By Sarah Taylor
A period of coming together, which set something into motion, transitions into an experience of reconnection with the inner, and the liberation and opportunity for creation that this brings.
The Eight of Wands, also called “Swiftness”, spells a time of something being set in motion — a connection or reconnection, a return to balance after the odd-numbered Seven of Wands.
In this particular version of the card, a man and a woman face each other, their eyes filled with light, two beams connecting their third eyes.
My sense is that this is equality in action, where both protagonists are exchanging something of value with each other. This might be in relationship with someone else, or it might refer to the bringing into equilibrium and opening the lines of communication between our inner feminine and inner masculine. Or both.
This connection is taking place on an energetic level: Wands are associated with erotic energy, or life-force, which has potent creative potential. It isn’t necessarily sexual, although it is through sex that eros is encountered in one of its more powerful forms. Whatever form it takes, the feeling it engenders is unmistakable in the Eight of Wands: a quickening, a sense of current that flows like electricity, setting something into motion, bringing something into being.
This flow feeds into the next card, The Moon. Here, the descriptors feel apropos:
“End of karma,” “Examination of the subconscious,” “Threshold of the new kind of awareness.”
Whatever was instigated in the Eight of Wands finds its path through to The Moon — a breaking of, or breaking through from, something that then opens a doorway into the shadowlands of Soul. It is here that we are able to access a wisdom that has, until now, been unavailable, or somehow obscured from view. The Moon speaks of introspection — a tapping into a language that is more immediate, more dreamlike or ‘magical’ than the words we use in our everyday lives. Like its cosmic counterpart, which is only seen through the reflection of the light from the Sun, The Moon communicates to us indirectly, using sensations in the body, feelings and a felt-sense of a presence that holds information that we can put to practical use elsewhere.
The Moon can elicit some strange responses in us, from fear to a feeling of not quite being able to distinguish what is coming at us from the margins of our consciousness. I’d like to suggest that this ‘strangeness’ is something to invite in. It is a meeting with the otherness of those aspects of who we are that are unfamiliar — sometimes new — to us. That can seem disconcerting. In truth, it is an invitation to ourselves. To our Selves, in actuality. And that can feel strange, because it is a part of us that speaks in a way that is both strikingly familiar and not wholly knowable nor understandable. But knowing and understanding are journeys, or waypoints on the journey, rather than end-points. It is the starting of the conversation that is key.
The result of this conversation is a new way; a road down which we travel where we are more fully in our power and knowing. It is the path of greater alignment and creativity, the path of “integrity” — the word coming from “integer,” which is Latin for “intact.”
In short, this reading is about reunification, plain and simple. Not easy, perhaps, but it is our willingness to negotiate and meet with our inner realms that opens a route down which we can walk with greater ease and comfort: ease in who we are, comfort in what we have found. The feathered bloom that seems to spring from the figure in the Three of Wands is an energetic blooming that not only lights our path, but is the creating principle behind it. It is grace, expressed in who we are and what we do. There is unparalleled beauty in that.
Astrology/Elemental correspondences: Eight of Wands (Mercury in Sagittarius), The Moon (Pisces), Three of Wands (Sun in Aries)
If you want to experiment with tarot 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 explains how to use the spread.
Amanda – I’d go with your interpretation, coupled with Jere’s, both of which feel spot-on. They have definitely augmented my own take on the Eight of Wands!
Thank you for this beautiful reading Sarah. It reflects so much of where I’m at right now, though rather than a sense of strangeness, there is endless sadness coming up.
..There’s a fuck up that has been recognized, reflection is the course of action, a re-creation is in order.
..Off the top of my head.. I’ll read the interpretation as soon as I finish typing, had to speak ahead of myself,.. all interesting fun.
Thanks man,
Jere
sarah — the image of the man actually looks doubled; and in fact, if i’m seeing it clearly when i look at the larger version of the spread, the male profile in the background seems to have a bit of mustache, while the male profile in the foreground does not.
do you have any thoughts about this? the beam of light running from the woman to the man/men also looks doubled. i’m not sure what to make of this… is it perhaps an image of the transformation that ensues when one engages in the transmission and reception of eros? that while yes, it is a loop, once the circuit has been completed, one is not quite the same as one had been before?
or…?
a very curious image, indeed!
LOVE this reading, thanks Sarah