It's quite easy to mistake the meaning of a card named the Lord of Virtue. We can easily be misled into thinking that this means being dutiful and 'doing the right thing'. However there is a much deeper level to this card than is immediately apparent. Virtue is about excellence - ethically and personally.

It is about developing and maintaining high standards of behaviour, and then learning to have the confidence, self belief and strength of character to live out those standards through our every act.

When we fall short of our expectations of ourselves, we retreat, disappointed and ashamed of ourselves. We can then take a long time to climb back up to the higher ground from which we can regard our own acts as part of the grand pattern of life. And, in the meantime, we continue to disappoint ourselves.

This is obviously not good for us, and neither is it good for life. So we need strategies to reduce the number of times we feel we let ourselves down, methods of forgiving ourselves when we do, and ways of recovering lost virtue as quickly as we can.

This is where the Three of Wands comes in. So, on a day ruled by him, make yourself a promise... you will spend a little time moving back into the centre of yourself - do this by sitting quietly and gently drawing in breath, directing it to your heart centre and allowing it to fill you up with energy.

When you have done that, spend a few more minutes thinking about your ethical standpoint. Ask yourself if you are out of alignment with yourself about anything. (Please avoid the trap of going "Absolutely EVERYTHING!!!!" This won't help! Much better to work on one issue at a time, rather than allowing yourself to be overwhelmed.) If you find something you are unhappy about in your own behaviour, think the act, thought or feeling through without judging it.

Work out why you have done/said/thought this thing. Go to the core of the problem, and do not blame anybody else. When you find the core reason, write it down on a piece of paper, tear the paper into several different pieces and throw them in the rubbish bin.

Since you have now rid yourself of the core problem, you now have no further need to act out that problem. So forgive yourself and do it differently.