Rites of Passage and Celebration: The Four of Wands, the Three of Cups, and the Six of Wands in the Tarot

My last few posts were a bit bleak, depending on your perspective. Liminality, death, rebirth, lack, the nigredo — these are not topics suggestive of levity and, I admit, they reflect a current mood. While contemplating the Provisional Life — something that I’ve been seized of lately — it’s hard to stay focused on the things we take for granted: namely, life’s little victories.

Not all Tarot cards portend to weighty matters. After all, certain cards signify good news: a pregnancy, marriages, a new job, small windfalls, or the celebration of all these things. Happier passages require just as much exploration as their shadow counterparts. Life is characterized as much by ups as by downs, though the former rarely inspire the same amount of soul-searching.

In considering three cards — the Four of Wands, the Three of Cups, and the Six of Wands — I’ll examine the role of celebration in our lives: what these moments say about us within the nexus of society and why we can’t ignore them as important psychic experiences.

According to etymonline, “celebration” comes from the Latin celebratus, meaning “much-frequented; kept solemn; famous.” The past participle can also mean “assembling to honour,” “sing praises of,” or “practice…