Editor’s Note: This is the first article in a weekend series on tarot, where we pick one card and see where it takes us. If you want to experiment with the cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article tells you how to use the spread. You can visit Sarah’s website here. –efc
By Sarah Taylor
It is with not a little certainty that I suggest I am not the only one who has had a humdinger of a year.
This certainty comes from several sources, most notably the experiences of family, friends and friends of friends; the events that are playing out in the world, politically, economically, environmentally; and from what I read about the astrology of our times here on Planet Waves.
One of the prevailing words that sum up what is happening in my own life is flux. Nothing seems to want to settle. It is as if something is working to keep me on my toes, to see how flexible I am, to prod me whenever I start falling into old thoughts and behaviours. It is often not a comfortable place to be, and at times I am given to wonder whether there is a constructive purpose to it all, or whether it’s just a rather nasty habit I have fallen into: in short, whether I’m in the grip of a pathological fear of just stopping in acceptance and realising that this is it. This is my life. Not something that’s just around the corner, waiting for me. It is here, now.
I believe this is what this week’s single-card musing is about.
The card I drew is the 7 of Wands… or, in my Xultun deck, the 7 of Staffs. This card is widely accepted to symbolise the concept of ‘valour’. My Pocket Guide to the Tarot describes it thus:
A strong figure is able to defend himself against all odds…. Enemies and difficult forces retreat, and there is victory ahead.
I think there is sometimes the temptation to see this card in very straightforward terms — of ‘fighting the good fight’, where the opposing wands are there to thwart the figure, and his purpose is to prevail over them. Or maybe I have tended to approach it this way in the past. Today, however, I’m looking at it quite differently.
Take a closer look at both cards — the Rider-Waite Smith and the Xultun.
In both, the figure is solitary: this is a battle that he is waging alone. The other wands might be pointed in his direction, but there is no physical attack. At most, there is the threat of attack in the way that the wands are pointed towards him. In spite of no physical damage, the figure seems to be having a hard time of it as he grimaces in the face of his aggressors.
There are two other things that interest me. The first is the progression of the cards in the wands suit, which in itself tells a story. The previous card, the 6 of Wands, suggests a moment of victory and recognition, as a man rides through a crowd of five jubilantly raised wands, his head and his own wand decked in laurel wreaths. The next card, the 8 of Wands, depicts swift movement as all eight wands move together in flight. There is cohesion and forward motion. Seen in this context, the 7 of Wands feels like a hiccup along the path — a moment where the hero is unexpectedly waylaid by invisible forces.
The second thing that interests me is that in the Xultun card, the seven staffs appear again below the figure, all standing together. On some level, they are united and form one unit.
Is this man doing battle with himself, I wonder?
Wands are about spirit; libido; what lies within waiting to be birthed; the gifts and talents that you bring to the world. These come in many forms, whether practical skills, ideas, sexuality, or works of art.
And so I ask when I look at this card today, what things awaiting expression are the very things that you fight to suppress in yourself? There might be battles to wage in the world out there, but when does the fight begin and end with you as an individual? What do you avoid acknowledging in yourself because you see it as ‘the enemy’? If you stopped and invited it in, what would come into awareness?
“Is this all there is?” you might at times ask. It is a question that has certainly crept into my consciousness of late as I edge towards my forties. And you know what? Maybe it is. But what if we took a moment to put our weapons down and examine what it is that is giving us grief? Might we also find a release valve to the creative potential that lies within?
Maybe this is the true meaning of ‘valour’ in this reading: the courage to engage in the struggle for self-acceptance. It can feel like a war, but perhaps it is one that needs to be waged before we can be liberated into the decisive and integrated motion of the 8 of Wands.
It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. — Gautama Buddha
liminali – thank you for adding to the discussion of the numbers in the minor arcana. And, yep, that was my take on the Xultun card.
michele – I am happy that you’re finding something of use in the series. I, too, draw the 7 a lot.
My always recurring card. Lovely. Haven’t pulled a card in over a year. Funny how this would resurface now. Thanks, Sarah. (And I mean the thanks, for real.) I especially like your take on it. Apt.
