Tarot Discussion Group, Card of the Week.

Well reviewing the essays so far, I thought the wands where just a little under represented. So this week I am taking up the Princess of Wands. I think the two visions of the card are quite interesting. Melanie's card looks to me like a young princess leaving home. She is calm, and well provided for, taking her walking staff from the beaver. A totem of building. The setting is clearly a winters scene, making this a transitional card. The old year is ending and the princess is setting out to create a new beginning, building a new life.

I personally believe the court cards make most sense if one can Identify them with a actual person who truly fits the Archetype. I was viewing samples of deck the other day online, and the artist had chosen Jim Morrison to depict the Knight of Wands. It was a very good choice I think. The knight of wands overflows with energy, it impacts everything he does. He is impulsive, reckless, and at times dangerious. "It is better to apologize than ask permission." is his philosophy. Like Jim whose passion for his music gave him great reserves of energy to drive forward, challenge the borders of what was musically possible. The knight of wands, is excitable, passionately involved with his muse. He knows where he wants to go, and hits the road without any real idea how he will get there, only a unshakable belief in himself.

Melanie's Princess setting out on her road on foot, visually is less dramatic than the charging knight in the Universal Waite. The Princess perhaps is just a little more deliberate, having the Princess muse, but able to carry her purpose forward without spending all her energy in one sudden explosion. The downside of the Prince of Wands, is his need to be at the edge. Yes it is exciting to be hug the edge, and those who push boundaries of any kind create new opportunities for the rest of us. The adventurous however, must deal with more rejection, and or physical danger than the rest of us. Any NFL player can experience the joy of a touchdown or sack on any given play, and a career ending injury the next. Like I said the edge is unforgiving. Which makes if so hard for us Earth and Water signs to allow the wands in our lives to be themselves, and seek out that edge. We like the Princess, we like to see that touch of the Earth sign in her, to steady her in hard times, and give her a moments pause when she might need one.

Prince and Princess alike the Wands love to be noticed. The prince displays his fire, his energy, knowing woman find it incredibly attractive. Heck my daughter has a Doors poster on her wall. The princess embraces her beauty, letting it shine, she's happiest when every eye in the room is on her, witness the way she shines out of Melanie's card. Vanity, maybe, but the wands need attention to feed their fire, just as the Pentacles need time for their careful plans to grow, or the cups quite to examine their inner life. The wands need to be at the center of the lights and noise of the fires they start.

Reversed: Interuption, Unexpected change, Quarreling, Excessive emotional investment in small matters. Breakup of a relationship.

Please click on the Tarot Home link, to access a list of all card essays currently online. Please share your thoughts I look forward to your replies in the group.