Monday Tarot: Knight of Wands

Every Monday I will do a quick one-card draw from one of my Tarot (or oracle) decks and interpret the card. This isn’t going to be ‘introduction to the Tarot’ or ‘intro to divination’ or anything like that, and my interpretations should not at all be seen as the only or correct way to read the cards. In fact, my interpretations will more focus on how the card is at play in my own life, how it is connected to the Otherfaith and our symbolism, or my impressions from the card.

The way I read Tarot is very, very intuitive. I’m not writing these posts to teach, but rather to share my thoughts and hear other ideas about the cards and their influences. If you’re expected someone who has read endless books on Tarot or can tell you their history, I’m not your girl! I read the cards the way they speak to me, and that’s pretty much it.

Today’s card is Knight of Wands from the Shadowscapes Tarot.

Personal Relevance: The meaning of this card for me is tied up with its relevance to the Otherfaith too – when I see this card, I think of the Laetha. Our god of fire and flame and passion, the son of the Clarene, and my patron (in the sense that he has dominion over my job/vocation), he is tied to this card through its fiery symbolism. The Wands suit first jumped out to me in connection to the Clarene, and so is tied to the Laetha as well (his being her child). And the Knight of Wands captures me perfectly – passionate, but a bit over confident, a little clever but lacking the wisdom to match. This is a card of becoming, of mastering fire and passion – a journey I have been on since the Laetha first burned my hands.

I have grown from the wild conflict of the other Wands cards, attacking and biting at all I see. I see know where better to strike, but I still strike too easy. My emotions are still a storm in me, but I’m learning each day how better to use my tongue and inner fire to create effective change, rather than unleashing it like a wildfire. Of course, this card is a Knight, so I’m not quite where I want to be yet.

Otherfaith Relevance: As I mentioned above, this card makes me think of the Laetha, and the entire suit of Wands in this deck is connected to the Clarene. Some of the Clarene’s holy animals are the fox and lion, especially horned lions (since the Clarene herself is horned – ram horns, antlers, etc.), and those animals feature prominently in this deck’s Wands cards. We have on this card a young man seemingly riding into battle, red haired and elfin – just as her son the Laetha is. And this card is about cleverness and passion coupled with overconfidence, another trait of the Laetha.

We see her the combining of mother-child symbolism – fire and lion – and we can draw from this the relation between the two. the Laetha owes almost all that he is to the Clarene, to her burial and remaking of him, and he does his best to be a dutiful son. Still, he is sometimes cocky and uses the holy passion his mother has gifted him with to cause harm and hurt – which is on him to heal. Just as his mother is a holy healer, he too has the capacity to heal, and his mother is not in charge of his messes. If we injure through our pride, we must heal through our compassion and humility.

This card shows us a way the Laetha can come into our life – with a crash, with a roar, with firey intent. He can come to us also as messenger and warrior of his mother, and his fires may be used to burn away that in us which holds us back from passion and joy. His fires may be directed and controlled and set our hearts alight so that we can see anew, so that we can breathe anew. He comes and burns confidently in us, and his asks us to join him on a journey to highest passion and ecstasy. He leads us, in this card, fire raging around him, on a quest for our gods. He takes us, along his hot-coal path, to his mother, to our holy mother, to the world we long for.

[Want more of the blog? Follow through RSS to receive consistent updates!]