Beyond the Shuffle: Tarot, Life & Everything In Between

Journey of the Wands

• Adrienne Amari

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What are you passionate about? What excites you, and makes you want to get out of bed in the morning?

The Suit of Wands is our internal fire. It's what drives our passion, sense of adventure, excitement, and instinct. We've done the Swords, and the Cups, so now come along with me on the Journey of the Wands.

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What excites you? What makes you want to get up in the morning and go? Hi there, and welcome to Beyond the Shuffle, a podcast where we explore this wild ride of the human experience through the lens of tarot. I'm Adrian Amari, your host, guide, and fellow adventurer. So settle in, open your mind, and let's go beyond the shuffle. So we've talked about the Suit of Swords, we've talked about the Suit of Cups, and now it's time to go into the fire talking about the journey of the wands. Now the Suit of Wands is generally represented by the element of fire. It is life, force, energy, that spark that ignites our passions, our desires, what gets us moving, taking action, what helps us get out of bed in the morning. We talked about how the cups was very much our intuition, and the wands is that gut instinct that just kicks in. It can represent big ideas, innovation, that creative spark that gets things moving. It's often where we find purpose in life, what gives life its meaning. Why do we even get out of bed and get going? Now, one thing I love to point out about the suit of wands from the Rider Waite Smith version is that all of the wands have little sprouts of leaves coming off of them. So they're not just dried out old sticks that we're using for kindling. They're very much alive. They're growing, they're still in action. And I think that's a really important thing to realize. The wands aren't dormant, nor do they want us to be dormant. Wands are also seen as a masculine or an active suit, and I think we can all agree they're kind of phallic, so that tracks. But in my mind, that always makes sense for that passion part of it. And it's not always physical passion, not at all. It's that inner passion that keeps us going. So let's start our journey at the ace of wands, that divine spark, the initiation. It's the ideas that start that wheel of motivation turning that excite us. And a lot of the time when the ace of wands comes up, we're looking for something more. We're looking to chase an idea, to say yes, to follow something, to have a new adventure. One reading that always sticks out to me with the Ace of Wands, and I have to honestly say, I don't always remember readings I do. A lot of the time it comes out of my mouth and it's kind of gone. And her beginning card, it was a Celtic cross we were doing, and her beginning card for Where You Are, she pulled the Ace of Wands. And I said to her, You're starting fresh, you have a new spark, a new ambition, you're kind of ready to start living again, and it all feels very exciting. And would I say that all the time? Probably not in those words, but after the reading, she told me that she had been recovering from an addiction, an addiction that she had for I think it was something like 19 or 20 years, and she was finally clean, finally sober for almost a year now, and she felt like she had a new lease on life. She was ready to live, she was ready for new adventures, she was ready to follow that spark to see where it leads her. And that always just sticks out in my mind as that perfect ace of wands meaning, reading moment. So maybe that helps you too. And a lot of the time when the ace of wands comes up, we're not short of ideas. Like we have all the ideas, maybe too many ideas up in our mind there. But it's the encouragement to say yes and to actually get moving on one of those ideas because thinking about it is no longer enough. The door's open, the match is waiting to be lit, so let's go. So we ignite that spark and we move in to the Two of Wands. And suddenly we're confronted with choices. There's a world of possibility sitting right in our hand. The world is our oyster. But how do we bring that spark into the world and let it burn? Which path do we follow? How do we take those first steps forward? Now, when the Two of Wands comes up, I usually see it as a choice. A choice between doing what we always do, what we're comfortable with, what seems normal, and another direction. Because in a world where so many choices exist, why are we doing the same thing and expecting something different to happen? If we're chasing our dreams, our passions, and our desires, well, something probably needs to shift. So we try it out, we test the waters, we see which way we want to go. And it's not saying that you have to commit to that path right there and then, but we do need some kind of plan of action. Because if you think about it, wands is fire, and fire burns, and it can burn uncontrollably. But if fire has a path to follow, it will burn down that path. And that's why the wands needs a plan of action. It needs a container so that the energy goes in the right direction, not everywhere at once. So we do it. We take that first big bold step forward. And then we move in to the three of wands, where the energy begins to expand. We're stoking the fire. We see more opportunities opening and we test them out to see what's going to work for us. We begin to feel confident, and we've really moved out of the planning phase into the forward momentum phase. Now that's not to say there's not plans to still be had, because we do have to keep our eyes on the prize. But we've had our first taste of success and it's feeling pretty good. But of course, we have to decide which way are we going to expand? How are we going to expand? So while we have a little bit of stability, we still have to keep moving forward and be open to opportunity and change. There's still so much growth to be had, but it's