Six of Wands :: The Flame of Inspiration Arrives Home to the Body

Six of Wands ~ Wild Unknown Tarot ~ Kim Krans

My card for this month is the Six of Wands, the card of 'Victory.' This depiction from the Wild Unknown Tarot speaks quite naturally to the movement and direction of Fire. From the Sufi perspective Fire rises, Earth moves horizontally, Water flows downwards to find its level and Air is unpredictable movement and the space within. Ether is the stillness out of which they all arise.

The base of the card is a tangle of menacing Wands, so dense that no light shows through. Gradually individual Wands appear as the eye travels upwards into white light and then to the butterfly itself. Its colors of green and blue connect to the elements of earth and water and as it's a creature of flight the air element naturally comes into play, the wands themselves are fire. The backdrop of white space very much has a feeling of ether about it, stillness, silence, expanse.

What does this say about the traditional meaning of this card? That freedom/victory is balance, that it rises above? The butterfly's two antennae mirror the sign for victory and peace both but more interesting to me is that they mirror the Wands below. As if victory and peace require us to assimilate in a skillful, conscious way that which we wish to master, to overcome. This reminds me of Chöd practice, the Tibetan buddhist practice founded by Machig Labdrön in the 11th century in which one offers oneself up to the demons, which is to say to anything that obstructs the achievement of freedom which generally comes down to an attachment to egoic thinking.

Machig Labdron ~ Artist Unknown

Lama Tsultrim Allione has translated this into an accessible practice for the western mind while maintaining the traditional form in her Feeding Your Demons work. It's a valuable tool to use at any time but it feels particularly resonant for the current and fraught-with-demons, our own, that we find ourselves in. I wouldn't have associated this card with Chöd work but as this is what has presented itself to me and it's my month card I've decided to follow up and attend a class towards the end of the month with one of Tsultrim's students on this very work.

In the RWS deck the image is that of a warrior returning from battle carrying the carrying the wreath of victory. He is surrounded by a crowd to welcome him back. His victory is applauded, acknowledged by his community. Success as an interdependence. And while that is less explicit in the teachings of Mächig Labdron it is the foundation of any buddhist practice, that it be for the benefit of all beings.

I particularly like the version from the wonderful Tarot de St. Croix by Lisa de St. Croix. I have found this deck to speak so clearly for me and was a bit surprised by its clarity as the color palette of predominate orange is not one I'd normally gravitate towards but it is a stellar deck for me.

Six of Wands ~ Tarot de St. Croix by Lisa de St. Croix

In this depiction we see Brigid, Celtic goddess of the sacred flame, of inspiration and creativity. Her robes flow around her like fire and her head is crowned with a greening wreath echoing the vibrant ground she stands upon. I love the way her flame is the one that everyone is lighting theirs from, she is the source of light from which others may succeed, might carry their own torch of victory.

The two women in the background with their head coverings add another layer of mystery to the card. They remind me that 'victory' can be quiet, it can be humble, can take place in the background. The quiet connection of these two women around the candle makes me think of Jesus's words, "where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there." Which is another way of saying the Beloved begets Herself. S/he IS the communion that arises out of love's flame. The body as place of arrival.


In the Thoth deck the card is called, Victory. We see a representation of Jupiter, planet of expansion, in Leo the astrological sign of expression and assertion, with the purple background overlaid with fiery orange Wands. Thoth system has its own details and perspectives that don't always appear in the RWS or Marseilles systems but looking at this card I do get a feeling of majesty, of one-pointedness, of vision and mastery.

Thoth Tarot ~ Six of Wands ~ Victory

The Eye of Horus on the tips of the top two Wands speak to that clarity of vision, that clear-seeing that is needed to forge ahead. I like the inclusion of this symbol as it brings in the feminine in the form of Wadjet, who personified the Eye of Horus. She was the tutelary deity of Lower Egypt and later associated with Bast, Sehkmet, Mut and Hathor. The lotuses on the bottom two Wands mirror this feminine energy with the Phoenix on the tips of the center two Wands.

This blending of masculine and feminine energy echoes the Major associated with this card numerologically, The Lovers and this gives me a further clue as to its nature. As in the beautiful card of the Tarot de St. Croix it says the heart must be involved, engaged, there must be a union of opposites of some kind for victory to arise. In many ways this card is the result of the two preceding cards, the celebratory feeling of the Four and the friction of the Five. It is a card of great personal power.

Rosetta Tarot by M.M. Meleen

Rosetta Tarot gives a nice rendering of this card with a slightly more pronounced feminine slant. The creator includes Sehkmet as two golden Wands. She has folded hands and a headdress with the symbol for Jupiter and the lion tails on either end further this feminine leonine energy. The Wands are shaped like the Olympic torches to signify that sense of triumph and victory. The central Wands are flanked by phurbas, a ceremonial knife symbolizing the cutting away of illusion. These are topped with triple vajras another buddhist symbol associated with the thunderbolt. The lotus Wands towards the base of the mandala complete the balancing feminine element.

