2 of Wands -- Who knew he was about boundaries, too?

Morgan Greer Tarot 

I drew Chariot yesterday and found that there was a quite literal interpretation for it -- my train home was cancelled! So I had to walk to the bus station and pay AGAIN and take the bus, which took 45 minutes to cover the ground the train covers in 6 minutes, and cost me twice as much. There were only two people on that bus, me and one old man. I often forget to consider the most literal interpretations of the cards.

Today I've drawn 2 of Wands from Morgan Greer Tarot. It's an interesting one because there is a second person depicted in it. In the traditional RWS, the figure has one of his wands bolted to a wall so that he can hold the globe, but here there is clearly a second person, wearing ornate yellow gloves, accompanying the main figure. They do not appear to be atop a tower, nor is any water in sight. They seem to be moving through green hills, and the wands are like walking staffs. The main figure carries the rose and lily emblems on a shield, but they do not seem dressed like warriors. Maybe they are some sort of pilgrims. The figure has a feather in his cap, which is an English idiom for having earned some sort of success or achievement that may help you along in the future. His apparent wealth and his well-dressed companion could both be feathers in his cap. Maybe he owns that green land, and that could be a feather in his cap. And the glowing orb might represent the bright future that is also a feather in his cap.

I have to admit that both the 2 of Wands and the 3 of Wands are difficult for me to interpret on their own. It's important to have a context and surrounding cards in order to pick up on what it's getting at. Do you find that?

James Ricklef, in The Soul's Journey: Finding Spiritual Wisdom in Tarot, says that it represents domination over others, conflicts about personal power, and decisions about where we should direct our passion. I don't really see that in this card, as there seems to be a real spirit of cooperation here, and certainly no discernible signs of domination.

On the other hand, the Thoth tarot gives this card key word 'Dominion', a different kettle of fish entirely, in my mind. Dominion is your power or right in governing or controlling, and to govern is not necessarily to dominate by force. Ricklef points out, your dominion could be as vast as an army or as small as a schoolyard. I don't agree with him, however, that dominion is an illusion. Surely there are times when assessing those things over which we do exert some influence and control is a healthy and good thing to do. It is useful to assess where your sphere of influence lies. And sometimes it is good to survey your 'demesne,' as this chap appears to be doing. Maybe he is walking the borders of his patch, contemplating what is his. This is not a bad thing to do, as long as we realise that borders are abstractions and maintained only by agreement with one another. In that sense, perhaps it is illusion, but observing these sorts of illusions is what creates a civil world. Without them, there would be anarchy, queue jumping and all sorts of madness! :)

Today, may I take care to observe my own sphere of influence, and be careful not to overstep the boundaries laid out by decency and expectation, so that I may cooperate fully with those on this journey with me.

Visual cues vs attributions in 2 of Wands

Original Rider Waite Tarot 

Today I've drawn a card that can often be puzzling. The figure in 2 of Wands stands atop what appears to be a castle, holding a globe and a staff. Behind him,  a second staff is mounted to the wall (see the mounting attaching it there?) The figure looks out toward the sea over a harbour town. To me, he looks like a merchant contemplating trade. That's what it's always looked like to me, and I always tend to associate it with business, planning, ambition, etc. And yet when we look at elemental attributions, 2 of Wands is Water of Fire (along with 5 of Wands, 8 of Wands and Queen of Wands).

What is the 'Water' of 'Fire'? Well, Fire is of course passion and drive. What could be the 'watery' aspect of Fire? Water is all about emotion and relationships, so based on elemental attributions, this card should point to passions and drive that extend beyond the self to other people, and their passions and drives. The Water of Fire personality might take on roles such as conflict resolution, moderator, crisis counsellor, trauma counsellor, a Samaritan volunteer, trained listener, and have assertive empathy/insight.

Looking at the card and thinking of those elemental attributions, you'd rather expect to see other people depicted. And yet, the figure stands alone above the town, looking out to sea. The action of looking out to sea has always tended to represent contemplating the 'rest of the world' or the 'vastness' of the world. To drive that point home, the figure literally holds the world in his hand.

