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The power of three is a universal power that transcends culture, creed and language. As a species our brains find it easier to process up to three elements of anything, whether it be whether it be colour, numbers, items, words or pictures rather than four or more. Furthermore, three is an uneven number, and as with all uneven numbers, it catches our eye more so than even numbers do. As a consequence, we have a psychological trigger deep-seated within our subconscious with regard to the number three, and we respond to it like no other number. Therefore, the number three influences every aspect of our lives in a manner no other number can, nor does.
Evidence of this is seen in both ancient and modern design, architecture, art, gardening, literature, our belief systems and writings. Some illustrations of this are gardeners plant in threes or use uneven numbers, shop displays usually have three of one item or three different ranges of one theme and we have all experienced that it is often more productive to have a conversation with three people rather than two or four. Because it also influences the conversations we have with people, the power of three has long since been recognised and used to sway people’s opinions. Today, examples of this can be seen in advertising and marketing strategies, which influences what we think, buy and even how we vote.
This power, which is embedded in our DNA, is raised in us from a very early age through our nursery rhymes and fairytales with titles such as Three Little Pigs, Three Blind Mice, Goldilocks and the Three Bears When starting school, most teachers ask the children if they know their a.b.c.’s, and not a.b.c.d.’s. The number three is also used a lot in movie and book titles, such as The Three Musketeers, The Three Amigos, The Three Ninjas, Three Coins in the Fountain and the Three Stooges. This is because in literature the rule of three is considered to be the writing principle because it is thought that the dynamics of three of anything is more amusing, gratifying and compelling than the use of any other number of things. Tripling as it is called in used in both lyrics and speeches because of the effect it has on the listener. In philosophy, it is considered that there are three classic laws of thought and as a result of all this even our actions are also dictated by the number three, hence it’s power.
Of course, the most obvious area to look to understand the power of three is mathematics. Pythagoras considered the number three, the triad, to be “the noblest of all digits since it is the only number to equal the sum of all the terms below it, and the only number whose sum with those below equals the product of them and itself”.
Since time immemorial, and the power of three has had a spiritual quality to it which has been built upon the concept that within the one there are three distinct and separate aspects each with a different purpose held in one. This power was recognised and revered by our ancestor’s aeons ago, when Shamans considered the one world to be divided into three levels, the upper, the lower and the middle world. Our forefathers designed the triple spiral symbol to express this belief. It is a three-interlocked spiral and it can be found carved into or drawn on the rocks of many sacred sites all over the world. Various versions of the triple spiral were independently developed by many cultures across the globe, with the earliest found in Malta earliest dated 6,400 years ago. The triple spiral can also be found carved on the entrance stone of the 5,000-year-old pre-Celtic site Newgrange in Ireland.
It is thought that the triple spiral is the forerunner to the triskelion motif and it also gave birth to the lore of the threefold, triadic. This lore infers that from the very beginnings our ancestors understood that human beings possessed not only a cognitive mind and conscious awareness; they also possessed a higher consciousness, which was used to communicate with Spirit. It is thought that Shamans, Medicine Women and Spirit Doctors read the signs found in the land, the sky and the seas to not only communicate with Spirit, but also access the very essence of it to gain information that would benefit their tribe. Our ancestors were so connected to Mother Nature, they knew that human kind were a part of the middle world, and therefore what is above is below and is also within us as individuals. Many moon worshiping cultures existed to celebrate Triple Goddess, the three faces of the moon, each one of which represent one of the three phases of a female’s life, the girl (maiden), the grown-up (mother) and the widow (crone), who is also associated with the underworld and countries such as Eire was named after one of the three Goddesses. Modern day Wiccans and neo pagans continue to celebrate the Triple Goddess.
With the emergence of the mainstream religions, the power of three took on a new meaning and the early Christians used it to define their God as the three in one mystery to represent the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (formally Ghost) within one Divine Being. Furthermore, some of the mainstream belief systems adopted the belief that the moon represented a womb and transferred this long held belief onto Mary, Mother of Jesus to attract women into the new founded religion.
With the rise of individualism, our understanding of the power of three-in-one has increased. As we have become more spiritually aware, the mind, body and spirit belief system has developed. It is a holistic belief system where it is believed that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. This latest stage of our evolvement involves no church with its priests, no mosque with its clerics, no temple with its preacher or synagogue with its rabbi, yet it can complement all the present day belief systems. Instead it is reliant on the belief that we are all made up of three independent aspects of self, each of which is as important as and equally reliant upon the other and it is necessary for all three parts to function in harmony if the person is to lead a happy, purposeful, spiritually aware life. This is because the holistic belief system recognizes that all we need to grow and thrive is our connection to the earth, which feeds our minds, bodies and spirits.
How does the power of three apply to us on a personal level? How can well get it and how can we use it? Well the answer to all three questions is the same: we have it all ready. Each one of us is the living, breathing embodiment of the power of three because we all have three aspects of self, which are our minds, our bodies and our spirit. When each aspect of self is working with the other, we become one with our selves. In this state, we can achieve great things that would otherwise be considered unfathomable, unobtainable, inconceivable, and mysterious. In other words, we become greater than our three aspects of self. When become one with our selves and the mystery is solved. Such is the power of three.
So, what is the mystery you may ask? Well when we are at one with ourselves, there is no mystery; the mystery only exists when we are at odds with ourselves. In this state our fears and insecurities creates conflict, violence and hatred within the self, causing the three aspects to work against each other. In this state, we are dysfunctional and our actions reflect this. When we are at one with ourselves, our inner conflict ebbs away and in its wake enters a higher love, which empowers us and enables us to create the inner harmony, peace and understanding we all crave. When we are at one with ourselves, we are at one with Mother Nature and therefore we are at one with all human kind, and as such, we become forces of nature in our own right.
I run a 1-2-1 workshop that is designed to enable you to connect to your inner power of three. For information about this and other services I provide, please log onto my website
http://www.elizabethfrancis.co.uk
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