. We’ll explore the astrology of the Sun in Aries, combined with the tarot card image of the Three of Wands. As I meditated on this combination, I discovered a surprising metaphor that deeply resonated with me. This metaphor is based, interestingly, on the three-masted ship, one of the primary symbols for the Three of Wands. Hopefully it will spark something for you as well.
Please see all my articles on tarot card astrology. You might also like my blog post, “The Hero’s Journey in The Aries Decans” where I demonstrate how the three Aries decans encapsulate the three primary stages of the classic adventure story.
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Three of Wands: Sun in Aries
- The Three of Wands is titled “The Lord of Established Strength.” To me, the card represents advancement, promotion, and new opportunity.
- I call the card “The Open Door” because two of the wands flank the character like a door frame, and one is slightly behind him, like a door that’s swung open.
- The suit of Wands traditionally represents business and enterprise. Meanwhile, Aries is independence. Combining these, I find that the Aries tarot cards represent self-employment or solopreneurship. More specifically, this is most relevant to the Three of Wands and the Queen of Wands.
- The Sun is the hero, the protagonist. It lights your way, warms your heart, and energizes your blood. The Sun in our chart describes our core identity, our basic sense of self. It provides us with the starting point for our identity, and the orbiting planets layer on all our complications. The Sun rules Leo and finds its exaltation in Aries.
- Aries is a cardinal fire sign with Mars as its ruler. Aries is an independent self-starter with lofty goals. Aries craves identity, seeking to individuate from the collective and understand what makes it unique. Aries is a pioneer, with an eager excitement combined with the courage to take the lead and be the first. Aries’ symbol is the ram. Its glyph resembles the curved horns of a ram or a furrow in a freshly plowed field.
- The Three of Wands is the Sun ruling the second decan of Aries.
- The calendar dates, when the Sun passes through this decan each year, are typically March 31-April 10. This year it passes through this decan March 30-April 9.
Sun in Aries
The Sun is entirely dedicated to providing light and heat. That’s all it does: burn hot and bright. We here on earth benefit from this, in that it provides for those most important needs. The Sun also shares its cheerful optimism and renews our energy after a rainy day. It warms the earth into new life after a cold winter. In astrology, the Sun represents the self, the core identity. It is the protagonist of the chart. The Sun brings light, so it is associated with truth. The Sun tarot card, for instance, can indicate that a secret will come to light. It is also success, representing accomplishment, celebration, visibility, and recognition.
Aries is a cardinal fire sign ruled by Mars. It is exciting and adventurous and eager to try new things. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, and the beginning of the astrological year, so it is especially happy to start things. Aries follows Pisces, and this sequence tells the story of something which, after gestating in Pisces, is born in Aries. It is the individual separating from the collective, and it is the practical “back to work” after spiritual contemplation. Aries has a “just do it” attitude.
The Sun in Aries is happy simply to be. New things excite it. The Sun in Aries focuses on shining its bright light of individuality born of spiritual awakening.
Image of the Three of Wands
The Three of Wands shows a man standing on a cliff looking over a bay where three ships are sailing. Two wands are on his right side and one is on the left. The two wands on the right are staggered, so one looks further behind him that the other–the overall look is as if he is standing in an open doorway. The idea of opportunity, new endeavors, advancement, and promotion are all suggested here.
A basic sailing ship has three masts, so the ship is a good symbol for the three of wands. The ship represents travel, movement, commerce, and adventure.
To me, there’s a story shown in this card. The man started out as a young ship hand, working hard and proving himself. He advanced through the ranks, and eventually by skill, luck, or other, became the captain, and bought the ship. He was successful in his work and eventually bought two other ships. As his success continued to grow, he hired captains for his ships and was able to stand atop this high vantage point to see the result and success of what he’d built.
Title of the Three of Wands: Lord of Established Strength
The title of the Three of Wands is “The Lord of Established Strength” in the Golden Dawn system and “Virtue” in the Thoth deck.
The idea of established strength is reasonably straight forward. You might think of working from a place of familiarity or experience–more to the point, it’s established because you’ve done it before. But we are in Aries, the sign of new things. So what exactly have we had time to establish?
Certainly we’ve already gained the experience of the Two of Wands. That’s an interesting phenomenon. Some people–Aries of course are great at this–can learn something and instantly put it to work. On the other hand, some people don’t consider their experience to count unless a certain amount of time has passed. Aries, however, follows the “see one, do one, teach one” paradigm–it’s never too early to give it a try!
The established strength might make more sense if we consider two important symbols: the number three, and the middle decan of the sign.
The number three is the most stable number–three-legged stools don’t wobble. Three has progressed beyond the teetering dichotomy of the Two, having gained enough perspective to see the bigger picture. For instance, think of that third wand offset from the first two–offering perspective–not to mention the bird’s eye view.
So far the Three of Wands is feeling very achievement oriented. However, in the Suit of Fire, that achievement is nowhere near physical or tangible. But perhaps it makes sense to say that this lovingly cared-for spark is the fire in the belly that motivates us toward accomplishment. We’ve all seen how people who were raised to believe in themselves at a young age have an easier time in adulthood reaching their goals. The Established Strength of the Three of Wands very well could be that inner confidence instilled long before you start a project that supports you all the way through to the win.
The middle decan of Aries is the fixed decan, so words like “established” and “strength” make sense. Like the stable threes, the fixed decans are firm and give you something to push against as you climb toward your goals.
