F ire is the element of spirit, that which is the least definable in our lives. We know that we have a vital life force energy, an essence, a unique quality that is sometimes called our soul or spirit. Our spiritual aspects are the part of us that connects us directly to the divine. When we create ceremony or read tarot cards, we are opening up a method of communication between our mundane daily life and our spiritual essence.
Fire has the incredible ability to not only transform but literally transmute one thing into something else entirely. Wood and paper turn to ash, water turns to steam, solids turn to liquid. This is symbolic of the divine creative spark that illuminates us from within, enabling darkness to turn to light, blockages to soften and melt away. The symbol of the fiery, flaming heart is a beautiful image that reminds us that through our heart and the voice of the heart comes the whispering of the divine and our illuminated self.
In the tarot, the fire element is related to wands, the stick of wood that figures carry and use in a variety of ways in the images of the cards. When wands turn up in readings, it indicates a spiritual aspect is at hand. If the person has asked about money, relationships, career, or health, there is a deeper aspect to the issue that may require a deeper look into the person’s heart and soul voice. Wands or fire indicate qualities of passion, creativity, dynamic energy, transmuting, and transformation. The appearance of several wands in a reading may indicate a time of creativity and power and possible spiritual initiation that may be connected to a particular spiritual teaching or teacher.
Fire also carries the ability to burn and singe, to harm us if we get too close. In the reading it may show that there is too much passion or creativity, that it can burn out the situation. There is a delicate balance when playing with fire and opening up to spirit is not always an easy process. In the teachings of alchemy, in order to turn lead into gold one must move through the fiery resources of spiritual change.
Ace of Wands: Fiery Seed of Intention
The Ace of Wands is a brilliant, fiery, and dynamic card. As mentioned, aces are equivalent in strength and power to the other major arcana. The Ace of Wands contains all the energy, potential ,and opportunities of the entire suit of wands. The element of fire is in full blaze. When the Ace of Wands appears in the reading, it has a significant symbol of energy, intention, dynamism, and force.
This card is the seed of spirit, the brilliant idea, the “a-ha” moment, the passion of a creative idea coming into our awareness. Fire symbolizes our spiritual nature, creativity, dynamic force, beauty, and play. The Ace of Wands is like a magic wand being offered out to you as an opportunity to align yourself more fully with your spiritual, artistic, and creative walk. This is like a fiery ember that has the potential to create a huge and blazing fire. This card is naturally linked to the energy of the Magician and Knight of Wands, both of whom hold magical wands that extend our intentions out into the world through a blazing, dynamic, and energetic fiery form.
In the Waite-Smith deck, a hand holding a wooden wand emerges from a mysterious cloud. Notice that the wand has green leaves on it, symbolizing growth and vitality encouraging the power of spirit and life into manifestation. In the background is a gray, calm sky which illuminates a stark contrast between the moment of arrival of the Ace of Wands and the context surrounding it. Behind the wand is a castle on a hill, indicating the potential of reaching one’s dreams through creative manifestation.
The Ace of Wands in the Crowley deck is full of brilliant, fiery, and dynamic energy and power. A huge wand rises up from the base of the blaze, ready to ignite the path and way forward. Lightning bolts crackle in a red background around the golden glowing wand, symbolizing the dynamic play and transformative power of fire and spirit. This card indicates a new way of thinking, creative power, and possibly a connection with someone who ignites the heart and mind.
Ceremony: Fire
As old as humankind, fire ceremonies are an important way for us to reclaim a connection to the natural world through the fire’s light, warmth, and beauty. Since the first fires, we have been entranced by their flickering forms to tell story, cook food, and warm our bodies. When we are seated by the firelight, everything around us softens and our heart naturally opens. Bringing the element of fire back into our lives is a powerful way to reignite our inner passions, open our heart center, and burn the old to create anew. Fire ceremonies can be used to activate more of your gifts in your life, release negative energies, and help open you up for divine inspiration and guidance.
Fire ceremonies are a wonderful way to honor and celebrate as well as purify, cleanse, and activate our gifts. Lighting a fire in the morning or evening, such as a candle, oil lamp, or even a small fire in a safe bowl helps us immediately reconnect to divine beauty and inspiration. By giving offerings to a fire or feeding it, we are honoring the act of feeding our own inner light. If we are in need of cleansing negative energy or releasing stagnation or blocks, it is powerful to create a fire ceremony.