This comparison of visual cues vs attributions is interesting, and when we incorporate the meaning of the number 2 into the elemental attribution, we also start to see aspects of duality, balance, cooperation, choice, yin and yang...and 2 + Fire = a choice that must be made about what action to take, because Fire is also the element of action. So the 2 of Wands points to thinking about how what you do impacts others -- those closest to you (the village) and the rest of the existence -- everyone else in the world (out to sea), and even the planet itself (the globe).

If I go by just the picture, my reaction is that the figure is dressed like a wealthy merchant, and as trade routes, especially those that led to great wealth, were by ship, his looking out to sea holding a globe logically represents planning his 'world domination' (even if in reality that just means becoming the wealthiest man in his small shipping village). This would lead me to interpret the card as something to do with business ventures, plans, marketing or whatever, and any of those could be perfectly valid readings of this card, but then there are occasions when a card turns up and your initial associations based solely on visual cues don't quite make sense. You've asked about how to deal with your monster-in-law and the 2 of Wands turns up. So what? Are you supposed to go into business with her? Focus on work or your own goals and ignore her? Not necessarily. This is where elemental attributions and numerology can add depth and solve those mysteries left by 'intuitive' meanings (which are really just your personal associations with or reactions to an image).  Using attributions, you see that maybe the card is advising you to consider things from your monster-in-law's point of view, or to take a more 'global' perspective on the situation. Maybe it's asking you to consider the effect that your little war with your monster-in-law could be having on everyone else around you, and on your future. That sort of thing.

Today is my wedding anniversary, and taking a broader perspective on how my actions affect others is a good theme for today.

A "dumb reading"* -- say what you see

CBD Tarot 

'How can I motivate myself to do a particular thing that I ought to do?'

Your desires and your actions are not cooperating. At some point they seem to have been moving together in the same direction, but both of them are now looking over their shoulder. At what? The direction from which they've come. The crossed wands show that earlier in the journey, they cooperated, worked together. But now, they are at an impasse. (A cross could be an alliance, or it could be an "X" as in "stop"). They're stalled out. If they were to turn their heads and look in the direction of travel, what would they see? 

They would see a man in a chariot. His gaze and the gaze of his two strange blue horses are toward the forward motion of the path. (The way the bodies, though not the faces, of King of Cups and Knight of Wands are facing). The chariot faces us, the viewer, but we see a wheel on the left and the horses' heads and the charioteer's gaze are to the left, so it looks to me like this chariot is being turned to the left, heading down the path, 'back on track'. The charioteer's left hand is coming up, elbow raised. I can just see him complete the motion to point his horses toward his right. The two horses that were pulling in opposite directions will come in line -- it's already beginning to happen, as their heads are both moving in the same direction. The King of Cups and Knight of Wands will hear the commotion, turn their heads, and follow his lead. 

The Chariot will surely be able to mow down obstacles in the way, and progress can be made, as long as the King and Knight follow in the path he clears. 

Will you allow yourself to take agency as the Chariot, or will you stay stalled out as the King of Cups?

(Notice my recent stalker cards of Knight of Wands and Chariot. Not surprising, as I keep reading about the same theme, using different decks on different days. And they say tarot is random. LOL)

*"Dumb reading" is a term of Enrique Enriquez - Eschew symbolism and esoteric knowledge in favour of looking at what's happening in the cards. 

Natural way

Tarot of the Hidden Realm (Llewellyn 2013)

It's a very sunny looking card this morning for a nasty wet day, Two of Wands from Tarot of the Hidden Realm (Moore and Jeffrey, 2013).

The card depicts two faeries with fiery hair and dragonfly wings frolicking amongst the foliage. It's an extremely warm and happy-looking card. The companion book informs us that these are rowan buds, which is interesting to me for obvious reasons.

'This card marks the need for vision, for the application of determination, but first you must decide where to direct your gaze and invest your energy,' Moore writes.

It's been months and months since I last weighed myself; I have no idea how much I weigh but I know that I have hardly any clothes that fit. I got up and tried the scale and got the message 'Low battery.'

