Card of the Day: Page of Bows

Today’s card is the Page of Bows (Wands) from the Wildwood Tarot.

The card depicts a stoat perched on a fallen tree.  In the background we can see a waterfall and wild greenery fills out the image.  It’s such a welcoming a happy image as I sit at my desk with snow falling outside, blanketing my world in white and then later in slush and salty grit.  This window into a the lush greenery of a late summer scene is so inviting.

The stoat stands a little bit warily, watching us to see what we’re going to do as we enter their space.  In this frozen moment in time anything is possible, the stoat could leap out and attack us, it could take flight and vanish into the bushes, or it could stand and watch us a while longer.

It seems to stand, watching and wary but not afraid which embodies the energy of a Page card so well.  Pages represent childlike people or energies or situations in your life.  It hasn’t yet been burned by the fire energy of the wands suit although it’s starting to learn about it.  The stoat has a coat that changes colors with the seasons and that is a great representation of the flexibility the Page is representing/encouraging.  When you have a flexible sense of yourself you can more easily adapt to the rapid fire changes that the fire suit holds.

All those things make it easier to be brave and creative and to try out new things and experiment with fresh ideas.  Let the Page of Bows be you guide through the forest so you can dance with the fire and (mostly) not get burned.

Daily Draw: Seven of Wands

I’m trying to get back into the habit of the Daily Draw.  Which, as every tarot course will

Seven of Wands from the Universal Fantasy Tarot

tell you, is a fantastic way of learning your cards and even after you’ve learned them, of deepening your connection to them.

Seven of Wands from the Shadowscapes Tarot

So I’m trying to do that.  And this morning I drew the Seven of Wands.  Which was the card of the day that I featured not four days ago.  And the really interesting thing is this: I’m away from my cards right now, but I forgot to draw one this morning so I went to a random tarot card website to have it pull one for me.

And it pulled the seven of wands again.

When cards repeat themselves it’s generally a good idea to pay attention to them.  Especially when they show themselves in such different ways.

As I talked about before, the seven of wands is about standing your ground, even when the odds seem stacked against you.  I guess I’ll need to look for an area where I might be baking down.  A challenge at work comes to mind, so maybe it means I really should write that email.

Card of the Day: Seven of Wands

Today’s card is the Seven of Wands from the Happy Tarot.

The poor little seven of wands.  Se’s got such a worried look on her face.  She’s backed up onto a hill, might be missing one of her shoes, and from the looks of it, that river of frosting might make for some unsteady footing.  The crowd of wands (presumably being brandished by something/someone) jostle menacingly in the foreground.  Her posture is very defensive, but there’s a note of not wanting to hurt anyone.  Notice how she’s pointing the (and yes, this is stretching a little) non-pointy end at the crowd.  If we view the frosting covered end as the fighting end, which makes sense in this metaphor since the ends being brandished are the frosting ends.

The fact that she has one boot and one barefoot (or it could be a shoe) are an indicator that she’s conflicted.  She’s got one foot in the world of all those other wands and one foot over that hill into the unknown.  Maybe she’s running from an oppressive government or a bad family situation.

Or maybe those other six wands are fighting amongst themselves.  Maybe she’s watching from her vantage point and staying out of the fight entirely.  Those two different footwear might indicate that she can understand both positions, but the fact that she’s not in the fighting means that she doesn’t agree with either one.

She doesn’t want to have to hurt these people, but she’s reached her limit.  It’s the fight or flight moment and she’s chosen to face down her problems.  She’s making her stand on her little hill and she’s going to defend it.

If you see this in a reading it’s a message to stand firm.  You might be getting a lot of pressure from opposing sides, but hang in there.  Keep aware of your surroundings, stay up on the hill and don’t get mired in the mud and fighting below, but don’t give up either.  Maybe you can see both sides of the fight and can see the pros and cons of each.  Like that cat in the famous 80s posters they sold at every book fair, Hang in there!

Card of the Day: Queen of Wands

Today’s card is the Queen of Wands from the Happy Tarot.

After a brief hiatus I’m back to the card of the day series, without further ado here’s the Happy Tarot’s Queen of Wands. Right off the bat I like this card.  It’s got cats on it.  And any card with cats is a card I like.  One of these days I really should treat myself to one of the cat Tarot decks.

The Queen of wands is typically regarded as a fiery and sexual queen.  I’ve probably said this every time I talk about the wands in this deck, but I love that her staff (wand) is candy.  It looks like spun sugar candy that was wound around her staff in a magical ritual where there was dancing and spinning and lots of sugar and candy.  I can imagine her twirling with staff in hand, eyes closed, to amazing music, while she crafts her magic.  That’s probably why her cat is socked out asleep at her feet.  Of course, the cat could just be sleeping because, you know, cat.