On the new moon, call in guidance and then write down what you wish to clear or purify in your life. Burn what you have written and release it into the flame. As you watch the paper transform into ash, contemplate the power of transmutation. Put the ash back into the soil or your garden to complete the cycle.
Two of Wands: Igniting the Passion
Following the ace, there is a burst of power and creative energy. This is the moment when the quiet, glowing ember that rests at the bottom of the fire pit bursts into flame. Both the number two and the element of fire indicate a dynamic quality. This card opens us up further, taking the sacred dreaming in the Ace of Wands to the next level, the level of creative manifestation.
In the symbolism of the Waite-Smith deck, the figure contemplates a crystal ball, looking off into the future. He is visioning or dreaming all the possibilities. He moves through two wands firmly planted in the earth, as if they are a gateway. This card indicates a time to make a commitment to a dream or vision and take creative, passionate action! The landscape behind him is rich with possibility, showing mountains, a lake, forests, a path, and houses symbolizing the potentials of dreaming one’s life into reality.
In the Crowley deck, two Tibetan dorjes cross over one another to create a passionate, energetic connection. Dorjes symbolize lightning energy, indicating endless creativity, potency, and skillful activity. This card symbolizes a passionate union between ideas, creations, and people. Fiery embers glow around the dorjes against a cooling blue background. Together, they indicate the connection between fire and water with an element of love and beauty in focused creative form.
This card indicates that passion and creativity are present in a project or relationship. There is a coming together of ideas that provides a spark for growth both spiritually and creatively. When this card appears in a reading it often indicates a fiery and creative connection between two people artistically or romantically and may also signify conception of a child, creative project, or new wave of thought.
Ceremony: Candle Commitment
This ceremony is to honor taking a strong, directed, and committed step toward something in your life. Many of us do not wish to make commitments to ourselves such as self-care, working on a project we care about, or taking a class that we’re passionate about; we may even sabotage ourselves. By doing a simple candle ceremony, we can take a committed step that aligns us with our divine self. This can be a tiny commitment or something bigger and more spiritual. The power of commitment is the power of showing up. When we show up in our lives, we honor ourselves and allow for divine alignment to unfold.
Perhaps you want to commit to taking a class, doing a daily meditation, or having a needed conversation with a friend or relation. Decide on something you feel you want to commit to and write it down. Then gather two candles and a mirror. Find a place outside where you can be comfortable and create a ceremony in the evening or night time. If you wish, create sacred space and call in the directions. Then, face the east, the place of the rising sun where the holy fire rises every morning. When you are ready, hold up the mirror and state your commitment while looking at your own reflection. You may want to do this with a friend or two and take turns standing between the two candles while stating commitments. The two candles work as a threshold, signifying willingness to walk onto the path of commitment, to take the next step.
Three of Wands: Creative Alignment
After the fiery conception in the Two of Wands the energy becomes more balanced in creation and alignment in the Three of Wands. Here the ideas that have been ignited begin to take form and manifest in a clearer sense of purpose and inner truth. The Three of Wands is about putting our creative visions into speech and action. It is akin to the Buddhist dharma practice of aligning right thought, right speech, right action, and putting it into practice. This is a card of integrity, to align and harmonize our way of being, moving, speaking, and acting in the world.
In the Waite-Smith deck, we see a figure moving deliberately through two wands, firmly grasping a third. The ground below him is dissolving and breaking away as he gazes out onto the fiery landscape, the commitment from the Two of Wands carrying him further along his path. The background is yellow and vibrant, symbolizing creative energy, potency, and the power of will. Here passion becomes a steady fuel for creative manifestation.
In the Crowley deck, three golden wands cross at the center, bringing together the alignment of thought, speech, and action. Flower heads sit atop the wands symbolizing the blossoming nature of creative manifestation and opening up to our will in divine alignment. The background color of warm light orange indicates the creative fruition infused with light, beauty, and truth.
This card is a reminder that everything we speak has an energetic imprint carried into the manifest world. Becoming aware of our ability to manifest through speech is an empowering process that enables us to create more clarity in our life and also clean up toxic speech such as gossip or false promises. When this card appears in a reading, it encourages us to walk our talk, so to speak. This is a way to bring our spirit’s beauty and intrinsic self-worth into our work and our relationships.