Now here's where I have a choice. Do I go and buy batteries, dig out (or create new) charts and graphs, start myself on a 'program' -- or do I take it as a sign to try a different way, a more natural way, in which I don't know how much I weigh, don't know how fast I'm making 'progress', and instead make more wholesome food choices and over time begin to notice that my clothes feel looser? The second way is completely against my Aquarius with Virgo Rising nature. The first way indulges and encourages some quite negative aspects of that nature.

Two of Wands is the Water of Fire. This would suggest an intuitive course of action.

I've eaten oats in almond milk for breakfast and just packed a nice lunch of hummus sandwich, grapes, cherry tomatoes and carrot sticks. I didn't measure any of it. I didn't look up the calorie content.

We'll try it the 'natural' way then, see how that works out.

Of mopping and ABCs

Housewives Tarot

What is the single most important thing I can do today to improve my feelings about my life, ie, to increase my self-acceptance?

I can make my mind up: am I going to continue to sweep up the dirt, or am I ready to do some deep cleaning? When I make that choice, I will feel more balanced despite the pressures of daily life.

Actually, I am ready to change some of the irrational beliefs that have kept me trapped in certain patterns of behaviour. I am tired of sweeping up after them. I'm ready to get rid of them.

To be honest, this draw reminds me very much of the ABC analysis used in Albert Ellis's REBT therapy. You need to use analytical skills to identify irrational beliefs underlying an emotion, action, behaviour or physical symptom. Then you challenge that irrational belief and replace it with a more effective belief. (A - the activating event, B - beliefs about it, C - consequences of those thoughts about the event, D - dispute the beliefs, E - effective beliefs to replace the irrational beliefs)

I have used these techniques to combat anxiety caused by my tinnitus and dental phobia. I have used them to cope at work during my icky secondment. I even, though not consciously, used some of the techniques in coping with the first shock of what happened at the end of last year in my family situation. But I have never yet applied them to my codependency and perfectionism issues. I only thought of doing this while researching my new program, which is SMART Recovery. Well, I have toyed with it, but I haven't attacked these problems in a serious, methodical way using these techniques. I've just been sweeping up the dirt, trying to make amends to myself and others after the fact, and using recovery techniques that felt to me rather like sweeping things under the rug--or even sweeping them up in a big fat pile that I could then sit and look at while waiting for the Big Broom in the Sky to descend and sweep them up for me. Don't get me wrong -- a whole ot of those techniques have been extremely helpful, I could just never quite settle in to some of it. Not a good fit. For me. Now I would like to make a start on actually mopping the floor. Enough playing in the dust. (I'm keeping the broom, though.) 

Even after I mop up the floor (dispute and replace irrational beliefs consistently and methodically), life is not going to suddenly become peachy keen. It will still be a balancing act, like it always has been. But my redefined beliefs about it will help keep emotional collapse at bay while I'm balancing plates and being tugged in different directions.

USA, UOA, ULA

After my very positive draw yesterday, I had quite a bad day emotionally. Sharing this new program with a loved one was followed by words and tears. Where did it go wrong? What could I have done differently? How should I change the way I approach or handle things next time? 

Morgan Greer 

Looking at this spread, a theme certainly emerges. In two of the cards, I see cooperation. And in one card, a warning against its opposite. 

Funnily enough, I have been reading as part of this new program this morning, reading about three key concepts of the program:

Unconditional Self-Acceptance

Unconditional Other-Acceptance
Unconditional Life-Acceptance

The key word in each is 'acceptance'. Acceptance is not love. Acceptance is not approval. Acceptance is allowing something to exist, just as it is. If I can allow something (or someone -- and that includes myself) permission to exist just as it is, I can work with it. But if I don't, I can't. I end up fighting myself, fighting the universe, fighting the wind. Simple as that. 

