{"id":62021,"date":"2012-10-10T12:01:25","date_gmt":"2012-10-10T16:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=62021"},"modified":"2012-10-10T12:44:30","modified_gmt":"2012-10-10T16:44:30","slug":"an-encounter-with-the-ace-of-wands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/reading-tarot\/an-encounter-with-the-ace-of-wands\/","title":{"rendered":"An encounter with the Ace of Wands"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Sarah Taylor<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Until you’ve found fire inside yourself …
\nYou won’t reach the spring of life
\n— Mawlana Jalal Al-Din Al-Rumi<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On September 30, just over a week ago, the Weekend Tarot Reading featured at its centre the Ace of Wands<\/a> — known as the Ace of Staffs in the Xultun Tarot deck that I was using. The reading was a potent one: all Wands, a rush of energy — the kind that makes you vibrate as if you\u2019ve turned into a tuning fork. Which, of course, you have.<\/p>\n

\"Ace<\/a>
Ace of Staffs from the Xultun Tarot deck. Click on the image for a larger version.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wands represent the creative energy that lies at the foundation of all existence. I see it as the field of potential from which everything else springs: feelings (Cups), thoughts (Swords), matter (Pentacles). The tarot deals with all four levels of creation, but it is the Wands that are the initiators.<\/p>\n

Wands energy is the sensation that we get when we are turned on — and I use that phrase broadly as well as specifically. It ignites us; it is fire; it is heat, tingling, licking us into action. And, thus, we become tuning forks: we are tuned into the frequency of creation. We\u2019ve hit the same wavelength with something, or someone, and that wavelength urges us to do something. Now!<\/em><\/p>\n

How you feel it in your own body depends on the part of you it is spurring into action. When you\u2019re with someone who makes your blood surge through your veins and your juices flow, it\u2019s because Wands energy is asking you to meld and create something new — whether through alchemy or biology.<\/p>\n

Artists might feel it as a tingling in their hands and arms which cannot be quieted until it is discharged in some artistic endeavour. Runners feel it in their limbs; performers feel it in the pits of their stomachs. I clearly remember the sensation of its coursing through me as a child, and when my mother — exasperated at the child-shaped dynamo pinging off the walls around her — asked me what it was that I wanted, all I could do was to match her exasperation with the cry, \u201cI need<\/em> to create<\/em>!\u201d That was the only way I knew how to articulate what I was feeling; I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve managed to articulate it any better since.<\/p>\n

As the first card of its suit, the Ace embodies this energy in its purest form. So pure, in fact, that we cannot experience it in its entirety. We are bound to human form, while the Ace is boundless. We can feel its approach, we can feel it brush against our psychic skins, we can feel it entering us — but we can only hold so much of it. The Ace is an archetype<\/em>, and like all archetypes it is never fully knowable.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

So imagine, if you will, standing under a vast cloud. Imagine that cloud holds pure Ace of Wands energy. You can feel it, you want some of it, and you send out that intention either consciously or not. Now imagine a tendril of that cloud spiralling down towards you. You can take that tendril — Ace-in-miniature — and you can start to fashion it into the kind of energy you wish to use.<\/p>\n

Sounds good, doesn\u2019t it? But what you might forget in the zingy-zappiness of it all is that the Ace of Wands requires your active participation<\/em> to make the most of it. Otherwise that cloud is going to remain exactly where it is, and you where you are, with the great blue yonder between you. Can you hear the silence?<\/p>\n

Therefore, the clear directive is this: if you want it, and you\u2019ve got it, then use it! How you then use it is in your hands, and is described in the following nine cards in the Wands suit. You can start empire-building (Two), risk-taking (Three), communing with others (Four), scattering it to the four winds (Five), floating on a sea of adulation (Six), resisting the unknown (Seven), surfing on its currents (Eight), adopting an I\u2019m-not-entirely-happy-but-I\u2019ll-wait-and-see attitude (Nine), or taking on more than you imagined you would or could (Ten). All of these emanate from the Ace.<\/p>\n

\"Ace<\/a>
Ace of Wands from the Thoth Tarot deck. Click on the image for a larger version.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Ace of Wands is yang. It is phallic: it works well directed, it holds within it the seed of creation, and the more adept you are at using it, the more pleasing the result. With the absence of discipline, lack of enthusiasm, or loss of intent, the outcome is more likely to be all promise, no delivery. Magus<\/a> interruptus<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Another thing that is worth mentioning is the idea of \u2018masculine\u2019 vs \u2018feminine\u2019: its being yang doesn\u2019t mean that the Ace is the reserve of men. That would be to misunderstand the idea of polarity. Both genders (and all permutations in between) are a composite of masculine and feminine, and as individuals we are choosing in every moment to what extent each of those is activated.<\/p>\n