Exercise: Creative Manifestation
As human beings, we have the infinite creative potential to manifest all kinds of dreams, thoughts, ideas, and visions, yet we often struggle because of our awareness of alignment. We may come up with ideas that are not our own soul’s inspirations but are instead others’ ideas about us and our path. This is an example of being out of alignment, and it takes practice to discover what creative ideas are in alignment with our soul’s journey. A clear sign of this is when things begin to flow in our lives effortlessly from one phase to the next. There are times when we set a clear intention guided by our soul and clearly in alignment with our speech and actions as things bear fruit. Noticing these times of flow and calling on them during other more confusing times can help to clarify the flow of our lives.
In this exercise, you will practice manifesting intentions through the alignment of will in thought, speech, and action. In large blue letters, simply write down something you are wishing to call forth into your life. Start with something small, like a certain amount of money, an item you need, or an experience you would like to have. Then, walk or drive around your town and yell it out to the world. This may sound odd, but putting the energy of your voice out into the universal consciousness has a powerful and often immediate effect. It also requires you to be firm in what you want, as calling out is a kind of commitment to self and creation. When we do this, we also are accountable for our creations, dreams, wishes, and intentions.
Four of Wands: Celebration
After the alignment of the Three of Wands, we enter the grounding phase of creation and manifestation bringing form into reality or completion in the Four of Wands. Here we anchor in dreams and visions and have the opportunity to stabilize these currents of passion into a more earthly and embodied state. This card symbolizes passing through a gateway of our own personal sense of creative visioning outward to include others on our journey. This is a card of balance and unity, two wands in connection with two other wands creating a synthesized union.
In the Waite-Smith deck, we see two figures joined in joy, celebration, and love. The four wands hold a wedding bower symbolizing union, beauty, love, and connection. This card indicates a time to step into a place of gratitude and joy. When we focus on what is good and beautiful, abundant and joyous, we naturally feel connected with others and help cultivate even more joy and abundance. The yellow background and castle behind the figures indicate a time of expansion and growth, when dreams and visions come into fruition with the help and connection of others.
In the Crowley deck we see a wheel (similar to the Wheel of Fortune) made with four wands. This indicates a turning, a celebration of one cycle ending and another beginning. Although not as strong as the Wheel of Fortune (as it is a major arcana card), there is still a potent sense of something ending and making space for a new kind of energy to come in. The golden ring around the four crossing wands symbolizes movement through cycles sealed with the blessing of beauty and fulfillment.
With the power and dynamic thrust of the Ace, Two, and Three of Wands, the four indicates a time to open up to fulfillment on the path, a new level of success and joy, a clear connection with others that is radiant. In a reading, this card may indicate a wedding, love ceremony, joyous occasion, new home or wonderful travel opportunity. It is an outward feeling of connection and delight, one that may involve others as well as land—or, more specifically, a beautiful place. It may also symbolize a finished project, a job well done, or success after hard work. In the Crowley deck, the image is similar to the Wheel of Fortune and can also indicate luck, good fortune, and destiny, especially when both cards appear in a reading.
Exercise: Count Your Blessings
Make a fire, or light several candles. If you are at the fire, speak aloud what you are grateful for. Spend several minutes reflecting on the infinite blessings you have experienced: your life, your family—even if there are difficulties or obstacles—your health, the many gifts in your life. Giving thanks to elements of your life literally rewires the neural network in your brain, thus allowing you to experience more joy, peace, and satisfaction.
Once you have acknowledged your life, continue to give thanks and blessings for the expressions of nature, the miraculous beauty of water, firelight, the warmth of the sun, the rivers and mountains, and so forth. As you speak these aloud, notice how you begin to attune more clearly into what surrounds and nourishes you. Plants and trees exhale air which we inhale. Creatures and living beings move through our lives offering actions of play, focus, and connection to the infinite variety of nature’s wealth. Fruit trees and flower bushes offer not just a few fruits and flowers but an overwhelming abundance of beauty and nourishment. Spending time in this state of gratitude allows for an opening of the heart and deeper connection to the world.