In the first card, 2 of Wands, we see the familiar figure holding the globe or royal orb and looking into the distance. We have the rose and lily (passion and purity). We have the two staves. The chap even has a feather in his cap. We usually interpret this card to represent a visionary with vast and expansive ideas, achieving a balance between stillness and activity, etc. But today I notice something in this card that is absent from many other depictions. The man holds the globe in one hand, a staff in the other, and the second staff is held by another person -- a third hand is in the image. The man is NOT staring out into the distance. He would appear to be staring into the eyes of the figure outside the image, the one who is holding the second staff. Or perhaps they are standing side-by-side, observing the horizon together. Together, not separately.

And in the second card, we do not see a family exulting at the view of their little house with a rainbow overarching the scene. No, the card is dominated by a male arm and a female arm entwined to grasp the 10th cup together, and out of this unity the rainbow arises.

And this is where the concept of unconditional acceptance converges. The Emperor, who could be said to embody the opposite of self, other and life acceptance. He does not accept. He demands, he creates laws, he enforces them, he controls. He takes vengeance. He rules.

The Emperor has got to go. I'm as fond of him as I am of the Queen of Swords, but both of them have served their purpose. Time for a new way.

Unconditional Self-Acceptance - 

I accept myself because I'm alive and have the capacity to enjoy my existence. I am not my behavior. I can rate my traits and my behavior, but it is impossible to rate something as complex as my 'self.' My self consists of innumerable traits, not just this one. I strive for achievement only to enhance the enjoyment of my existence, not to prove my worth. Failing at any task cannot make me a failure.

I can choose to accept myself even if am unwilling or unable to change my 'character defects' because there is no law of the universe that says I can't. My approval of myself cannot come from pandering to any external source or bowing to any external authority. My self-acceptance can only come from me, and I am free to choose it at any time. — Nick Rajacic

Unconditional Other-Acceptance -

Similar to USA, UOA is the processes of acknowledging who an individual is without placing a weighted, global judgment upon them. Personally, I believe this concept requires more effort than USA. After all, people must be considerate, right? Unfortunately, no. I do not control the universe and if you haven’t noticed, other New Yorkers are not eager to follow another individual’s personal guidelines. Ok, so maybe “must” is too strong of a word. How about others should be considerate? Wrong again. Where is it written that someone should behave one way or another? Some would say the law; however, people break the law all the time. It would be nice if others were considerate, but it does not mean they must or should be.

Unconditional Life-Acceptance -

Ultimately, you may have some control as to how things pan out in life; however, you will be more at peace once you give up the belief that you must have total control of the universe and insist that things should be a certain way. If you are able to change your thoughts about an event, you can change your world. Although this cannot guarantee pain and suffering vanish, it might just be more bearable.

The Emperor is not very good at practising USA, UOA, and ULA. So he can sod off. Ha! 

A personal reading: leaving a job

I have requested to go back to my regular job 6 months early. Even though my regular job has its problems, too, and has its own risks, and even though the secondment paid a bit more, I really don't want to spend a full year doing that work. I certainly know that I would not wish to ever do the job permanently. There seemed little point in prolonging the matter. And so I decided to pull some cards, now that I've taken official steps to end the thing early: 

What results to my advantage from leaving this job?

I decided to focus my question on the positive side of this move. The cards I've drawn are tremendously encouraging. 

Tarot Illuminati by Eric C Dunne, companion book by Kim Huggens Llewellyn 2012

Despite my strong Queen of Swords aspect, I became more acutely aware of some things about myself over the last few months, and these are well represented by the King of Cups. As Fire of Water, the King of Cups is the action of emotion. My first (and hopefully last) taste of life in a corporate office has brought home to me my need for work based on my strong feelings about something. I have mentioned that all my work has been in helping professions - teacher, customer service, librarian. It's true that a Queen of Swords tendency to be organised and self-controlled certainly helps in these roles, but the crux of the matter is King of Cups. Without a deep conviction that the work I'm doing matters in a meaningful way to other people, I cannot muster enthusiasm for a task. I need to help. I need to be of service. Healer, counsellor, advisor, compassion, active emotions, care, spiritual wisdom, emotional experience -- all these are associated with the King of Cups, who in his most positive aspect represents all these things (and in the company of the two following cards, he is most definitely positively aspected).

