In relationships this continues, with a heavy emphasis on communication, issues of power, balance, and sex!
TRADITIONAL MEANING
A new creative process. Starting a new business. A grand beginning.
ROMANCE READING
This is a theme I will return to at the beginning of each of the four suits, but it should always be kept in mind that the Ace of any suit is the purest, most distilled form of the fundamental attributes of the suit itself. It also symbolizes the new, so think new influences, new people, and new ways of doing things. In this way, change is good, even for change-fighters like, oh, most of us. Even when we get to the dark and contemplative Swords, there is still reason for hope, as you will learn as you read on!
Aces are always welcome. They soften the blows of the dark cards and add to the positive cards with new, fresh, and concentrated energy.
To start, the Ace of Wands is clearly a phallic symbol. For those of us who appreciate the phallus, this is nice. You have the hots for each other. Sexual mojo.
In a love reading, the Ace of Wands suggests a new beginning, whether in the form of a new romance, or a new phase in an existing one. It also suggests strong sexual chemistry, regardless of whether your relationship is one of opposite or same gender. Even more, er, lastingly, it suggests excellent, easy, non-stressful communication, which is a sorely underrated bit of wonderfulness.
If you have something important to say to someone special, the Ace of Wands is here to tell you that you have the skills to communicate effectively, charmingly, and possibly to the point of removal of clothing, you sweet-talking devil!
POSSIBLE OUTCOME
Sexy times for you, with lots of warm connection to follow! This one’s a cuddler!
TWO OF WANDS
TRADITIONAL MEANING
Imposition of power. All the responsibility, but none of the authority. Bluffing in order to seem important.
ROMANTIC READING
Are you trying to impose your will on another? Is someone trying to control the relationship in a stubborn or selfish manner? The dull, often pedantic and mildly crazy-making oppressiveness of the Two of Wands suggests that some rather tiresome, insecure behavior is at hand. Sure, you or they might get their way, but it’s at great expense, such as the respect another might have for you.
This is the mean little brother of the worst aspects of The Chariot, so if they are in the same spread, watch out for thoughtless and selfish behavior. These are petty control issues and unreasonable expectations, such as needing to know where your partner is at all times, expecting texts to be answered instantly, or needing three calls a day. Super fun, and WAY conducive to romance, no?
POSSIBLE OUTCOME
Bleh, on it’s own. The tiresome behavior listed above continues. Carefully look at the other cards in the spread to see how this might play out. Lots of happy cards suggest this is just a blip, but mixed or negative spreads suggest you might be falling for a rigid and controlling person…unless that person is you! YOU ARE NOT THAT PERSON. You are so much cooler than that. You are secure, calm, trusting with time and utterly trustworthy yourself, and wow, that’s really attractive, isn’t it?
THREE OF WANDS
TRADITIONAL MEANING
Excellent leadership. New, positive levels of responsibility coming to you. New opportunities to show off your skills.
ROMANTIC READING
Ah. This is the card the Two of Wands pretends to be, but fails. This is someone who is competent, calm and kind, and it’s the nice little brother of the Strength card. This means enjoying the comfort that comes with a person who is a grown up or a situation that is comforting and competent.
This is the man that makes the reservations, shows up on time, and smells like soap and good manners (they smell like victory), but who might also have hidden, sexy tattoos underneath his crisp, button-down shirt. This man knows what he is about. He’s a good kisser. He takes good care of his pets. He can cook at least one really good meal. He wants to cook it for you.
As a situation, it means dating someone who makes you feel like an adult having a good time, rather than a kid playing at dating. Relax, and enjoy.
POSSIBLE OUTCOME
Yes. Keep seeing this person. This card with the Three of Pentacles or any good Cups card is sturdy romantic stuff, indeed.
FOUR OF WANDS
TRADITIONAL MEANING
Engagement, happy home life, new home, surprise happiness.
ROMANTIC READING
Oh, this is a little sweetie of a card. In a traditional deck, it shows two couples dancing under a chuppah, which is the small, four-posted tent-like structure used in a Jewish wedding. This is a card of celebration, a happy surprise that is not an unexpected outcome, but one that is even BETTER than your hopeful expectations.
It doesn’t mean marriage, necessarily, but it certainly does mean a happy union, and it’s a wonderful omen to show up in any spread. Paired with the Lovers or Two of Cups or Hierophant, though…yes, a commitment might be on the table, whether it’s the very first levels of this, such as romantic exclusivity, or even the Whole Beautiful Terrifying Catastrophe we won’t even name yet (because we aren’t getting ahead of ourselves, are we?). It certainly bodes well for any romance.
POSSIBLE OUTCOME
Happy Surprise! Fun! Celebration! Going Steady! Being claimed!
FIVE OF WANDS
TRADITIONAL MEANING
Competition. Playful fighting but hey, you might take an eye out! Struggle.
LOVE READING
Do you like to be right?
By this I mean, do you like to be right more than you like to be happy?
..and by THIS I mean, are you aware that beating someone into submission with a verbal Hammer of Self Righteousness is not actually conducive to intimacy or closeness?