Astrology of the Three of Wands
Exaltation of the Sun
When we consider the Sun in Aries as the astrological correspondence of the Three of Wands tarot card, we start to see the character’s glowing confidence in full light. The Sun is exalted in Aries. The metaphor for exaltation is “being an honored guest.” When you’re the guest of honor, all eyes are on you and everyone’s telling you how great you are. Of course, you can only take that so long until you wish you could just curl up on the couch with your favorite show to binge. Or get back to work. But you’re stuck at the banquet table and have to keep smiling and saying thank you. That’s the energy of an exaltation. It’s wonderful for basking in glory, inconvenient for doing what you want to do, whether rest or work.
So this exalted Sun or Self is in the self-starting sign of Aries. It’s easy to see how that man up on the cliff got to where he is, as owner of a fleet of successful merchant ships! He’s brimful of fire to stoke his ambitions and drive him to hard work with a can-do attitude. But his inner confidence also grounds and supports him on his long climb to success.
The Time of the Sun’s Power
The Sun at the time of Aries, the spring equinox, has embarked on a six-month period of brightness, the light half of the year where the days are longer than the nights. The Sun has crossed its own north node, the indication of destiny, and is climbing steadily toward culmination at the Summer solstice. The three-month period from spring equinox to summer solstice is the time of greatest growth and power for the Sun.
Mythology of the Three of Wands
Sun in Aries: Accepting the Call to Adventure
As I explored the idea of a story I could associate with the Three of Wands, I thought of the Sun as the protagonist and Aries as the beginning of a journey. There’s an excitement and anticipation. Where will I go? What will I do? But the second decan isn’t the start–that would be the first decan or Two of Wands. Maybe the Two of Wands is the inciting incident, the interruption to the status quo that offers a threat or opportunity to the protagonist. If so, then the Three of Wands would be the choice to leave behind the day-to-day existence and enter the world of adventure. To say yes to the call.
The Ship at Anchor as Aeolian Harp
But I love ships and was hoping for a story set on a sailing ship. I read Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. years ago, but confess I don’t remember the specifics. So I downloaded a volume of short stories by Joseph Conrad and started in on A Smile of Fortune: Harbour Story. I only got through the introduction before I found something that I absolutely loved. He concludes the prologue with the eerie line:
At times a wild gust of wind out of a gully high up on the cliffs struck on our rigging a harsh and plaintive note like the wail of a forsaken soul.
I never knew that wind would play the rigging on a ship like an Aeolian harp. Amazing!
Daytime Aries and Nighttime Aries
The crew had been sailing to an island to trade for product they could sell. They ran into some bad luck and didn’t quite make landfall. Instead, they had to anchor outside the harbor. The wind picked up, leading to the eerie noise played on the strings of the ship’s rigging. This set-up conjures so much of the Three of Wands: something coming down from the high cliffs, the masts standing bare of their sails, lowered while at anchor, the sense of adventure and newness, of anticipation and frustration.
Conrad describes the feeling of pure awareness as you enter a place you’ve never been before, senses on alert, curious, gathering information on an instinctive level, but stepping forward with courage and a sense of opportunity. A few lines into Chapter 1 he says, “On coming in from sea one has to pick up the conditions of an utterly unrelated existence. Every little event at first has the peculiar emphasis of novelty.”
And, although the tarot card is set during the bright day, we see the nighttime Aries energy in this anchored ship.
All these stirred my emotions, and not having time to read the novella before this post was due, I wrote the following.
The Three of Wands Story
My right arm is stretched out to my side, revealing my armor. I’m expecting something dangerous, threatening, but my stance is wide and open, giving me confidence and a willingness to try something new.
I feel that the only possible direction is forward. Down from the cliff to the sea. I imagine there’s a path there, something I can walk down, slanting off to the right, maybe some switchbacks. It will get me down to the beach. I want to be in the action. But man, how I love the bird’s eye view. I could just stand here forever. In the still of this bright afternoon. I wouldn’t mind some wind whipping up. That would motivate me to head down to the shelter of the beach.
I can’t wait to get down to the beach and join the crew of one of these ships. To feel the wind on my face and the spray of the surf. To feel that hot sun beating down on my skin, branding me as its own.
This is definitely a solitary trek: I need to be by myself. I don’t want to share today, not on this journey. I want to prove I can do it myself. To make my own decisions. And my own errors. I want to be it all, the good and bad. I want to work hard. Sleep deeply. Feel the freedom of swift movement. The call of adventure lures me back again and again to this place.
You know, when you anchor a ship and lower the sails–when the lines are taut and bare–something curious happens. Maybe you’re on the deck looking up at the stars. Or in your bunk trying to fall asleep. In the dark of night, you sometimes hear a sound, a moaning and groaning. Sometimes a wail. It’s the wind strumming the ropes of the rigging, sounding them like a harp. It howls like all the souls who have ever been lost at sea. Sometimes it’s scary–downright terrifying. Other times it feels like someone or something is out there calling, calling, calling to me.
There is the daylight adventure and there is the moonlit adventure. I live every day to the fullest. Why wouldn’t I follow the call to adventure beyond. I’ll never compromise. I want every journey to be brighter and fuller than the last. The wind wails through the lines and my whole body goes taut like the ship, and I vibrate with the call of the wind.
On board ship, we say that when you’re not doing your work, you’re slacking. If the ropes are slack, they won’t hold the sails. They won’t vibrate. If I’m slack, I have no motivation, no nerve, no will or desire. Definitely not me! I tune myself to my destiny and let the wind blow me where it may.