'Mine is the power of active compassion,' the King of Cup declares in the companion book, 'the power to see pain and suffering and heal it, to purify the wounded and injured, and to guide the lost soul in times of trouble. I travel upon the ocean, because to swim in it would let it overcome me; I rule my emotions, not the other way around, and it is this which allows me to heal the wounded feelings and souls of others.'

It is a strong indication to me that I belong in work where I feel that I am helping other people -- directly helping other people, not doing back room work for an organisation that ostensibly helps other people. I need to be able to look in the eyes of the person I am helping, to see the connection I am making, to see that the work I do has a direct positive influence on someone's life. Dealing in abstractions about 'big work for a bigger good' is not fulfilling for me.

It's true that these things are more immediate and apparent in the jobs I will be returning to, but even more so in pursuing other goals -- and these goals are to expand on my deep interests and skills. The Alchemist, or Magician, is highly supportive of new beginnings, new projects and goals. The Alchemist has all resources at hand -- earth, water, fire and air -- and this is representative of having everything you need within you and without you to make your dreams reality. What you imagine can happen. The Alchemist tells me to direct my energy toward my goals. 'Sometimes it can indicate that something the querent is doing or working on seems to be inspired by or linked directly to a higher cause or power, as if they are channelling it and they simply are the messenger or means by which it reaches manifestation,' writes Huggens. Now is the time to pursue these goals, becoming more fully committed to helping others directly. So this would be another advantage of making this change in jobs - it provides opportunity to move in this direction. Just how it does remains to be seen...

Finally, the 2 of Wands is a card that shows possibility and forward momentum. I was struck by the words of the 2 of Wands in the companion book: 'The strong will, by necessity, must be expansive in nature, not happy to be cloistered and shut away...I know the limits of my dominion, and therefore I know what is not my dominion, and what is waiting for me. But knowing is not enough, because I also know that I have not yet expanded my will and desire far enough. I am the explorer, the entrepreneur, the leader, the conqueror. I do not seek to take from others, but my influence will be felt...' That is how I felt in a corporate office, cloistered and shut away, certainly not my dominion. And so, this card represents the expansion of will into action. The card encourages me to move in the direction of my will -- and my will is to do work that is truly and directly helpful to others. That is where my passion lies. It must said that 2 of Wands is a very auspicious card to draw in relation to business endeavours, and I so very strongly wish to do work that makes a difference in people's lives, that brings them comfort and enouragement and builds them up and makes them feel good and strong. I know that my gifts lie in that direction, and are manifested in card reading and spiritual counselling.

This is the direction I want to take. This is direction I will take.

Preparing

Aquarian Tarot, US Games

This week's deck is the Aquarian Tarot by David Palladini, first published in 1970 by US Games, reissued in 1993 and again in 2006. Of course, I have the 2006 edition.

Even though the box describes the deck as 'Art Deco-inspired' this deck strikes me as being quite 70s-tastic, especially the majors. The minors are nearly all close-up variation of RWS images, with lots of white space incorporated.

Today's draw is the 2 of Rods, or 2 of Wands. To me, the 2 of Rods is usually about making plans, creating a vision, feeling in touch with one's power. The Golden Dawn calls the card 'Lord of Dominion' and suggest it means expression of power, authority or influence. Waite himself compared the figure in his RWS image to Alexander the Great, who supposedly wept after he had conquered the known world, because after that he could think of nothing to do with his life. And so some readers interpret the card to mean success tinged with sadness.

I prefer, and tend to use, the interpretation of being in control over a situation, a time of feeling in touch with your power, and knowing your own potential.

Today I hope to work a bit more on something that may affect my daily life. I have something coming up Friday after next that could affect my work and daily routine. I am not sure I actually want this thing to happen, but I am going to step up for it anyway. I have strong ideas of my requirements, though, so things may fall through at the negotiation stage.  Maybe there's a tinge of sadness there because even if I get this opportunity, my heart won't truly be in it.