Or, are you under the hammer yourself? No good. Someone is overwhelming someone else with a need to win at all costs. Even if they, or you, might think it’s playful banter, it’s actually exhausting to the other person. Both of your needs matter equally. If not, it’s really just mental masturbation for the person doing the hammering.
Don’t let your desire to be heard turn into a need to shut up your partner.
POSSIBLE OUTCOME
Hm. Changeable. You are stuck right in the middle of the battle of wills. I wish I could tell you who will win, but I can’t. And in love, really, shouldn’t both of you win? This might just be a single argument, so don’t fret. Just pay attention, with careful, measured observation.
SIX OF WANDS
TRADITIONAL READING
Victory. Triumph. Winning.
ROMANCE READING
So. This is a card of happiness and a sense of achievement. In traditional Tarot a knight is riding through town in the center of a parade, with banners and laurel wreaths all around him. Good stuff, but it is possibly of the shallow sort.
This is the first flush of triumph in a new relationship, a sense of “getting the girl.” Negatively, you might feel like you are dating someone you think is “out of your league.”
No such thing. No one is out of anyone’s dang league! People either fit in a good match of character, interests, sexual attraction, morals, emotional needs, and expressions thereof, or they don’t, but people are just people. Everyone is a hairless biped. That biped you are putting on a pedestal does goofy stuff alone when no one is watching, just like you do.
POSSIBLE OUTCOME
Be careful of idealizing either the person you want, or the relationship itself. Yes, this is a card of accomplishment, but not a card of emotional connection, so this is just a first step. Enjoy it, by all means, enjoy -- just know that it’s only a great first signpost.
In Even Better News:
In a well-established relationship, it might simply mean a lovely victory that has you both celebrating together. Someone gets a great new job! Someone passes the bar examination! Someone takes a risk and it pays off for both of you! Cork popping to com
mence!
SEVEN OF WANDS
TRADITIONAL MEANING
Fighting alone, against a group, and winning.
ROMANCE READING
Seriously, more fighting? Ugh.
Tiresome, I know, but relationships, especially more challenging ones, often require more corrections of balance or difficult confrontations. Knowing if that’s a worthy challenge or a futile one takes a bit of time.
I know. Sucks.
Depending on the placement of this card, it might be the card of a person being more trouble, in the end, than enhancement in your life. Of course you deserve success in love and life and to be happy. It would be so great to tell you this is all going to work out, but sometimes things just go wonky for nebulous, frustrating manifestations – or simply a poor fit. This is especially true in a spread with many Swords.
On the plus side, with any of the positive Cup cards, this can mean you team up, fight the good fight against outside foes and difficult life obstacles, and bond together in a positive way. It can happen! Carefully look to other cards in the spread to see if this might be the interpretation you can grab with your hot little hands.
POSSIBLE OUTCOME
Hm. Don’t lose heart, but really DO step back and drop your stick. Everyone needs to drop his or her stick (schtick?) and breathe a bit. Calm WAY down. Remember, this is not your adversary. This is another person, someone you LIKE, struggling to get needs met, just as you are.
EIGHT OF WANDS
TRADITIONAL MEANING
Rapid, sometimes overwhelming movement. Big change, happening very quickly.
ROMANCE READING
Oh man, this is going really fast!
If this is a NEW relationship:
Buckle up, Buttercup, because you are about to be swept up in a whirlwind. Sometimes, this is freaking GREAT, and all you need do is hold on and laugh, because you have found yourself a perfect match and it all falls into place because It Simply Can’t Help Itself.
This is rapid movement, sometimes of the overwhelming sort. Super fun, right? Right!
Just…be careful, because this is new.
Be careful, especially, oh dear especially, if The Emperor, the Magician or ANY of the Knights are in a reading with this card. Knights are all about rapidity and change, which is fun, but in this case, it might be a situation of rapid seduction with even more rapid departure. Keep your head, Lover. Slow DOWN. Pay ATTENTION.
If this is a longer term relationship:
YAY! Unstuck! Your relationship was a four-wheeler stuck in the mud, and the Eight of Wands is the friendly tow truck that just happens to drive by. Change, movement, busy-ness and business move rapidly, invigorating the both of you. New life, new experiences, and with those new experiences, fresh eyes. Good stuff.
POSSIBLE OUTCOME
Everything I said above? It goes double, here.
NINE OF WANDS
TRADITIONAL MEANING
Pause before the final battle. Readying yourself. Exhaustion.
ROMANCE READING
Oh dear. It appears that either a relationship, or a situation within the relationship, might be causing so much stress that it is hanging on by a single thread.
This is more work than fun. You are not quite ready to throw in the towel yet, but it feels as if one more crummy thing happens, just one more, it will be it and you will be gone. You really mean it this time, dammit!
This is the card of the person who stays loyal when others would have gone, stays in when others would have long ago moved on. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes hanging in is a good thing, and you get past this very tough time.
You have the strength for one more go. One. You mean it. Really.
But dang, you are pooped.
POSSIBLE OUTCOME
You are right on the brink. I’m sorry. It’s a painful and exhausting way to feel. Is your partner or romantic interest supportive of your emotional needs? Are they trying? I don’t mean words. I mean action? Then, by all means, stay.