exciting. And we do feel momentum continuing in the Three of Wands. So we've been moving forward, we've been putting in the work, we've been taking forward steps, and we reach the Four of Wands. And now here's where we get a little bit of a break. We've created that solid foundation. There is something that is worth celebrating. And we celebrate with the people that matter. It's a place that feels like home. It's where we feel like we belong. And sometimes that's a physical place. Other times that's with people. And that's why so often the four of wands comes to represent reunions and weddings and those types of celebrations that we have that celebrate belonging, community, and togetherness. And the four of wands always, always makes me think of celebrate good times by Cool and the Gang. Because we do have to take time out to celebrate. We just have to remember that there's still work to be done. So rest, celebrate, enjoy so that you have the energy, the excitement, the momentum to continue on. Now things have been going good so far. We've reached some milestones. We're feeling like we're making progress. Life feels pretty sweet. Until we hit the five of wands, and that's where the struggle starts. Now, a lot of the times, kind of like the five of swords, people see the five of wands as an external struggle, and it can 100% represent that. It's when we're screaming into the void, when no one's cooperating, when our ideas aren't being heard, maybe it feels like we're wrangling cats. It's not malintentioned, but it's frustrating. Everyone thinks that their way is the best way to do things, and people aren't really working together. It's competition, it's a clashing of egos. And if we look at the card itself, it looks like they're trying to build a barn and they're not really getting anywhere because they're not on the same page. So if we're coming at it from the external angle, how can we step up and take control? How can we be assertive? A lot of times the five of wands points to being more diplomatic, to stepping up and being a leader, to allowing other people to be heard, taking all of these great ideas and making something more communal out of it as a way to get through. On an internal level, though, the five of wands can be where we're really struggling with our instincts or our personality. We're trying to figure out what version of ourselves we really want to commit to building. Because while fire burns hot, it can also be fickle. And if it feels difficult and like we're being snuffed out, it's hard to continue to burn. Maybe we're seeing other people as competition, maybe we're in that constant game of comparison, and it's definitely not helping. So do we let our flame be blown out, or do we continue to fight it and to burn? Now, because I see the journey as a progression, I'm gonna go with we continue. And this won't be the case for every situation in life, but in this story it is, and once we do that, we get to the six of wands. Celebration, success, achievement, recognition. It can feel like a good place to sit in because our ego is satiated. Maybe people are finally paying attention to what we're doing. Maybe we have a job well done, we're getting a pat on the back. The six of wands encourages us to celebrate the wins, even the small and ridiculous ones, the milestones. And sometimes it can feel like a plateau, which isn't always a bad thing. Now, the six, we're not done the journey yet, so we know there's still work to do, but sometimes we have to look back and be like, you know what, I've gotten this far. But of course, we have to be careful of the amount of validation we actually need and whether it's internal or external. Because the truth of the matter is sometimes people won't see or celebrate you. And that's why sometimes you have to celebrate your own wins and there's nothing wrong with it. But I love the Six of Wands because there is a certain amount of success and victory to it. You can see the character on the card is being welcomed home by a parade. There's a wreath and a laurel, and there's a certain amount of pride that goes along with that. And I find a lot of the time when this card comes up in readings, it's because people won't recognize or accept the pride they deserve to step into. It's when we fluff it off and we're like, oh, you know what, it wasn't a big deal, but it actually was a big deal. So don't deny yourself that celebration and that recognition because we do deserve it and we do need it from time to time. We're human, we are tribal, group, community creatures. And there's a part of us all that want to be seen. And in the five of wands, we're fighting to be seen and heard. In the six of wands, we are. And the eight of wands brings change. Even after we've felt beaten back, we get that spark of inspiration igniting again within us. Things move quickly, new opportunities arise, momentum builds, and we have to strike while the iron's hot. Now, the eight of wands doesn't tell us to say yes to everything, because I think after a period of being stuck and defensive, it's easy to want to be like, yes, yes, yes, things are moving again. But we have to trust our gut and trust our instincts to jump on the trains that are worth riding. So not everything that comes along is going to be worth pursuing. The eight isn't saying blindly go into everything. It's saying take the opportunities that feel right. One other interesting element of the Eight of Wands that I don't think is often talked about, but in his book The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, Arthur Waite refers to the Eight of Wands as the arrows of love, which makes sense because it makes me think of Cupid's arrows just flying through the air. But they are a card of haste, of hope, and of speed. I also actually love that in the reversed version, he says they can be arrows of jealousy, which to me just sounds so intense, but I also love it, along with quarrels and disputes. And I personally don't often read