I like the juxtaposition of this imagery that comes to live in my head alongside the image of her sitting serenely on her throne with that little quirky smile on her face.  She got all those fiery creative energies at her beck and call.  She’s the person you call if you’ve got too many projects on your mind and you can’t get your attention focused on just one.  She can help you bring your racing brain into control.  She’ll get you on track, and you’ll probably still have time to pet the cat.

Card of the Day: Queen of Wands

Today’s card is the Queen of Wands from the Prisma Visions Tarot.

Oh my goodness, how much do I love the court cards in the Prisma Visions deck?  A whole huge lot.  I’ve waxed poetical about them in the deck review, actually talked about the queen in particular, but I’m giving her an entire post all  to herself now as the card of the day.

The fiery energy of the Wands suit is very evident in this card, from the fire around her feet and in her footsteps behind her to the fiery sunset sky behind her.  There’s a beautiful creative and spiritual power in the wands suit.

As with all court cards, this can represent a person in your life who embodies this wands energy, or it can indicate a type of energy that is either appearing in excess or needs to be embodied more.

You can see that this Queen is caught up in the swirling energy of this card, to me it almost reads like a dance.  Is the energy moving her or is she moving the energy?  It’s hard to say here, is she trapped by the energy or held up by it?  How you read this card could depend on where it appears in a spread.  As a standalone card I view her as the mistress of this energy.  The full open flower is fresh and new, only seconds ago it was a tightly wound bud, full of potential energy but not yet brought to flower.

 I’ve seen the Queen of Wands referred to as the most sexual of the queens and you can see a little bit of that here, the opening of the flower can be read as a metaphor for sexual contact.  I think the way I read this queen, I lean towards a sensual reading, which can include the sexual aspect of sensuality but isn’t limited to just that.  It might include enjoying the feeling of silken rose petals on your fingers, the scent of the flower, an appreciation of the sight of the petals unfurling.  Experiencing the world with all your senses and fully indulging in that sensory experience, that is the message of the Queen of Wands.

Card of the Day: Five of Wands

Today’s card is the Five of Wands from the Universal Goddess Tarot.

This is one of my favorite cards in this deck.  It depicts the Polynesian Goddess Pele.  I’ve been fond of Pele ever since I lived in Hawaii when I was in high school (8th through 10th grade).  My class took a trip to the Big Island (the actual island of Hawaii, as opposed to O’ahu which was where I lived) and we visited Volcanoes National Park.  While we were there we heard lots of stories about the goddess and it was kind of hard to not get caught up in the amazing energy of a place where we were able to get within feet of active lava flow.  Close enough to throw loose rocks into the lava to see what happens.  They melt.  In case you were wondering.  They hit the lava and MELT.  It’s pretty crazy amazing.

Crazy amazing is a pretty good descriptor for this five of wands.  We see Pele, dressed in the red and yellow that was reserved only for the Hawaiian royalty, decked with a hakulei around her forehead and more beads and flowers at her wrists.

She is a goddess of furious creation and destruction, just like the volcano that she is said to live in.  When a volcano erupts it is a powerful destructive force, raining down fire and brimstone and rushing waves of lava that destroy everything they touch.  But at the same time, volcanoes can be powerful creative forces as well.  Volcanic eruptions created the Hawaiian islands.

This balance of creation and destruction is what the Five of Wands represents.  Perhaps now is the time to let the fiery energy of the Wands suit burn away the things that no longer serve you.  The five burning wands here can represent ideas or projects you’re got in the works; the volcano behind them is throwing up lava which could rush down and devour those wands.  Maybe it’s time for that.

But a volcano is unpredictable, so it could be that the active flow misses them entirely, instead offering more fuel to help them keep burning.  The way I’d interpret this card in a spread would vary depending on where it showed up.  Whether you try to avoid the explosion or seize hold of a passing boulder and ride it out, cheering at the top of your lungs the entire way, is up to you.

One thing is for sure, when this card shows up, things are about to get explosive.  My advice: don’t argue with a volcano goddess.  Just go with the flow.

Card of the Day: Three of Wands

Today’s card is the Three of Wands from the Wild Unknown Tarot deck (1st edition)

One of the reasons that I really like the Wild Unknown deck is all the watercolor rainbows you can see in the cards.

This card reads like a portal to another world.  The world of the mundane is represented in all those horizontal black lines, almost like static on an old TV.  With the three wands lashed together a window into this amazing new place appears.

