Okay, I am getting bored with asking the same questions for my Card of the Day readings.  So I decided to start pulling a rune each day and developing a question from that.

Today I drew Eihwaz

Meaning:  Eihwaz, a shamanic rune bearing the secret mysteries of life and death, represents the giant yew tree that supports the Nine Worlds.  Its transcendent nature allows for communication and travel between different realms of being.  Eihwaz is also a rune of mighty endurance against the forces of evil.

Affirmation:  Life moves to death, but I stand strong and tall as the yew tree.  Evil cannot crush my spirit.  (Stephen McNallen)

A “rough tree” on the outside, and perhaps the hardest of all the runes to fully understand, Eihwaz is the “keeper of the fire”: the hidden, but all-holding might of runic wisdom. As Jera embodies the interaction of opposites and the gradual growth of understanding, so does Eihwaz embody the melding of opposites and the lightning flash of revealing at the completion of initiation. The yew is known to the folk as the tree of death, having been planted in cemeteries until this day.

Eihwaz strengthens the will. It is the might which holds memory and purpose through death and rebirth, and it may be used to call upon wisdom and might from earlier existences. You can learn from both other dead and the dead whose knowledge and power have been passed on and hidden in your own soul.  (Teutonic Magic by Kvelduf Gundarrson)

So my question become: What is the limit of my personal power?  3 of Swords (Vikings & Old Path)

The number 3 symbolizes the generative force, creative power, multiplicity, and forward movement.  They are about planning and preparing, putting the details into place before beginning the work.  The suit of Swords is associated with reason, thought, logic, will, courage, verbal skill, matters pertaining to the mind, communication and the element of air.  It can represent getting all your plans and thoughts assembled in a coherent manner before presenting them to the public.  It’s about deciding how to incorporate these plans and ideas into your current lifestyle.  The 3 of Swords can also indicate a conflict of the heart or a flash of insight that allows the seeker to perceive a situation for what it is.  Sometimes it suggests a sense of betrayal and heartbreak, something that our mind thought would come true has failed.

This card answers my question on two different levels.  On one level is the idea that the limit of my personal power is my own ability to plan, communicate and move forward with my creative energy and power.  It’s reflects the need to think and plan and then move forward.  Many times I have a tendency to act first and think later.  That limits my personal power because by not considering all the factors and possible alternatives, I’m denying myself the benefits of actually manifesting my plans and seeing them through to fulfillment.  I think a portion of this is due to the fact that sometimes I get distracted or I lose interest in the concept for the time being.  I need to find a way to coherently and creatively make plans and follow through on them.  Otherwise I’m limiting my personal power.

On another level this card can be seen to represent betrayal and heartbreak.  In the context of this question I think this card serves as a reminder that one of the limits of my personal power is how others act towards me.  I cannot control how other behave (and that’s probably a good thing) but that means that sometimes I will be hurt by what others do and I can’t change that or control it.  My personal power lies in how I handle those types of situations and in how I behave towards other to prevent them from betraying me.  That can be tricky because sometimes we can’t be sure what will trigger betrayal from someone we trust.