Author: fionabeth13

You walk in to class today and there’s music playing…

You can’t help it, you start tapping your feet, others are already up and dancing between the desks.  There are balloons around the room, paper cups for tea and cookies with Smarties on them.

This is the spirit of the Four of Wands to me.  Celebration! The completion of a cycle, the joy that comes with rites of passage, achievements, weddings, initiations, new baby gatherings, thanksgivings and seasonal festivals, graduations, promotions, making it out of bed in the morning with your game face on and getting out of the door on time.

My cards show parties, weddings,  a chuppah, pictures of friends partying above a roaring fire.

To me this is an unequivocally positive card, it’s a big old yes, like the universe giving me a gentle nod of approval.

I will be uploading a certificate to celebrate your unique brand of wonderful in the Facebook group, it would be great to see you there.

Exercise 67

• Use the affirmation: “I celebrate my own unique brand of awesome.”
• What would your ideal celebration/ party look like?  How would it feel? Who would you invite (anyone you like from your “real” life, celebrities, historical figures…)?  What band would you have playing? What food?  Where would you hold it?
• What are your favourite seasonal celebrations?
• How might you bring a little celebration into each day?

Can you feel it? An increasing heat, the growth of energy and possibility as we complete the first triad in this suit? It’s electric.

My cards show figures with three wands or staves or (in the Sun and Moon Tarot) someone juggling flaming torches.

To my mind this is a card of fulfilment and preparation.  After the idea of the Ace and the stolid mastery of the Two here we stand with our three wands.  For me the Rider-Waite image is potent.  A figure (could it be the man we saw in the Two?) looks out over an ocean where a fleet of sailing ships can be seen.  I wonder if these are his ships, off to travel the world and bring back goods from far flung places.  He has his back to the viewer, but there are three budding staves around him.  Now he could hold one in each hand, but there would still be the third left.

In a reading I would see this as an encouraging card.  You’re in a good place to move ahead with projects if the Three of Wands comes to visit and if the question you asked was more closed then I would see this as a “Yes”.  The three staves/ wands/ fire sticks make me think of abundance, more than is needed.  Also of an abundance achieved through effort, through expending our energy.  Additionally I see strength in the three…there’s  a verse in the Bible which says that a rope made of three cords is hard to break…there is a solidity in three, a power, and here with the power of three and the fire of the wands suit is a combination of strength and energy.

Exercise 66

• Find your Three of Wands card, note any symbols or images which are particularly striking for you.  What would you ask this card and it’s characters if you could?  What would it answer?
• Get creative – weave a “witches’ ladder” plaiting together three cords as you whisper an intention about a creative project or plan.  You can thread in beads, feathers or shells, whatever you have.  Hang your ladder somewhere safe and allow it to dance in the breeze to send its magic out into the universe.

I started introducing each suit with a mini card spread when we got to the Swords and didn’t have one for Pentacles so here is a Pentacles spread to fill the gap.  It’s direct and to the point, but I feel that’s the spirit of Pentacles.  Grounded. Down to earth.

Let’s get started.  There’s an energy in the room today, a crackling heat, can you feel it?

Take your two of wands (or several if you have more than one deck) set them out.

What do you notice?

I see two crows, each holding a carved wand in their beaks.  They cross and at the point where they meet sits the earth, suspended in space.

I see a man, holding a globe in his hand, between two wooden poles, staring out across a landscape of mountains and water.

I see a man standing on a mountain top, wild and wind blown between poles wreathed in flame with flame around him.

I see a man and woman, holding each other with one arm and holding a flaming torch in the other, staring into each other’s eyes.

There is fire here.  Strength.  Mastery. Determination. Power.  There is will.

In the positioning of the two poles in some of the cards I also see the image of a doorway, a portal.

A card of confidence, commitment, inner fire; for me the Two of Wands tells me I have the power within to “make it so”, that the gateway is here, ready for me to enter, to step through and release the transforming power of fire into water I am seeking to birth.

Fire is a force to be reckoned with, but in this card we can see that it is our ally, in the alchemy of transformation.

Exercise 65

• Imagine the story of the figures in your two of wands card.  What brought them to this point?  What are they about to create?
• What are you longing to bring into reality?  A project, a change in lifestyle or attitude? What does the Two of Wands teach you about this process?
• Work with the energy of the Two of Wands if you are seeking to boost your confidence, for instance when attending an interview.

Welcome back, after our “between the suits” break it’s good to see you again.  Get up to anything fun?

Here we are at another beginning.

In the Aces I have in front of me today I can see:

• In the Crow Tarot a crow  perched atop a wand in front of what looks like a golden road or river.
• In the Wildwood Tarot I see a bow with an arrow set against a log where it has been used to create fiction and start a fire.
• I see, in the Sun and Moon tarot, a burning torch.
• In the Rider-Waite a giant hand emerges from clouds holding a budding branch.

To my mind these speak of beginnings, possibility, fire, divine spark, the place of the divine in our creative drives (the “divine spark”) and openings.

The Ace of Wands is the spark which lights the fire of inspiration, passion, hope, imagination in our lives.  Symbolically Wands are linked with the element of Fire and the Cardinal Direction of South. The Ace of Wands is the thrill in the pit of your stomach when you are inspired about a new creative project, the whisper which sets you off on a hitherto unimagined path, it is the touch paper to the firework, the match to the piece of paper.  When I see this card in a reading I get really excited about what is coming next, but I also know that with a lot of fire, comes a lot of heat and while that creates energy and power, it can also get a little too hot, before we reach the end of the cycle we might get our fingers burned or feel some level of overwhelm.

But for now, enjoy the beauty of this bright flame as it curls and dances, full of promise.

Exercise 64

• Study your Ace of Wands card.  How has the artist represented this energy in your deck/s?
• What is it that creates this energy for you?  What is the thing which really motivates you?  For me it is any creative project from planting seeds, to baking cakes, to making art and writing.  What “lights you up” when you think about it and share it with others?
• Connect to that feeling and explore it as representing the Ace of Wands energy.

Before we begin working on the suit of wands a little card play to explore the energies relevant for you in this next section.  Blessings on your tarot travels xxx

The class is gathering today for a practical activity.  We’re casually dressed and there’s an array of craft tools and supplies spread out around the room.

The suit of Wands is our next area of study.  Linked to the element of fire and the cardinal direction south, wands represent the “divine spark” within us, the passions and fires which fuel, inspire and, at times, drive us.

This is what gives us “energy” and where our zest for life flows from.  In balance this is the nourishing fire of creativity, the warmth of an animated conversation with like-minded souls, the deep, slow burn of good sex.  Out of balance it is overwork, frantic, scorched to cinders, burn out.

To prepare for this next topic I’d like you to make a wand.

You might want to find a suitable piece of wood and whittle it clean, fix it with ribbons and feathers, or mark it with runes,  you might want to roll a piece of newspaper tight and glue it with sequins and glitter.  You might decide your wand is a wooden spoon from the kitchen or a biro from the desk, which you bless and decorate in some way to show it is special.  Whatever feels good for you.  I’d love to see your creations, so feel free to share in the group.

When you’re done practice waving your wand, like Harry Potter when he goes to Olivander’s wand shop.  Feel the energy, the creativity, the life force, the fiery energy.

Carry this with you as we move forwards.