Iona Grant

Court Cards: Fiery Wands

A lot of people struggle to connect with the Court (sometimes known as Face) cards. Maybe it’s difficult to relate to royalty (for some maybe not!) or maybe it’s because there isn’t as much of a story in the images. The Pages all just stand there, the Knights are always on a horse, and the King and Queen always sit on thrones.

Some decks have tried to make these cards more relatable by renaming them. For example, Child rather than Page, or Elder rather than King. This can work really well, but it can also be a little confusing. Other people might relate each card to someone they know whose personality fits it. Maybe your mother is a lot like the Queen of Cups, or your friend is like the Knight of Wands.

I mentioned in the posts The Empress and The Sun that in Root Lock Radio, Weston uses a form of psychotherapy called Internal Family Systems Therapy as part of his practice. In particular, he uses this approach with the Court cards. The Page could be your inner child, the Knight your inner teenager, the Queen your inner mother, grandmother or any other nurturing figure, and the King the parent/guardian who is a voice of reason. They don’t have to match the same gender, so a King can be female, a Queen could be non-binary. Adapt any of these methods and find what works best for you.

If you recall that each element represents different areas of your life, and then try to imagine each court as a family, that can help make these cards click. That’s why I’ve chosen to cover each court separately, rather than the pages of the four suits, then the knights and so on.

Page of Wands: The page is quite youthful, wide-eyes, ready for adventure. They’re like the Fool. They don’t know much, but they are comfortable with that. The Page of Wands could represent starting a new project, something you have no experience in. Some people say the court cards can represent someone else in your life, so think about if there’s anyone in your life with this kind of energy and how you can help each other meet goals. Pages are optimistic, creative and open. Look back at the concept of Beginner’s Mind if you pull this card.

Knight of Wands: Knights remind me of teenagers, impulsive and self-assured. When you’re a teenager, you think you know a lot more than you actually do, and you’re more likely to take risks. Riding in on their horses, knights are adventurous and determined to win. This is especially true in the wands suit, fiery and creative. If you pull this card, think of areas in your life where you need to just go go go, without overthinking the consequences too much. The Knight of Wands is ready to put themself out there without fear.

Queen of Wands: This is one of my favourite cards. I love that this Queen has a black cat. The Queen of Wands is confident and self-assured, but with more experience and better balance than the Knight. Perhaps they have seen what can go wrong if you are too impulsive. There are lions on this Queen’s throne, which evokes memories of the Strength card, and the sunflower reminds us of The Sun. Not caring what other people think, the Queen is passionate and independent, a true master of their element.

King of Wands: The King is a leader of their element, inspirational and dominant. The salamander represents the element of fire, reminding us of the passion of this suit. This King is willful, and perhaps unwilling to accept compromise. Remember as we learned with The Emperor, that it is important to be aware of the difference between a good leader, and a tyrant. The King may face many challenges and threats, but if they are fair and compassionate, they can get through anything.

Ten: Cycles and Endings

Card 10 of the Major Arcana is Wheel of Fortune, which represents how your fortune changes, how you can be doing great one day and then be at rock bottom soon after. Have you ever been stressing out and dissatisfied with life, and then the next day something truly terrible happens and you wish you could turn back time to when you were just dissatisfied over nothing important? I’m sure the character in the Ten of Swords wishes they were the Ten of Wands, who in turn wishes they were the Ten of Cups or Pentacles. It’s all relative.

Take a moment to appreciate what you have today, because one day it will be gone. That doesn’t have to be a depressing thought. Without the changing seasons, the seed can never grow into a tree. If the leaves don’t fall to the ground and decompose, new plants can never sprout.

The number 10 is an end to a cycle, and what happens when it ends? A new one begins. Rebirth.

Ten of Wands: The character in this card is clearly overburdened. They can’t even see in front of themself. It reminds me of the feeling of burnout, when you’ve taken on so much sensory input, used up all your spoons and you feel like you’re about to drop. Sometimes it’s just not worth it, and you have to drop what has become too overwhelming for you. The person in this card could delegate their task, give some wands to someone else. They could have said no before taking all the ones they have. There is choice. Sometimes we don’t feel like there is a choice, especially if we are taking on all these responsibilities for the sake of someone else. But you can’t fill someone else’s cup if your own is empty.

There’s a story from Buddhism called The Raft Parable. Someone discovers he must cross a river and decides to make a raft to get to the other side. He puts a lot of work into it, and succeeds in crossing the water. When he gets to the other side, does he leave the raft or take it with him on land? He should leave it right, otherwise he will be overburdened. When something is no longer serving you, even if it was useful before, let it go.

Ten of Cups: This is like when you get to the end of a story and the last line is ‘And they lived happily ever after.’ Do you ever wonder, what does that even mean? What did they do next?