Go for the Gold

Enough with the cats, I decided to have a dig around and select a tarot I've had forever but hardly posted with. I chose the beautiful Golden Tarot by Kat Black (US Games 2003). I think there are two reasons I don't reach for this deck very often: it's highly laminated and very slippery, and it has gilded edges that hurt the skin on my fingers and hands when I handle the cards. Some people don't have this happening, but I do. I am loathe to trim the deck, though, as I believe it is perfect in every way and quite gorgeous. I've heard there is another edition that is not so plasticky, but I have no idea how to acquire one.

Anyway, I decided to draw three cards today, no real positions:

Golden Tarot, Kat Black 2003

The King of Coins advises me to take mastery of the material/financial/physical aspects of my life. There are some tasks I was thinking of doing this morning regarding Paypal and so on, actually. And of course I see this as a reference to taking care of myself physically - I do intend to work out today. Two of Wands suggests I need to make plans regarding these aspects of my life, and not just drift about waiting for things to happen. So I suppose I better make a 'To Do' list for today. Then of course the Queen of Wands (stalker that she is) tells me that  it's not enough to make plans, I have to light a fire under my butt and actually get them done.

Gosh, guys, it's Bank Holiday Monday!  Oh well. No rest for the wicked, eh? ;)

Now that's a power squat

Tarot of the Sidhe, Carding 2010

My Card of the Day is Warrior Two: Power Awakes. Interesting, as I woke up this morning at 4.59 AM. I didn't feel terribly powerful at that hour, let me tell you! It's getting that time of year, though. See, I have one of the most deeply entrenched circadian rhythms on the planet -- when it's dark it's time to sleep, when it's light it's time to wake up and that's that! So of course during this time of the year when it gets light at ungodly hours (like 3.30 AM in June), I struggle. I've got an eyemask around here I use during this time of year; it went in a drawer for the winter months. I need to dig it out again!

Anyway, today's card is Warrior Two (2 of Wands) from the Tarot of the Sidhe by Emily Carding (2010). It's a beautiful card. The sidhe is covered in blue body paint (or else really is blue) and decorated with red and orange swirls, wearing a red loin cloth. His hair and face have a distinctive shape, almost as if splitting in two. He squats in a kundalini yoga frog pose, his forearms crossed in front of him, palms facing out. Emerging from his two palms are dragons of fire, which curve about each other over his head.

Musings on the Celtic Tarot: Wands

Celtic Tarot, Aquarian 1990

I received my second copy of the Celtic Tarot (Courtney Davis) the other day, and have been admiring it since. I believe this is the most beautiful pips-only deck that I have seen yet. In the photo above, I have arranged them so that the bottom row is Wands, next up Cups, then Swords, and the top row is Coins, with courts in a pile at the end of each row. You can see that the suits are linked by colour, inner border style, and in the case of the Coins, by shape of the design. The Wands all feature the Sun, Cups are contained in circles on a blue background, the Swords are red and feature diamond patterns, and the Coins have a green background with Celtic knot discs in gold. Unlike some pip decks, there are many cues to meaning in the design and coloring of each pip card, so it seems like a good idea to have a closer look at them.

I bought some herbs today, oh boy

I just bought these herbs and pots today. From left to right: peppermint, lemon thyme, oregano, rosemary, sage.

I'm a little worried because when I took the plants from their plastic containers to pot them, they had massive root systems that filled the entire container. I wasn't expecting that, but I'm no expert on plants by any means. So when I put them in the new clay pots, I had to add hardly any soil at all around them. Perhaps I should have bought bigger pots, but it's too late now. I can't very well unpot them all and exchange the pots. It's just like me to take something that was meant to be fun and relaxing and find ways to stress and fret over it. I don't want the plants to die because the pots are too small, they're not getting enough light, the window's too drafty. Etc.

The fact is, I've been way more stressed lately than I ought to be. I don't know if it's hormones, my work situation, worry about things back home in America, or general malaise caused by the upcoming equinox. I don't know what it is.

So I drew from the Haindl Tarot. What is going on today? What is the underlying cause? And what is a possible solution?