Queen Of Wands

This is *not* from the Rider-Waite Tarot, but I like it

"Don't wait for help; you can perform magic on your own" this wasn't my fortune, it was Melissa's horoscope, but she sent it to me and I am happily appropriating it as a guiding voice. And so today I am going to speak of me, and magic and the Queen of Wands.

Long ago I learned how to read Tarot, using the old Rider-Waite deck that was passed along the family. Rider-Waite originally published the cards in 1907, but this deck isn't nearly that old- but it does date from 1959 (date of publication, not sure when we acquired it). I collected many decks over the years, giving away some of them, keeping some, using others for art projects or bookmarks. But the Rider-Waite is the one I use for reading, and it is carefully wrapped with a purple cord and soft cotton, stored in the sandalwood lined courtship box on the mantel. All these precautions are necessary, not just for reasons of mojo, but to preserve the cards from the oils and acids of the skin and air, insects and light. Yet some of them have been damaged from years of use, but they work the same, non-the-less.

I don't use them very often anymore- although I love to read them, I can never read for myself. Never been able to... I'm certain that they lay out just fine- but I am unable to be objective. I read for others though, and have read for profit in the Silver Dove and by request, I have read in bars in New Orleans, in parks, in coffee shops and hotels, and I taught Ariel how to read them for her senior project at school. I don't like reading for money although that is always a temptation- I like reading when people ask me to, and when I am in the mood. Same thing for palms- with even rarer instances of reading- I *have* to be in the groove for palms, otherwise I just see a hand. Nothing else. But then sometimes it comes on strong and I can see the story- and there is a compulsion to tell it, to others, to myself. Magic.

There are lots of explanations for the cards- Tarot cards date back to the middle ages and beyond, in different formats. Mainly as a game that became a prompt for interpretation. The symbols and names describe the archetypes and hero's journey as studied by Jung and Campbell, resonate within all of the stories that we tell each other, and the rituals and celebrations of our lives. The suits are easy enough- they are the old alchemical elements of earth, air, fire, water, found in their forms across all cultures. The magic of the deck can be found in the mathematical theory, supported by physics- both chaos physics and string. How it works is that a random selection of a set is placed in order- constructing a narrative. The selection of the cards can be attributed to magic, fate, fortune, the collective conscious, luck of the draw, the unconscious self - however you chose to see it. The skill of the reader is in decoding the images and creating a narrative that applies to the client. It's like writing a story for that person, at that time. Creative insights from another to help you see your situation anew.

Yet, yet I also believe in the magic of it, because that's what I do.

The Queen of Wands is my card at the moment, the card that signifies me. There is a prescriptive means of signification- according to coloration of the person, personality and response, inclination. Oddly enough, this usually fits- more archetypes. Wands are the symbol for fire and energy- not the element that I mostly am associated with- and yet, it is. I am full of creative energy, intellectual energy- the ability to question, think,discourse, write, create. My natural coloring is red hair and hazel eyes (of the green-brown variety), freckles everywhere, tall and large and strong but not particularly graceful or athletic. The queen of wands is shown with sunflowers, a cat, the season of summer, a throne of lions. The land behind her is barren- all of the green growth is contained in her wand and the sunflower she holds. The magic she makes on her own- and thus we come full circle.