As in the Thoth representation there are nine flames here which the creator links to the card of the same suit entitled, Strength. Nine also relates to the Moon numerologically and that lunar, reflective, feminine energy is brought forth. It reminds me of the Tarot de St. Croix version with its feminine receptivity to the sacred fire.

We're about half-way through the month now and so far it has definitely had elements of creative breakthrough which I suppose is a form of 'victory'. I've felt quite inspired the past couple of weeks and was acutely aware of this recent Full Moon as it was in fiery Leo. Being a Fire sign myself this confluence seems to have impacted me in a productive and positive way. My Full Moon ritual was rich in a way that I've not experienced before being more of a New Moon woman. I'm interested to notice how being aware of the card's energy generates the energy. Or perhaps it narrows my lens to focus on how that energy shows up in my life. I shall have to be on my toes for next month's Five of Wands theme but for now, as this card suggests, I'm content to enjoy this sense of mastery.

Egyptian Goddess Wadjet ~ 'The Green One' ~ Eye of Horus

Backbone and Flame

Seven of Wands ~ Wild Unknown Tarot

My card for this month from my year ahead spread is the Seven of Wands. A lone flame shines brightly in the darkness creating a halo of brilliance around it lighting up the sky nearest to it. The flame is the one area of color on the card. It looks human, the flame, with its fiery head and dark body, arm out to the side, shining its light. It stands out, black and manifest, the other Wands just outlines, intimations, retreating from it through the strength of its sheer brilliance. 

As I looked further at it the flame figure began to take on a runic quality to it. I knew I'd seen that runic shape before but the runes in the Elder Furthark alphabet didn't line up. So I pulled out my Haindl Rune Oracle and there it was, top left corner, Kan as he calls it, the sixth rune, more commonly known as Kenaz in the Norse system.

Rune Kan/Kenaz ~ Haindl Rune Oracle

As it turns out Kan/Kenaz is the rune of illumination, strength and power through knowledge. It brings light to us in the darkness. It allows us to see what is really there, what has long been hidden and by seeing transformation can occur. There is an alchemical quality to this rune, a kind of base metals into gold, ignorance to awareness, shadow to light. When I look at this depiction of the Seven of Wands I feel that, the flame rising out of the blackness at the bottom of the card to shine fully on everything that surrounds it. And in the depiction below, too, the figure holding his own against the unknown.

Seven of Wands ~ Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot

Traditionally it is the card of standing one’s ground as we see in this depiction by Pamela Coleman Smith from the Rider-Waite deck but there is more to it than that. It has to do with showing up for your life with conviction and the strength to uphold those convictions when your own inner critic or outer influences try to unseat you. The Seven of Wands says now is not the time for rhetoric or verbal sparring, now is the time to shine without apology, shine without disclaimer. It’s about inner vision and the courage to forge your own path, go against the current from that inner knowing. 

The Thoth deck speaks to this courage calling the card, Valor. Valor, another name for audacity, boldness, strength in the face of adversity. Backbone is another word for valor and I like the somatic quality this brings to the card. Sitting straight I can allow my breath to run up and down my spine, my body a beacon of stillness while my light shines, illuminates every cell, bone, ligament, muscle. If I imagine my breath as a slender torch, brilliant and beautiful, forging a path up and down my central channel I can access more of this Seven of Wands energy, it expands my lungs, creates space, opens and centers at the same time, my backbone as inner wand supporting me.

Seven of Wands - Valor ~ Hermetic Tarot & Thoth Tarot

Since this is the suit of Wands we’re looking at the areas of ambition, creativity, ambition, drive, desire. As an Aries I’ve got loads of that…and also as an Aries it tends to peter out quickly as I get bored and want the challenge of something new. I might look at the Seven of Wands as guidance to stay the course with some of that ambition and drive, to resist the impulse to give in to all the other ideas and creativity brimming over in my psyche and instead stick to one thing only and see it through, bring all my creative power and focus to that. This card is suggesting that I bring the strength of my will into the picture and allow it to work with me, to support me, to defend the part of me that wants a less scattered creative life.

Starchild Tarot ~ Seven of Wands

As this is a seven it also correlates to the major arcana card, The Chariot. It is interesting to note that it's called The Chariot and not The Charioteer. The emphasis is on the vehicle not the personality and when I get this card in a reading I sense I'm being asked to find the place where my will and the divine will are one, the place where they are yoked. Looking at the Seven of Wands there is a similar feeling of finding balance, of knowing what kind of movement and stillness is required to maintain equilibrium  I like the version above. It gives that feeling of partnership, of harnessing strength and instinct with skill and wisdom to move forwards, to shine, to create, to grow and expand.