Iduna´s Apples

2018-07-26

Blossoming wands

What is the power of the wands?

The suit of wands are about passion, willpower, fire, torches, the fire starters, the fire and the yearning that burns inside of us. When you delve into the Tarot for just a little while you know all that.

But the wands are more.

If you look at the Rider Waite Tarot you will see that the wands sport little green leaves like Aron´s staff in the Old Testament. Why do the wands blossom? Why does the symbol of unleashed willpower carry such fragile trappings? Isn´t willpower – especially when it is totally focused - meant to be untamed, wild and primal, tearing down everything in its path? More often than not this is the application of willpower preached by motivational coaches and business gurus, the all-stop-signs-out all-devouring forest fire. The wand becomes a battle staff or a club even if “modern” management techniques wrap the club up in gift paper.

So again, why the leaves? They are bound to get crushed when you strike someone over the head with your wand of willpower.

The reason as I see it may be twofold.

For one, this fire inside of us is not just a raging forest fire out of control. It is the fire of creation, that spark of the burning thorn bush that we all possess. It is meant to create, to warm and to nourish but not to destroy and burn down. It is a constructive fire, the one in which we hammer the white-hot iron of our dreams. It is the fire of life, supposed to create life even where there was none before. It is what makes us human and alive instead of automatons and undead

When you look around at work, among your friends and neighbors doesn´t it sometimes feel a bit like the Hollywood zombie apocalypse has already happened, like the hollow-eyed walking dead are already among us? Personally I see too many people who (abwickeln) their lives without truly being alive. And when the spark lights and they show their fire it is only aggressive, destructive and purely selfish.

Fire is dangerous or rather potentially dangerous. Playing with fire can be risky but it also makes us feel deep inside the heart that we are alive and more than a system of biological functions. I´m convinced that this is one reason why the wands blossom in the Rider-Waite and many other decks. The wands stand for our life force and our passion, our ability to create and to breathe life into something or someone.  As I said fire bears risks. It can potentially get out of control. But it is the stuff that powers our dreams and when we truly harness our power and passion we can apply it like a surgeon´s scalpel to do exactly what we want without hurting anyone.

The other risk of course when you live your dream is that you fail, that you make a fool out of yourself.

Oops!

Did I just say Fool?

Wasn´t there something about the Fool in the Tarot?

The Fool carries a wand too with his little satchel, his bag-o-tricks that contains all the things he needs. The Fool is also about beginnings, about that one first spark that lights the fire. He does not over-think. He just jumps off the cliff and refuses to fall. He also has a flower in his other hand that corresponds nicely to the green leaves on the wands. The Fool is absolute potential, the fullness of life that is unafraid to dream.

And there may be a second reason why the wands grow green leaves.

Willpower does not need to be destructive or even uncough like a blacksmiths hammer. Willpower can be gentle and caring, it can accomplish what it wants without destroying gentle buds and leaves. The gentle wand is as effective as the one the clubs you over the head and even more so. If you know what you want and burn for it, you don´t need to step on other people. Living your dreams isn´t a boxing match unless you want it to be.

Traditionally it is said that water can be flexible and assume any shape, fill any container it occupies. Wouldn´t that be even more true for fire that has no physical body whatsoever? We can adapt our fire and our willpower to fit a situation and to get what we want while exercising care and a loving (com)passion. This is no weakness or stupidity although our competitive society brands it as such. It is wise self-control when we realize our true strength.

Honestly, how much fun is it really to live your dream when you only do it at the expense of others?

[font=Calibri]So let your wands blossom![/font]