Five of Wands: Scratching the Itch
As we move from four wands into five, we discover the breaking apart and disruption so classic to the number five in the minor arcana. Following the time of harmony and blessings comes the needed friction and tension that arises as we continue to grow and develop on our spiritual and creative paths. In the Five of Wands there is anger, discomfort, and fiery energy arising. When we look carefully at this feeling, though, we can see anger—not necessarily a bad feeling or wrong. In spiritual practice, we look toward the essence of the emotion without getting caught up in the judgment of it. What is the essence of anger? Vivid, clear, bright, strong, fierce. Although we may think of anger as a negative emotion, it can also be very useful in clearing outmoded thoughts, helping us fuel a necessary stand we are taking, and in setting clear boundaries or outgrowing an old truth.
In the Waite-Smith imagery, five figures holding large wands are at odds with each other. There is clearly tension or conflict in the image, as each tries to gain ground while clashing and forcing the wands into a direction that has obstacles. Although the situation between the figures is rough, they all have firm footing and the sky behind them is clear, symbolizing the fiery energy of clarity and transformation into awareness and communication.
The Crowley card shows four wands crossing parallel over a fifth larger wand topped by outstretched wings. Known as the Wand of the Adept, it uses the energies of strife and burning away what the ego no longer needs to clearly anchor inner power. The other four wands are topped by phoenix heads, symbols of transformative rebirth, and lotuses, representing receptivity and healing. Although this card can indicate difficulty and pain, it is ultimately the gateway to creative healing and spiritual transformation. It may also indicate healthy challenges with others in creative manifestation; a kind of disturbance or pruning that allows for more growth, vitality, and fruition.
This card indicates a shift in perception that is often uncomfortable, like a snake shedding its skin that needs to itch itself out. This is not a comfortable or relaxed feeling but one of irritation, angst, and even aggression. We may be experiencing spiritual growth that involves facing turmoil or conflict with others’ perceptions and their discontent. When this card appears in a reading it is inviting us to take clear and strong action in voicing our needs and concerns.
This card may also indicate the need to set strong and clear boundaries against situations or people that are causing us or others harm. This can be a problematic discussion or microaggressions that need to addressed at home, in the workplace or in a relationship. Sometimes it may be asking us to defend or protect others who are on the receiving end of negativity or toxicity, particularly in relation to abuse that may be linked to racism, sexism, homophobia, or other community or societal issues.
Ceremony: Fire Clearing
For this fire ceremony, the intention is to burn something that is holding you back. Take some time to write down what is bothering you, maybe something that feels unresolved or an area that still carries tension in your life. Perhaps it is a relationship from the past that still needs clearing or healing, a conflict or tension with a coworker, or anxiety about an upcoming event in your life. After writing your thoughts on a couple pages, create a fire or light candles and burn the pages. You may want to burn other specific things associated with this clearing such as old photographs, letters, diaries, or documents. As you do in a new moon ceremony, spread the ash into the soil or your garden to finish the cycle of transformation.
Six of Wands: Victorious Rebirth
After the fiery cleanse of the Five of Wands, we arrive in a time of rebirth, renewal, and revitalization that is embodied by the Six of Wands. This is a card of beauty, love, and replenishment. Here, the fires find a place of deliberate expression through care and integration, allowing for the light to expand and illuminate more gently. As a card of rebirth, it may signify a kind of initiation or blessing on the soul journey.
In the Waite-Smith imagery is a figure gallantly riding a gray horse, confident in purpose and clarity of vision. The figure holds a wand that is topped by a circular wreath symbolizing beauty, love, protection, vitality, and generosity. Around the figure’s head is a similar wreath indicating the importance of honoring one’s path and celebrating the success and connections that are unfolding. Often this card can indicate a party, gathering, a wedding, a time of celebration, and the prosperity of spiritual wealth. The clear blue skies indicate the clarity of vision and communication and the outward expression of one’s intention that began in the Two of Wands, was generated by the Three of Wands, and is now delivered here in the Six of Wands.
In the Crowley deck, six wands lay across one another forming a kind of balanced lattice. In each cross is a small and beautiful flame, illuminating the formation evenly. The raging fires of earlier cards have settled down into a contained fiery brilliance that offers the light of intuition, clear sight, and keen knowing. Each of the wands are topped with lotuses, phoenixes, and eagle wings, symbols of the union of spiritual energy, expansion, beauty, creativity and fulfillment. This card may indicate a successful birth of a child, business venture, partnership, or creative endeavor.
Six is the number of harmony and balance and finding the way of ease and grace. Here, support that is needed flows in effortlessly and there is likely to be success in one’s actions. This is a time of clear purpose; intuition is heightened and may indicate a positive time to follow signs, dreams, and omens. There may be more luck than usual and help from unlikely sources.