If they aren’t, and you are there in spite of little encouragement or support, please remember to take very good care of you, given it appears you are the only one doing so. Also, don’t do that too much longer, Star Pirate. Here There Be Dragons.
TEN OF WANDS
TRADITIONAL MEANING
Taking on far too much. Martyrdom. Out of fuel. Being ground down.
ROMANCE READING
In the card that comes before this I wrote that you had one more “go” to give.
Well, this is the place that is WELL beyond that.
This is taking on way too much, doing all the heavy lifting in a relationship, and being the person whom people take for granted. It’s feeling very ground down, possibly resentful, and totally exhausted.
Sexy, huh?
Sometimes, only one person is holding the two of you together because one of you is in trouble. Whether it is suppressing your basic emotional needs for the sake of peace, or doing all the dang housework, it’s about doing too much, and gross imbalance.
Sometimes people like to be the person who does too much, and this can relate to issues of control. Sometimes it’s an unconscious way to keep distance, because how can you go deeper when everything is a mess?
POSSIBLE OUTCOME
Bleh. There are many complicated psychological reasons why this unbalanced dynamic might feel like “home” to you, but just because it is your past, it does not mean it needs to be your future.
Consider the possibility that “things going well” might be secretly terrifying for you. The higher expectations, the scary vulnerability, the unconscious fear of abandonment and loss that real intimacy can sometimes inspire can be terrifying, but that’s where the good stuff is too. The Best Stuff.
Please consider yourself worthy of the good stuff!
THE WAND COURT CARDS
The Court Cards of the Suit of Wands are considered to be the most appealing of the four suits, because they tend to be the most balanced and emotionally intelligent. There is a bit more Strum und Drang in the suits to follow (not TOO much, mind you), but these folks tend to be pretty even keeled.
Traditional Meanings and Romantic meanings blend when it comes to the Court. I will keep the focus on the romantic when we are dealing with the royalty.
PAGE OF WANDS
ROMANTIC READING
Traditionally a young person, female or male. A very young romance. Pages, as a situation, speak of important communication that shifts a situation in a different direction, but in the case of the Wands, this is less emotional and more practical. News changes circumstances in a positive way. The warm letter. The new contract. The good news.
As a person this could be you, if you are a young woman especially, or if more mature, it could be a young person associated with your romantic interest, such as their child. This is a nice person who is often accomplished, smart, and driven. Traditionally, they represent someone who might have blond or light brown colored hair, and medium toned skin. Attractive, and in a pretty much universally appealing way.
POSSIBLE OUTCOME
The Page brings news that brings good cheer. Kind young person in your life.
KNIGHT OF WANDS
ROMANTIC READING
Here would be your Golden God. He’s hunky and charming and good. He might be a bit clueless because he might have been so blessed genetically (and by life) that he just assumes everyone is as happy as he is, though not every Knight of Wands is traditionally handsome. As a romantic interest, well, he’s pretty dreamy to most people, even more for what’s inside.
Not usually the intellectual, but not dumb. Not even close. He makes others feel at ease, and cares about the well-being of others. He is earnest and kind, optimistic and extroverted.
As a situation, a Knight is always about the rapid approach of excitement and change. Being swept up. Sometimes this can bring with it seduction and abandonment, but the Knight of Wands is usually a pretty good man. He’s sincere.
POS
SIBLE OUTCOME
Excitement and change. New energy, or a new man. Rapid advancement in a relationship.
QUEEN OF WANDS
ROMANTIC READING
She is what used to be known as a “classy broad.” Elegant, stylish and warm, she is often successful in business, accomplished, and very smart. She is an excellent partner and friend, confident, pretty fearless, and often entrepreneurial. Again, tends to be light brown to blond hair, and medium skin, but that is just a traditional idea, and hardly applicable to everyone.
As a situation, it suggests that there is more than enough emotional intelligence here to handle most communication issues. She is a very kind and benevolent presence. She’s a catch.
ROMANTIC OUTCOME
Court cards as outcome cards tend to be nebulous, and often simply mean “add these attributes to the mix.” If you are mad for her (and you know she represents a specific person), having her in the outcome position tends to suggest that longing might be returned. Lucky you!
If you are looking for love, but currently single, she might be the person that is on the way.
KING OF WANDS
ROMANTIC READING
So, take everything that is appealing about the Knight of Wands and bring it here, but add to the witch’s cauldron the following: Emotional intelligence tempered even further with maturity and experience, a career or hobbies and interests enjoyed and pursued with gusto. Even better, add warmth, confidence, emotional availability, and a healthy sex drive, well into later years.
Bubble, bubble, no toil, no trouble.
As a situation, he simply means everyone involved is a grownup, and communication is good. Add him to Strength, and wow! Jackpot!
POSSIBLE OUTCOME
If you are looking for love, hold on to your hat. If you are interested in him and know who he is, the King of Wands in this position suggests a real romance might be on the table. He’s going to be fun.
Love Tarot for Beginners Page 4
