By Sarah Taylor
Courage. Regenerator. Master.
There is no explicit presence of the element Air in today’s reading; there is no allocated space for your thoughts to lead you through this leg of your journey. Instead, they play a supporting role to your creativity, your emotions, your connection to your body and those things of use in the world around you.
I have tended to view the Rider-Waite Smith version of the Seven of Wands as an emergence of the unconscious, and the ego-based reaction of resistance: an armed figure who is alone save for the six wands that rise up to meet him, held by no-one. This breakthrough into awareness is echoed in the Voyager Tarot.
The imagery in this version of the Seven of Wands is archetypal, representative of the world of Spirit; the only hint of human-ness is a hand holding a stone cross. There is a sense of one’s being brought into the presence of something larger than oneself, a form of reckoning, a confrontation.
The word “confrontation” can conjure up images of conflict and aggression. It might be that these are by no means new to you. They have been with you all the time; they are you: the you that has felt little peace, the you that has fought to hold something in check, and which is now asking for you to let it go, and let it in. In psychotherapy, the term “confrontation” is a wake-up call, and the message it carries can come through to you like a gradually brightening light, or a strident alarm that throws you out of bed. Either way, you have always been the architect of your own awakening, and you have the means to work with it.
The title, Courage, suggests drawing on what is available to you to support you in this experience: you have creativity, you have heart, you have others — whether people, or places, or things. Underlying all of these is your intuition, which is the intermediary between conscious and unconscious, helping to ease communication between the known and the unknown.
But if you’re counting on thinking your way out of this one, then it might be useful to understand that it was thought that got you there in the first place: thought at the expense of your connection to your heart, your inner fire, your rootedness in existence. What was rational and logical — what made sense — offered its own form of safety. Next to thinking, after all, the alternatives can feel chaotic, a forest of grimacing totemic gods. But gods laugh at our plans. So do our heart and the fire burning inside us. Right now matter has little need of intellect; we justify much on the path of compromise.
And, so, after emergence, a re-connection to wisdom. The Sages in the Voyager Tarot are the elders, the wise man and woman, and both the Sage of Cups and the Sage of Worlds indicate a maturing of heart-centeredness and deepening of purpose. From vertical, upward-thrusting movement, the cards transition into circles — the nautilus, the wheels — suggesting a new cycle. What is unleashed from its psychic prison becomes a valuable resource that is both practical and holds the potential for mastery.
Astrology/Elemental correspondences: Seven of Wands (Mars in Leo), Sage of Cups (the earthy aspect of water), Sage of Worlds (the earthy aspect of earth)
The Voyager Tarot website: www.voyagertarot.com
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.
I’m so touched by your lovely words, P Sophia! Thank you. Yes, accept and heal yourself first…. ((()))
Lizzy: I am so glad to find your still here. I often think of you and hold you in prayer. As I remember many months ago you mentioning (under Huffy) your mother and family patters …there are similarities of experience for us there. Thank you for repositng the link I was going to take a look for it today. Regarding your observations, I am not sure about the healer M. O. it has been a life’s (continuing daily) work just unraveling this acceptance within myself.
So comforting to know you are well and to know your sweet spirt is still contributing here!
Ps think the dream also reveals that you have a powerful gift for healing others.
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/whale/
P. Sophia – I AM still here my sweet! I changed from huffy to Lizzy! I thought it was time to lose the huff… That is just the most amazing dream, expressing a profound state of grace and healing, of some kind of completion (confess that I’m quite jealous!). Thank you for sharing it,
“What is unleashed from its psychic prison becomes a valuable resource that is both practical and holds the potential for mastery.”
So true Sarah, so well put and so true. thank for this reading. And until you actually reach this point of intuition and knowing, in finally rightfully claiming your resource of spirit for yourself, can liberation be felt. And at this point it is no longer of importance how your spirit was squashed your hole life. You finally let go and allow acceptance.
This reading for me is so connected to the Chariot card we have been meditating on these last several weeks. It is in understanding and feeling that ‘Protection’, over you and in your heart, is always there that allows the potential for mastery.
Speaking of totems…. (I wish our dear Huffy were still with us here at PW to appreciate/share), …I had a dream last night about ‘my’ whale. I saw him in the water swimming towards me and a young man who was there in my arms professing his great love in tears to me. My heart was opening and shining so bright in my chest. The whale jumped out of the water and began leading a way for us down the path/road was saw there. I woke up feeling very thankful, protected, open and loved.
Thank you all for your acceptance and allowing me to share here.
xps
Hi Sarah,
Thank you for this illuminating piece.
“They have been with you all the time; they are you: the you that has felt little peace, the you that has fought to hold something in check, and which is now asking for you to let it go, and let it in. In psychotherapy, the term “confrontation” is a wake-up call, and the message it carries can come through to you like a gradually brightening light, or a strident alarm that throws you out of bed.”
I gave myself a horoscope reading last night, a card for each house of the zodiac. The first house card was the 7 Wands, and I was alarmed, to say the least. Who am I confronting? Who do I have to prove myself to, or defend myself against? This piece and explanation of the 7 wands just says it all! It’s me!!! And reminded me, once again, it is very difficult to read for yourself objectively. The emotions are always going to cloud everything.
Thank you for this reading, it has a lot of relevance for what is going on for me right now. (Sage of Worlds was in my reading too……we are all soooooo connected)
Om Shanti,
Sina
thanks Sarah, that makes so much sense. Cheers.
No problem, Daniel. To extend the metaphor of the ‘wake-up call’ — I believe that each of us selects which alarm clock to buy, each of us sets the clock before we go to sleep. In other words, a part of us chooses the circumstances of our awakenings. It’s just that we don’t always know that we are making choices as we go along, or why. I don’t see this as a moral question, or even as an experience that should feel ‘fair’ or ‘unfair’, nor do I see it in terms of looking back and feeling that we could/should/might have done something different. I simply believe that the unconscious will out, and that it has its ways and means, and a part of us is in alliance with it when it does so.
Thank you Sarah! I was wondering if you could clarify what you mean when you write “Either way, you have always been the architect of your own awakening”. Can you elaborate on that?
“But gods laugh at our plans”. Yes! Since losing my main job last Christmas I’ve been through many fires. Never thought it would be so hard to scramble out of the hole, but it is, these are times of crisis after all. But it’s also opening me up to a new way of being in the world, making me less scared, more creative, more generous towards life and open to another way of living it. Thank you for this stunning piece Sarah, for your “breakthrough into awareness”!