As for the death card, which I meant to comment on, but life took over… I was taught a long time ago that death (the card) and death (itself) is but transition. It’s a long and difficult lesson to learn. And not one supported by modern western society. So thanks for your frank appraoch there, too.
I have been very much enjoying your tarot series.
xm
In the Minor arcana, odd numbers represent the Self as an individual, while the even numbers represent the Self in relationship.
Wands = fire, action, physicality
The 7 of Wands is about “standing your ground” within your own actions or decisions.
It’s also about your own (past) behaviors being in conflict with your Self.
I too think it’s interesting that the second set of staffs in the Xultan deck are all together, while the first set and the Rider Waite deck have one wand/staff separate from the other six. A reminder that all facets of our Selves are One?
Charles – You provide some fabulous information to work with here in terms of the evolution of 5, 7 and 9. It’s a pleasure reading your contributions.
And yeti – thank you for your interpretation of the 7s. The Thoth makes this particularly clear.
“You ever notice how all your old ways start to get up and fight back whenever you try to change something in the context of a self transformation practice?” Oh yes.
This became clear to me several years ago when I was reading Neale Donald Walsch, who wrote, “In the absence of that which you are not, that which you are – is not.” As if the universe says to you, “Oh, so you want to be that? How badly? Even when *this* happens?” And so you get your context. Things ramp up a notch, and you get to decide whether you do, indeed, want to be/do what you have chosen.
Amanda – I’m breathing with you.
yeti & charles —
thanks for the insightful comments — really great additions to understanding this card & its context.
“the so-called dark night of the soul can be dissipated or at least reduced in intensity by getting up and doing something.”
yeah — and it’s amazing just how seemingly minor that something can be and still get the ball rolling in important ways.
“Maybe this is the true meaning of ‘valour’ in this reading: the courage to engage in the struggle for self-acceptance.”
And I’d add another angle here: acceptance of not only what you know yourself to be, but also of all the things you don’t want yourself to be. That didn’t really come through entirely clearly in the article.
yet another uncanny tarot article, and the second uncanny post here of the day:
“Maybe this is the true meaning of ‘valour’ in this reading: the courage to engage in the struggle for self-acceptance.”
indeed.
*deep breath*
…and again… and again.
Seen in the context of all the 7’s fire is shown to be what breaks the deadlock of getting too obsessed with the sphere of Venus. The mind as swords breaks, Futility (I’m most familiar with the Thoth deck), emotions as cups get moldy, Debauch, and receptivity expressed as disks is blackened and lifeless, Failure. This reminds me of how the so-called dark night of the soul can be dissipated or at least reduced in intensity by getting up and doing something.
And yeah, humdinger is a polite way to describe the ride this year. USA in particular and the whole Modern project in general is having some kind of midlife crisis, teenage drama-fest, rigor mortis and rebirth all at once. Like all those wands clacking around. This up coming sun spot maximum is gonna be a doozy. Sitting around drinking (7 of cups) musing about (7 of swords) past failures (7 of disks) sure won’t help. Action (7 of wands) is required to ground this current. As usual, the oracle speaks from the structure of the time and the minds involved. And something has to die to achieve victory. Hey, I didn’t do it. Look at the map. With the wand path out of the sphere of Venus you unify your consciousness with what carries on instead of with your cast-off shells. You ever notice how all your old ways start to get up and fight back whenever you try to change something in the context of a self transformation practice? Just like America in 2010. A most appropriate card for the times.
For me, the most important symbol of the 7 of Wands is that the man is on higher ground. We see the “attackers” only indirectly, by the tips of their wands, attempting to strike the man who is out of reach. The implication of valor is that he is “taking the high ground,” in the metaphorical use of that phrase. But he is literally above the battle ground, unreachable.
I usually compare an odd minor arcana with the next lowest odd card. So that would be the 5 of Wands. Odd cards are often cards of conflict. In the 5, everyone is on the same plane, nobody has an advantage, it is “the thick of battle.” But this is not a card representative of an intense battle to the death. I think of it as a more competition than a battle. But the fight is confusing, attacks are coming from all sides, and it is hard to gain an advantage (the high ground). Compare the 9 of Wands, the next higher odd card. The battle is over, the man is the only one left on the field of battle. He bears the scars of the conflict, and behind him are the wands he took as trophies from his defeated enemies.