Wands – Page 2

The Six of Wands – A One Page Guide

August 30, 2019February 7, 2020 John Iacovelli Christian mysticism, Fire, Kings, Leo, One Page Guide, Sixes, Sun, Tiphareth, Wands

When we look at the Zodiac/Tarot Wheel for the Six of Wands, we immediately recognize a pattern: the king of the gods, the king of planets, and the king of beasts. Tiphareth also has “kingly” connotations. And though there’s no king on the RWS illustration, Waite goes out of his way to tell us the man on horseback might be the king’s courier in the divinatory meanings. Then, perhaps, we notice the divergence between the Golden Dawn group’s and Waite’s divinatory meanings is quite a bit wider than usual. When I traced how Waite treated the planetary component—the Sun— I recalled a piece in a magazine linking the victorious Christ of the Book of Revelations to the Sun card. Long story short, Waite appears to have turned the Six of Wands into a sublimal proselytizing piece for Christian mysticism. Waite adds one more king, namely, “The King of Kings,” Christus Invictus, to the mix. And the message his courier carries is the Gospel. We can trace practically all Waite’s divinatory meanings to this concept. The bottom line for modern readers, though, is not inconvenient. It’s a positive card that pleases pretty much everyone: but it’s not just an announcement of forthcoming victory, success, (or reversed, a warning about an enemy) anymore. For me, at least, I now see the Six of Wands as more about a victory of the spirit rather than a victory in the material world.

Tarot

The Eight of Wands – A One Page Guide

August 14, 2019February 7, 2020 John Iacovelli Eights, Fire, Hod, One Page Guide, Sagittarius, Wands

The Eight of Wands is notable for its differences versus other cards in the minor arcana. The first thing one notices is that there aren’t any people. If you exclude the Aces, only this and the Three of Swords among the minor arcana depict no people. The second thing we note is that Wands don’t normally fly. At least we hope they don’t. But in this case, the Wands fly like arrows because the astrological sign for this card’s decan is Sagittarius, who is the centaur hunter with the bow and arrows. Both the qabalistic and the elemental influences signify movement and action. Hod even represents the feet, though its hermetic interpretation also includes “motion through the immovable,” which may represent a magical movement. Fire additionally conveys “conversion” as a possible meaning (think of the chemical effect of fire), which may tie into Waite’s stress upon the movement approaching a threshold or end of journey. Jupiter, the planetary influence provides the characteristic of having a purpose or goal, related to and extending that same meaning. The Eight of Wands, therefore, is fairly straightforward in taking its divinatory meanings from its astrological/qabalistic/alchemical influences, though there are one or two minor points of variance, which we’ll explain in the main posting.

Alexander the Great and the Two of Wands

Tarot

The Two of Wands – A One Page Guide

August 4, 2019February 7, 2020 John Iacovelli Aires, Chokmah, Fire, One Page Guide, Twos, Wands

I think it’s safe to say that very few modern readers bring up Alexander the Great’s world weariness (that’s Alexander pictured in the feature image) when interpreting this card for their clients! This is one of those cards where it’s much easier to stick to the other aspects of the divinatory meanings, i.e., wealth, ambition/planning and worry. With sources in some of the most martial of the Zodiac signs, with the element of Fire supplying its power, and Chokmah, representing the first power of conscious intellect within Creation and intuitive insight, the Two of Wands has a lot of power behind it. You be the judge of whether all those circles and arrows and paragraphs convey that power.

Tarot

Notes on a Fiery Monarch: the Queen of Wands

May 16, 2019February 7, 2020 John Iacovelli Queens, Wands

The Queen of Wands is quite an interesting card. Whereas the other queens in the Coleman Smith illustrations seem to be subordinate to their kings, the Queen of Wands appears to wield the power in her court. Maybe we if we understood the queen’s place in society a little better we could come to a better interpretation of this card when it comes up in a reading. In conjunction with the rise of feminist studies in recent years, scholarhip on queenship has arisen, too. This understanding, plus an analysis of some of the symbols in the Waite Colman Smith card lead us to a woman who through her fiery, yet dark nature, exerts influence. When the Queen of Wands comes up in a reading, somewhere a mature woman exerts her influence… if a job-related question, perhaps a successful business woman has strong influence on the decision. If a question related to family, we may ask if there’s a matriarch in the family. If the question is about romance, then the querent may want to think about whether they’ll make a good king of wands.

Tarot Fundamentals, though more expensive than most alternatives, is my recommendation as the single best book for beginners. It has the grounding you need in tarot history; it lists the astrological, elemental and qabalistic influences for every card; it provides excellent "how-to" essays on approaches such as intuition and the journey of the fool; and it provides illustrations of the renderings of eight decks for every card. The primary authors have continuing relationships with the Tarosophy Tarot Association, and this book is meant to be an encyclopedic volume of a good portion of their teachings.

Tarot: History, Symbolism and Divination is the best history of the origin of tarot, bar none. The first two thirds of the book should be required reading for anyone who wishes to even begin to truly understand the major arcana. Robert M. Place does have his "hobby-horse"—alchemy—and he gives far too little emphasis to the Golden Dawn. But his explanation of how the symbols in the majors got there and what they mean is unparalleled. The last third of the book is a description of the RWS deck.

The Lo Scarabeo Tarot is the "go-to" deck I use when I have my own questions. (I use RWS for other people). It's an attempt to reconcile the Golden Dawn, Waite/Colman Smith and Thoth. It doesn't do it perfectly. It's gorgeous. It's not for everybody. But if Tarot "theory" is your cup of tea, it may be a good choice for you, too.

To be honest, Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot is more "cute" and "fun" than insightful, in my opinion. But it is great fun. It visually relates Pamela Coleman Smith's theatre work to the deck she drew.