it this way, but I think it does make sense because if you think about all that momentum, all that movement, all that fire behind it, but turning it in a more negative fashion, we do get arguments, we get explosiveness, we get frustration because things aren't moving and happening. But I just thought that was a really interesting way to look at the eight of wands. But we're going with the upright positive meaning, things move and shift and change, and we're doing pretty well. Momentum is building, actions are taking place. And all that is well and good until we reach the Dine of Wands. Where struggle comes back, challenges we faced before have reared their ugly head again, maybe in the same fashion, maybe in a new form. It stings our ego a little bit. We might feel a bit wounded, we have to bandage up, we become guarded again, and can be hard to trust because we've been burned before, and who wants to be burned a second or third time around? So we build a wall, we protect ourselves, we set firm boundaries, and you know what? We have the resilience and the grit to maintain them. And I think what's hard about the Nine of Wands is that we had that momentum and things were moving right along, and it felt so good, and then here comes another wall. That can be a really frustrating energy to feel stuck in. And sometimes we do need to protect ourselves. We do need to protect our energy and set up those boundaries and draw our line in the sand. The passion and desire and drive isn't gone. It's just filled with frustration and has been rerooted. And if we don't deal with it, if we don't put up those boundaries and dig our heels in, we can get resentful. Because by the time the nine of wands comes up, we should learn our lessons. We should know how to deal with those challenges. And yes, it's frustrating that they come up again, but we got through them once before. So even though we're maybe a little worse for wear, we can get through them again. And then we reach the Ten of Wands. Tired, exhausted, overwhelmed, overburdened. We're carrying a heck of a lot on our plate. We're pretty much just stuck in struggle mode, but we're so used to it that we just keep on pushing because what else are we going to do? We're tired. And what the Ten of Wands actually encourages us to do is to drop some of it. Why are we carrying so much? And a lot of the time we're not only carrying our own stuff, we're carrying the stuff of a whole bunch of other people. And we can make up all sorts of reasons and stories why we can't put it down. But at the end of the day, we have to wonder whose passions are we taking on and why are we putting ours to rest while we do? We can delegate, we can drop, we can conserve our energy because sometimes we need to. But the good news with the Ten of Wands is that we're nearing the finish line. And sometimes to make that final push across that white line, we do have to conserve. Because if we keep pushing and we overwhelm and over-exhaust ourselves, well then what good are we to ourselves? What good are we to anybody else? If you look at the card, the house feels kind of far away. And there's nothing saying we can't go back and pick up a few things later. But right now, let's finish. The ending of the journey of the Ten of Wands is definitely not as happy as cups or pentacles, which we'll talk about next week. Because we do end up overworked and overtired, but sometimes that's the cost of chasing your dreams, passions, ambitions, and following your instinct. Fire does eventually burn out. We can't burn forever. And that's not a criticism or a flaw. It's just a fact of life. But the good news is after we cross that finish line, we get some time to rest and recuperate. I feel like the tens always are like, ah, you get a moment of rest no matter what way that rest goes. And then we get that spark again, and we're excited again, and we're ready to jump out of bed again. And what's really interesting to me is in a lot of readings lately, I get the Two of Wands, the Three of Wands, and the Ten of Wands. And it's funny because I think a lot of the time we do reach that two and three stage. We have the idea, we start the planning, we take those first steps, and then we fizzle out. We get stressed, we say we have too much to do, we don't have enough time, we don't have enough energy, we don't have enough attention. And maybe that's true. But if the wands represents our life force energy, that passion, that excitement, that adventure in life, maybe it's worth fighting for a little bit more. Another thing that's interesting is both the swords and the wands are the active or masculine suits. And those are the ones that result in exhaustion, in failure, in defeat. And I think a lot of the time it's because we're kind of forced into that keep going, keep pushing, go ahead, next step kind of energy. And that is not sustainable. We need the receptive energy that the cups and the pentacles bring to have even balance. But I think that's why those active suits tend to lead to not so happy endings because we can't stay in that pushing forward motion, masculine energy forever and still thrive. So, food for thought on that one. But that is our journey of the wands the inspired action, that spark of life, the taking the world and burning it down in the best of ways possible, which we see even more through our court cards. But like I said before, we're leaving court cards for another day. I hope you enjoyed this journey through the suit of wands. And this week, I want you to ignite a spark in your life. To say yes, to take movement on an idea, on something that excites you, and see where it leads. And if you're up for sharing, I am always happy to listen and to talk tarot. You can find me on Instagram at Beyond the Shuffle Podcast or Adrian Amari Tarot. And if you're enjoying this podcast, please make sure you give it a like, a good rating, leave a comment, make sure you subscribe, and be sure to tune in next week on Beyond the Shuffle.