Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Alright, I know that I just started posting about learning the individual cards, but I'm already going to change that.  I decided a daily post on my exploration of a new card, with a description of that card, might do me a lot of good, but would make for very boring reading.  My insights into the cards, as a newbie, are not likely to be earth-shattering, and if you really want to know what the cards look like, you can get a deck for yourself, or look for pictures of individual cards online.

Instead, I'm going to post highlights of my three-month plus long journey.  Little tidbits, like the fact that leaving the card out for a day and letting my subconscious work over it is a much better process than turning it over and immediately trying to process it.  Or that when I turned over the three of Wands, it felt strongly like a reading, not a lesson.

Little things, but things I feel are important and/or interesting.

The Two of Wands

The Two of Wands shows a man holding a hiking staff, standing at a fork in the road.  The path(s) are golden, the vegetation very green, and the sky and distant mountains reds, yellows and oranges.  Birds and a high mountain are in the direction of one fork, a lower mountain on the other.  Two ornate wands, each appearing to be 10-12 feet high, are planted haphazardly in the ground between the two paths, and a stag stands near each.

This card is obviously about a choice or choices.  Based on my personal experience hiking, one choice (the higher mountain) leads to a higher view and greater reward, but is likely to be much more difficult than the other, which is still good, but perhaps not as spectacular. Also based on personal experience, you should be very sure about your commitment to a venture before choosing the harder path.  Consider carefully which would be better suited at this point in your life.

Also, according to the book, items that number two generally indicate the involvement of others.  Obviously I will need to learn much more about each set of cards (aces, two's, etc) after I finish my overall view.  Not to mention numerology, esoteric symbols, and a whole slew of other things.  :)

The Ace of Wands

I have finally started the next part of my journey, which happens to be Step 2 (part 6) in the Easy Tarot Handbook (ETH).  That is, Meeting the Tarot, starting with the Minor Arcana in general, and the suit of Wands in particular.

My first step was learning a few basic facts about Wands in this deck.  They represent Fire here, and most often are about business and work.  And as is appropriate to Fire, the cards in this suit are all red-tinged.

The Ace of Wands is no exception.  Black and yellow compliment an overall red theme.  The single wand emits fire, the planet might be Mars, and the storm clouds are glowing fiery red, presumably reflecting what I choose to believe is the sunset. The book definition you'll have to read for yourselves, Dear Readers, but I will give you my own personal interpretations.

The storm clouds make this, to me, a very good card.  I love storms, especially the violent thunder-and-lightening variety.  And it is obviously a card about beginnings--that special energy-charged quality of the air right before such a storm starts.  And whether the lightening pictured is heat lightening or storm lightening or even simply energy dispersal, it very much relates to Fire and, well, energy.  :)  The appearance of twilight (also a good time for me, as I'm very much a night person) is also a sign of good things coming, and the view of stars symbolizes great potential and the ability to go far.