Three of Wands – Waltzing With Matilda's

There is so much magic in manifestation. So much alchemy. The Three of Wands is a reminder of that power. It’s a card for sorcery, witchcraft, spellwork. For calling on higher powers, stating intentions, and most importantly, working with the power of your own will. from Little Red Tarot

Some might be aware that surfing is said to have been introduced to Australia by the Hawaiian swimming champion, Duke Kahanamoku. What is less known is that he was accompanied in some of his momentous surfing demonstrations by a teenaged girl from Sydney’s northern beaches who, by tandem board-riding with Kahanamoku at Freshwater Beach in January 1915, earned the contested distinction of being the first Australian to surf.

That Isabel Letham’s name is little known outside the surfing world no doubt says something about the way the sport’s iconography of chiselled jaws and bare, bronzed pectorals has left little room for images of feisty femininity.

Emboldened by this Australian celebrity, Letham decided to try her luck on the silver screen. The US film industry was taking the world by storm, and Hollywood was the place to be. Leaving school at 16, Letham found employment as a sports mistress at elite girls’ school Kambala, and also worked as a private swimming instructor.

The Three of Wands is the threshold we stand on before we throw ourselves into the unknown, it is our opportunity to really assess what the best way forward is so that we can push on with confidence and self-assuredness. Often this position also comes with hesitation and a fear of doing something completely new, but we have to feel the fear and do it anyway.

By August 1918, she’d saved enough for a fare to California. The war was still raging but that was not enough to deter her. Still only in her teens, Letham set sail on the SS Niagara, the “Queen of the Pacific”. She travelled alone and with only the vaguest outline of a plan.

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of female Australian surfing legend Isabel Letham.

Three of Wands Energy

The Three of Wands urges you to step out of your comfort zone and embrace change. It encourages you to think long-term and be open to new experiences. By doing so, you can expand your horizons and achieve even greater success.

Vivian Bullwinkle – Nurse

The Three of Wands holds the power to propel us forward, after a bad experience, on our journey towards growth and expansion.

Vivian Bullwinkel, sole survivor of the 1942 Banka Island massacre, was born on 18 December 1915 at Kapunda, South Australia. She trained as a nurse and midwife at Broken Hill, New South Wales, and began her nursing career in Hamilton, Victoria, before moving to the Jessie McPherson Hospital in Melbourne in 1940.

Bullwinkles story is one of Australia’s most well-known stories of World War 2. She became known as a symbol of strength for nursing. Aside from her survival at Banka Island she and her companions, who were prisoners of war during World War II, refused the position of victim and went on to contribute much to the world after their ordeal.

The Three of Wands may signal the possibility for a major expansion. Whether this be in a new direction or taking over the world, you can begin plotting your next move. Don’t be thinking small – this card encourages big, epic visions. The Three of Wands also can suggest an opportunity on the horizon. That ship you were waiting on is in view.

When Vivian Bullwinkel returned home she devoted the decades after the war to nursing and honouring those who did not survive Bangka Island. She and fellow POW survivor Betty Jeffrey raised funds for a memorial. The Nurses Memorial Centre, a ‘living memorial’ to Australian nurses who had died in war, opened in Melbourne in 1949. Betty was its first administrator.

Vivian rose to become Matron of the Queen’s Memorial Infectious Diseases Hospital, in Melbourne, served on the Council of the Australian War Memorial and as president of the Australian College of Nursing. Honours earned include the Florence Nightingale Medal, an MBE and the AM.

Bullwinkle embodied important elements of resilience and it is our duty to convey to future generations so that they may be inspired to rise above adversity, foster connection with like-minded others, use adaptive coping mechanisms and soft power, be gentle yet persistent in their resistance practices, and most of all to do good work throughout their lives.

Tag: Three of Wands

Isabel Letham – Three of Wands

Three of Wands Energy

Three of Wands – Vivian Bullwinkle