The window is a triangle, which engineering wise is the strongest shape.  This is why you always see lots of triangle shapes in bridge architecture.

I see this card talking about having the vision to construct your own future and to be able to see beyond what other people can see.  Some people might have only seen a tangle of sticks and string.  But when they’re all put together they become a focal point showing the way to a limitless possible future.

When you see the this Three of Wands it’s a challenge to take control of your surroundings and to feel empowered to explore and try something new.  Don’t be afraid to strike out on your own and chart new territories.

Be brave.  Be creative.  Build the things you

Card of the Day: Ace of Wands

Today’s card is the Ace of Wands from the Joie de Vivre Tarot.

An Ace is always a positive card and this one looks particularly delightful.

She carries a wand with the sun atop it and there’s a bright aura of magic in the air.  She conjures the stars from the swirling air around her.  Her companion reminds me of a Lion Rampant which shows up in countless coat of arms designs.  Reading about rampant lions on Wikipedia taught me that when referring to mythical beasts such as dragons or gryphons, the term “segreant” is used.  So I guess her mount is a mythical creature segreant.

A lion in that pose traditionally stood for bravery and nobility, which is fitting for this card.  An Ace is always a positive card: it means something new, something good is on the way.  The energy of wands is the energy of fire, which you can see in the sun and the star imagery.

I also love that they’re leaping out of this abundance of flowers and what sort of look like peacock feathers.  They’re encouraging you to take that leap into a new creative project.  Maybe you’ve been waiting to start writing a new novel, or maybe you’re being called to a new spiritual path, or maybe you’re thinking of learning meditation.  This card says to go for it!

The ace stands for confidence, standing in your own power.  It represents a seed that is going to burst forth into a flowering plant.  Sometimes when you see an Ace you might not feel its power yet, but the Ace is telling you that it’s there, so watch for that burst of courage and energy.

You’ve got all the fiery creative energy of the Wands suit behind you, charge forward with your magical powerful self like a lion rampant (or a lionlike creature segreant).  Nothing can stop you.

Card of the Day: Two of Wands

Two of Wands

Today’s card comes from the Universal Goddess Tarot deck.  It’s the Two of Wands and it depicts Ataentsic, an Iroquoian goddess.

Two little boys are engaged in a fight with each other with their wands.  At first glance it looks really dangerous: those wands are on fire, after all.  But a maternal figure is watching over the scene with her arms outstretched–she almost looks like she’s about to embrace them.  The expression on the boys’ faces are sort of mixed, as though they’re not sure what they’re doing, or that they’re reluctant to fight but determined to win.  But if you only look at their feet, this isn’t a fight at all any more.  It’s a dance.

The Two of Wands speaks to a relationship between two things.  It could be two people, two ideas, two places, any kind of duality.  A casual observer sees a conflict, two situations fighting against each other to beat out the other.  Depending on where you look in this card you’ll see a lot of different ways to interpret the action.  Imagine that you’re standing directly behind one of the boys.  It might look like he’s trying to defend himself.  Stand behind the woman and you’re watching her teach them intricate steps of a dance.

The boys are dressed in dark and light costumes, and you could view them as two sides of a coin: one side must come out on top.  Or you could take a more Taoist view and see them as the yin and yang, each must balance out the other.  You may notice that I’m deliberately not talking about them as good vs. evil.  The concept of whiteness being good/pure and blackness being bad/dirty is a hurtful concept that devalues people of color by declaring whiteness to be superior.  It’s more productive to talk about the balance of energies.  Neither is inherently superior and that’s what this card is telling us.

This card reminds us to carefully consider options when we’re faced with a challenge.  You might first think you have to make a choice, one or the other, when really you could have both.  It’s a delicate balance: if one of the boys misses a step, he risks hitting his friend, or even setting him on fire.  The suit of wands is the suit of fire and it can be interpreted a few ways.  It might be that spark of inspiration that lights the way to a new way of life, or it could be that faithful night light, guiding you through the darkness.

There are two players in this dance or there are two opponents in this fight.  Can you resolve the conflict without a fight or do you have to take your place in the dance?  It might be frightening to be caught in the middle of all of this action, but this card also offers comfort.  The whole mess is being watched over by a kind maternal goddess.  The card doesn’t specify, but in some Iroquoian legends she’s the mother of twin warriors, and this card feels that way to me.

Consider all your options and double check what assumptions you might be making, did you bring a knife to a dance fight?  But don’t worry too much, you’ve got someone looking out for you.