For example, when I am doing a tarot reading, I engage primarily with the feminine, receptive aspect of my psyche: I become a vessel for the gathering of information. In essence, I am a Cup. To translate what comes to me into words on a screen starts to re-engage the masculine; sometimes I will even have my pen in hand. When I\u2019m at the gym, I engage primarily with the masculine: step up on that treadmill! Pick up the pace! Run run run! Then I step off, glowing gracefully, and radiate sweaty heat into the room. Very feminine.<\/p>\n

The point to all of this is to be able to identify the feeling of how the Ace of Wands engages with us, and then to hold the awareness that action<\/em> is required to bring it to manifest fruition. Its appearance in a reading signals the presence of a potent resource. It is, therefore, worth understanding that you are empowered to do more with it than you might think — and, conversely, that it is governed by the law of ‘use it or lose it’.<\/p>\n

Knowing this law might help you to understand that your life doesn\u2019t simply have to \u2018happen\u2019 to you: you can choose to engage with a flow that forms the background to everything<\/em> that happens. You don\u2019t have to be swept along, helpless; you don\u2019t need to battle it upstream (although the choice is always yours). You can choose to look for it, to align with it, and to ride it. When you do, you are literally in synch with the universe.<\/p>\n

To conclude, I want to write a little about the three versions of the Ace of Wands that I have chosen for this reading. The reason for the selection is that one card will probably resonate with you more than the other two. That resonance is Wands energy in action, even if on a more subtle scale. If one feels like it\u2019s really wanting to grab your attention, it is worth noting. It might be a deck you can work with; it might be leading you into some self-exploration; it might be both.<\/p>\n

\"Ace<\/a>
Ace of Wands from the Rider-Waite Smith Tarot deck. Click on the image for a larger version.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first card is the Ace of Staffs from the Xultun Tarot deck, created by New Zealand artist Peter Balin, and its imagery is inspired by the Maya. Each of the Xultun Aces is accompanied by an animal totem — in this case, the jaguar.<\/p>\n

The jaguar in Mayan mythology bridged the world of matter and Spirit, which is what we do when we work with Wands energy: we are invoking jaguar medicine. It is shamanic, and therefore approached with reverence — which I don\u2019t see as \u2018awe\u2019 as much as \u2018moving into alignment with\u2019. Both Wand and jaguar are highly stylised — and for some reason I feel that jaguar takes centre stage. But it is a card that has opened up to me over the years — moreso recently — and I would suggest giving it the benefit of the doubt before dismissing it.<\/p>\n

The second card is the Ace of Wands from the Thoth Tarot deck. Its creators, Aleister Crowley and artist Lady Frieda Harris, have reputations that tend to polarise people into Thoth and non-Thoth camps, to which this website has borne witness. Nevertheless, I am including it for a few reasons.<\/p>\n

First, it is considered a \u2018classic\u2019, and that alone puts it in the running. Second, I believe that where controversy exists there also lies a discussion point, and I would hope that everyone felt they had a right to contribute to the conversation. Third, and on a more personal note, I find the artwork deeply engaging — at times beautiful, at others discomfiting; both valuable. The Ace has impact, both visually and viscerally. Of all of the three cards, this embodies a Tesla-like jolt that really is Wands at its most electric. It describes a particular state, and one that is worth acknowledging.<\/p>\n

The third card is the Ace of Wands from the Rider-Waite Smith tarot. It is a pity that the inclusion of the name \u201cSmith\u201d is discretionary, given that it was painted by Pamela Colman Smith, who was commissioned by a fellow member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Arthur Edward Waite, to illustrate a 78-card tarot deck that remains peerless in terms of popularity and accessibility.<\/p>\n

The Ace of Wands is no exception. Its symbolism manages to walk a fine line between the esoteric and the apparent. It has layers that I still haven\u2019t discovered, and yet on another level its meaning is entirely clear: creative energy is the energy of God. When we work with it, we are working with Spirit itself. Moreover, it is a gift freely offered to us, but with a sense of authority behind it that feels hard to ignore. That hand is hard to ignore. And it is forthright, etched with an aura of light. \u201cUse it,\u201d it seems to say, \u201cbut remember where it comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three cards; three different approaches to describe something that is ultimately indescribable. Sometimes images have the edge over words, though. I would invite you to feel your way into whichever card calls to you and explore what you encounter. What moves you? Because if it is moving you, you\u2019re moving with the energy of the Ace of Wands.<\/p>\n

If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free\u00a0tarot spread generator<\/a>\u00a0using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread.\u00a0This article<\/a>\u00a0explains how to use the spread.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Sarah Taylor Until you’ve found fire inside yourself … You won’t reach the spring of life — Mawlana Jalal Al-Din Al-Rumi On September 30, just over a week ago, the Weekend Tarot Reading featured at its centre the Ace of Wands — known as the Ace of Staffs in the Xultun Tarot deck that I … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":470,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[183],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62021"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/470"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}