If you pull this card, take a moment and ask yourself: ‘what is my end goal?’ What would be your happily ever after? Does that even exist in real life? This card asks you to find joy in life, appreciate the love and friendship you have, and never stop cultivating it. Life takes constant effort, and as stable and harmonious as the people in this image appear, they have to keep supporting and appreciating each other to keep that harmony going.

I also think these characters look like when actors bow to the audience at the end of a performance. Don’t let your life be just an act.

Ten of Swords: When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change — Avatar Aang

This is a pretty disturbing card to look at. It probably feels like there’s no coming back from that. Remember though, that in the tarot, swords represent thoughts. They could represent having negative thoughts about yourself, thinking that you can’t possibly move on from whatever bad things have happened. Remember that as 10 is the end of a cycle, it means a new one will begin. Now you might be at the bottom of the Wheel of Fortune, but tomorrow maybe not. If you can change your perspective even a little bit, you might find a way to move forward. Like the phoenix, you can always be reborn and change your path to a better one.

Ten of Pentacles: We see several generations here enjoying their time together. The old man has achieved material wealth and abundance, and as his life cycle comes to an end, he can pass that on to the next generation, allowing them stability and comfort. I think the dogs look like greyhounds, which are famous for being lazy and loving to relax. Because the pentacles represent the material world, this card may be asking you to consider what else do you want to achieve if your physical needs are met? Sometimes it’s so hard to get to that level of stability that you might not have thought about what comes next.

I hope you have enjoyed my exploration of the numbered cards of the Minor Arcana. Next I will be writing about the Court cards: Page, Knight, Queen and King, starting with the Wands suit. If you have any ideas for what you’d like me to talk about after the Minor Arcana is finished, please let me know!

Nine: One-Track Mind

It feels like I’m being called out if I’m procrastinating and pull a Nine of Wands. The Nines cards all ask you to do the work, the kind of work depending on which one you pull. Work isn’t just what you do to make money, it’s also working on yourself to improve your mental health, or working on your relationships so that they go as smoothly as possible.

Like The Hermit, card 9 of the Major Arcana, sometimes you have to just close the study door and get stuff done. Avoid distractions, have time to introspect. In balance, this is healthy, and necessary.

Nine of Wands: After you’ve done planning and preparation, it’s time to buckle down and get on with it. Rachel Pollack interprets this card as meaning that you are trapped in conflict and can only see enemies around you. Sometimes when you have been working on something for a long time, you develop an attachment to it, and can get defensive if anyone points out any criticism. Maybe it’s because you’re exhausted and can’t face having to edit a paragraph in an essay, or you feel like you can’t practice a song or speech even one more time.

I find that in these moments, we can experience a lot of growth. When things get hard, and we persevere and do better than we expected as a result, what a huge accomplishment that is. If what you are doing is truly worth it, you can power through a little longer. And then of course you deserve the most glorious rest.

Nine of Cups: The Nine of Cups is known as a ‘wish fulfillment’ card. It’s about enjoying the simple pleasures in life. Think of the song Feeling Good by Nina Simone. Write down things that bring you joy and revisit it anytime you need a little sunshine in your day. Here’s some examples to get you started:

drinking a cold glass of water, taking a bath, watching a sunset, playing with a puppy, being in nature, smelling a new book, fresh bed sheets, hearing rain hit your window, kicking autumn leaves, eating comfort food.

Nine of Swords: I think of this as the insomnia card. It represents nightmares, not being able to sleep for worry or fear. It’s usually about something that you’ve got out of proportion, the monster under the bed. It’s a horrible feeling of dread, but when the morning comes, it often fades away a little. If you pull this card, make plans for how to cope when you get these feelings so that you are more prepared.

Insomnia is truly one of the most horrible experiences we commonly experience. If you can’t sleep because you’re worrying about something, it might help to write down what is bothering you to revisit in the morning. Don’t lie in bed tossing and turning, get up and try to do something relaxing for a while before trying to sleep again. If you get nightmares, it can help to re-frame what happened in the dream in a more positive way. Take a moment to make calming or comical changes to what happened in the dream. The killer chasing you with a knife finds that the knife spontaneously turns into a bouquet of flowers, the exam you didn’t study for turns out to have been rescheduled for next week.

Nine of Pentacles: This is the card you can think of coming after the Nine of Wands. It’s about accomplishing something, usually in a material way. You’re self-reliant and self-aware, knowing who you are and how to achieve what you want.

Think of the skills and attributes that you have and think about how you can use them to enjoy abundance in your life. Think about what you’ve achieved and how you got there. If you feel that you’re still at the beginning of your journey, this card encourages you to have self-confidence. Create your own life, and be certain that you can achieve things. Side note, it took me ages to notice the cute snail in this card! Pentacles can represent nature, so notice the natural abundance of planet Earth, and remember to be grateful for the beauty that exists all around us.