Comparative Tarot

This card shows a young man, standing from I high vantage point looking out over the bay. The time of day looks to be dusk or dawn, and although the sun is not visible, its strength is apparent as the man shields his eyes to look out upon the bay. Hills lie in the distance and three ships float upon the waters of the bay below him. The man is well-dressed, his clothing is trimmed fashionably, and he wears a feather in his cap. Three wands stand vertically around him, like poles. All three have a crystal at their tip. One wand is covered in a lush vine tentacle which wraps it self a around the wand, gorgeously green and full of growth and life. This wand stands behind him. To his left is another wand, which is also wrapped with a vine, but there are only small buds on this vine. No leaves have yet unfurled and the vine is plainly wrapped around the wand. The third wand stands to the man's right, and it has no vine at all, but the crystal at its tip shines brilliantly.

Comments from the Book:
The keyword for this card is "Ships Coming In".
"This card means good business, successful completion of business, strength, good grasp of the future, good grasp of what is needed for future growth, etc."

Personal Comments:
I was amazed that until now, I had never noticed the different stages of growth on the vines. It relates each of those wands to the current card, and cards before it in this suit.

Plain wand (no vine): Ace of Wands. The wand at this point is still a seed, no germination has happened. Hence no vine, but the crystal atop its tip is shining brightly. This is the yet-to-be activated potential in the suit.

2nd Wand (some vine growth): Two of Wands. If you look back to the previous DMs, you can see that inspiration and potential are beginning to develop, but have not yet had a real world manifestation.

3rd Wand (lush vine growth): Three of Wands. All the planning, thoughts and ideas from the 2 of Wands have had a real world manifestation, and the fruits (or leaves) have come to bear.

Chris