I have made for myself the year-long project of writing about one Tarot card per week. Spring is for wands and vitality, summer for cups and love, fall for pentacles and money and winter for swords and happiness.
I am coming to the end of the Wands section and wanted to summarize. The wands are about motivation and how it shapes your use of energy.
In my interpretation, the wands represent life-energy. They represent the fire element. Fire is literally the life burning within. The life burning within us originates in nature and the cosmic system. We are essentially conduits of the Source energy.
When we act we are employing our life energy towards some objective. This objective may be conscious or subconscious.
The goal in working with the Tarot is to bring these objective into conscious awareness. When we are conscious of our objectives, we are effective in using our energy to achieve our goals.
Our source of energy begins in the ace of wands. It is a physical beginning of any action. It is the ushering forth of the life force. It flows through us and has infinite potential for expression.
As we move through the wands we see some of the forces (motivations) that shape our use of life energy.
The two of wands symbolizes the effect of choice on the use of energy. There is always a point of delay when a conscious decision must be made regarding the use of energy. When actions are initiated by unconscious motivations, there is no delay. Energy is expended and often squandered toward goals that do not serve conscious objectives.
Conscious motivation carries power. It requires a clarification of values. You must decide what is worth doing.
The three of wands shows progress toward a conscious goal. You can take a moment to stand back and watch the events you set in motion. You have consciously invested your life-energy and the investment is paying-off. You are still standing alone, but you have begun to include others in your objectives.
You are at the ready to resume action as needed to carry the project to completion.
The four of wands shows a consolidation of energy in celebration with others. All are coming together toward a common goal. The coming together is significant. It takes a lot of energy to bring people and resources together to pursue a common goal.
This stage of success must be noted and celebrated. It will create the foundation for efforts into the next stage of development.
The five of wands indicates change and conflict because of engagement with others. You have come through the consolidation phase and must deal with motivations and desires introduced by others in the project. This is a natural part of any collaborative effort.
The most important point is to stay engaged in the process. Collaboration is not about winning, it is about growing. You can accomplish so much more through collaboration.
The six of wands represents stability and success. The project was initiated by you, but the victory of achievement is shared by all. You are the frontrunner, but without your team of collaborators, you would not have this victorious celebration of achieving stable success. You collaborators willingly share your victory.
The seven of wands signifies your ability to stand your ground even when there is opposition. If you have consciously chosen your objectives and they continue to align with your values, you can withstand opposition.
Even though your efforts are collaborative you can still stand on your own and defend your objectives because you believe in them.
The eight of wands, like all the eights, is a card of strength. The wands in this card are unfettered, but this is not a beginning. Eight of wands shows you are going up-in-the-air from a position of strength. You are in a position to take a break from obligations and use your energy in a new way.
This might mean a vacation, but not just any vacation. This is likely to be the summer of your life. You are well established, strong and solid. You are motivated by your success to take some time out and enjoy it.
The nine of wands shows a figure battered by experience. He is reflecting on his past actions and evaluating their worth. This reflection comes near the end of a project cycle. The objective has been reached, lessons have been learned, but life does not stop.
In order to move forward with the greatest strength, past performance must be evaluated.
The ten of wands show completion of the project cycle. As is the nature of life, other projects are beginning as this one is completing. To avoid being overburdened, you must delegate some of the work. Your mature projects are easier to delegate, because they have already fulfilled their purpose.
Even if you have created a successful money-making machine, your passion is likely inspired by a new idea. Honor natural cycles; release obligations that no longer serve your most important objectives.
The underlying cycle in any process is the same. It is governed by the forces underlying number sequences. One is a beginning, two is a choice, three is creation, four is consolidation, five is change, six is stability, seven is perseverance, eight is strength, nine is reflection and ten is completion.
What’s wonderful about analyzing the cycle is recognizing the opportunities to celebrate throughout. Also, it is interesting to note that the process does end with a celebration. After the party of the eight, there is the inevitable clean-up and initiation of a new project.
Go here for the original write-ups on the meaning of each Tarot card.
