Well Hello again! I was toying with the cards today, and this card came up. Then when I shuffled the remaining cards to select this weeks card of the week, it came up again. To round out the synchronisties, I had been speaking of my Uncle John over breakfast. The man on whom, I model my image of the King of wands.

John never got on with my father, one dad's favorite jokes was about his being a "Polish Commando". How many Polish Commando's does it take to screw in a light bulb? I was in my late 20's when I had a conversation with my Aunt Joyce. I believe this to be true: John in fact was a Polish Commando. He was with the men that jumped at Arnhiem. The story of which is recorded in the book and film, A Bridge too Far. The bottom line is that 9 of 10 soldiers in the Polish Brigade that made that jump died at Arnhiem died. Yet I never knew. To know John you would never think there was anything special about him, or his personal history. In Mel's little white book she describes the King of Wands as: Conscientious, Devoted, Educated, Generous, Honest, Paternal... Up to that point she had described John to a tee. Except the Educated part. Yet he obviously valued education he worked very hard to ensure his kids did go too school.

The reversal of the card reads like this, Deliberate, Strict in Temperament, Intolerant, Dogmatic, Opposing (Bloody Minded). This was John too. He was a good man to know, but not a good man to cross. He was not a tolerant man. If he felt you where wrong, he was not interested in understanding you, or why you where wrong. You where just wrong. As much as I admire the man I can see in John as a grown man. I'm pretty happy just the same my old man was my own, and I did not have the King of Wands looking over my shoulder as a boy. Numerologically this makes some sense, the kings are the 14th card. As such they are also 1+4 or 5's. The 5's represent the trials in our lives, and ones father very often represents the first trial of ones life.

Still like I said, I see the King of Wands in his image. I see a person who with a fairly simple vision of right and wrong. A man whose heart comes first and his mind follows. A man who will go the extra mile for ya, but wont cut you any more slack than he would cut himself. A man who at his core, was the very best of the "Old School" and the very worst, all wrapped up in one, sometimes confusing, package. At the end of the day, the person who knew him best, his Queen of Wands still loved him very much after over 30 years of marriage.

From a Divination point of view, I see the King of Wands as a kind of Jupiter in Sagittarius situation. The King has a element about him thats larger than life. You feel his presence in the room, even though he is in sense a very quite person. Thats why I don't see him as a Leo. I see the King as a person at odds with Leo's sense of show. Rather his is man who shines with own self confidence, and because he does not give up on himself he tends to make his own luck.

Personally I see the Kings as having a good bit of the earth element blended into them. It is the King who concerns himself with matters in the business and the world outside the home. While the Queen concerns herself with matters of the heart and home. The Tarot, at its roots, is very traditional in its view of roles.

The world has changed a lot in the last 100 years. A man's role in it has changed less than we may imagine. A woman still needs a man she can depend on for a husband, and children still need someone that can't imagine would break his promise for a father. Times have changed. Its very often not the life we lead now. I remember my daughter in highschool commenting that she was the only person in her class she was aware of whose parents where both her birth parents. Yes times have changed, but the needs have not changed.

Oh I'm quite aware the good old days, where also the bad old days. Women where not treated with the respect they deserve even 30 years ago. Nor given the oppertunity to express themselves fully as human beings. Yet there has been a price for all we have gained, and not all the changes we have seen in my life can be called progress.

To me John represents both the best and the worst in men of his generation, but when it all comes out in the wash. I see him as a very good man.

Blessed Be, All, BB.

Divination: Conscientious, Devoted, Educated, Generious, Honest, Paternal, Secure in business, Professional.

Reversed: Deliberate, strict temperment, Intolerant, Dogmatic, Opposing.