Exercise: An Act of Beauty
Beyond a pretty face or pleasing landscape, true beauty is a pure expression of the heart, something powerful and healing. In many cultures an act of beauty is a way to mark a moment in one’s life through gratitude or celebration. We can be inspired by the sand mandalas created by Tibetan monks, a flower arrangement at a wedding, or a piece of artwork to embody a phase of life. Performing an act of beauty is a statement of gratitude that resonates outward to all our relations. To create an act of beauty is not necessarily to make something beautiful, but to do something pure and of the heart such as sharing a prayer, song, or piece of art.
To create an act of beauty, take a moment to reflect on what you are wanting to embody and honor at this time in your life. What are you grateful for? What challenges have you overcome? Who do you want to honor and respect who has helped you or taught you something important? Decide how you wish to embody these qualities in a beautiful, ceremonial way. Take the time to create your work in a way that resonates and holds the preciousness of a part of your life experience.
Seven of Wands: Courage
Following the initiatory journey of the Six of Wands, we move into the Seven of Wands, the shifting, movement of spirit, energy, and action. This card is a call to power, a call to step up even more into our integral truth as a soul or spirit in form. This card, fueled by the practices before it, is a card of courage. The Seven of Wands is a dare, a bid for power. It is as if the metaphorical gauntlet of power has been thrown down before us, asking us to take action in a focused, direct, and conscious way.
In the Waite-Smith deck, the figure moves to balance and wield the wand as a staff, a staff of power. In front of the figure are six wands presented as obstacles or a barrier between self and the other. This warrior figure is defending themselves against others but doing so in an act or place of power and truth. The staff is wielded in such a way that embodies the truth: real power ultimately comes from within, not from others.
In the Crowley deck, we see the blazing staff of courage standing out as an offering to the reader, supported by six wands in equilibrium behind it. Now is the time to reach and take the staff without hesitation, even if plagued by doubts, and to follow the truth of the heart and one’s integrity as realized and committed to in the Two and Three of Wands. Behind the seven wands is a field of purple indicating the power of intuition and guidance from the spirit world.
When this card appears, it indicates a time of courage and needing to make an act of power to fulfill our destiny or soul purpose. This is the moment to take action even if it feels crazy or rash. This card indicates that you should pay attention to your dreams, omens, and intuition in following your path and not what others are thinking and saying around you. This card may also indicate bickering or negative attacks on your person, yet knowing your truth amidst this kind of situation, and is a card of success, as you rise above the situation and take the high road.
Standing in your center is important when you are learning to courageously stand your ground and follow your truth even when it is in opposition of others. Finding a place of neutrality and centeredness helps to keep yourself strong and clear. Many earth-based cultures use a sacred circle to find a point of reference to personal power at various times and places on life’s journey. Intentionally creating a sacred space and center for yourself will keep you balanced and centered even as you move into uncharted territory.
Exercise: An Act of Courage
For several years, I taught at a shamanic conference and had the opportunity to do fire walking. This ceremony was a powerful way to connect directly to fire in a fully embodied form. The ritual was held by professional fire walking facilitators to create a sacred space of embers that, once coated lightly with ash, are safe to walk on with focus, intention, and purpose. If you have the opportunity to fire walk, I highly recommend this as a way to both honor the fire and the living fiery spirit that resides within. This act requires a leap of faith and element of courage to practice.
If you cannot do this for any number of reasons, think of another way where you feel an edge about something creatively, actively, or spiritually. Take a bold action or do something you have always dreamed about but have not felt confident enough to do. This requires listening and following the heart which has its own language and ideas about how the path can unfold to honor your soul’s wisdom and yearning to grow and experience life fully. We often do not take leaps of faith in fear of failing, losing something, or heeding social expectations. In my full life of leaping time and time again, I have found that fear and doubt will be there regardless of the leap. Choosing to leap even with your fears is part of the courage; however, it puts fear in the backseat and allows you the freedom to experience something of growth and change.
Eight of Wands: Vivid Crystallization
We now enter the energy of the wands in high dynamic motion. Following the courage and boldness of the Seven of Wands, the path unfolds and there is no stopping it. The Eight of Wands is like the moment when a fire that has been stoked for some time at last catches full flame and begins to burn steadily without hesitation. This is the energy of action, full manifestation, brilliant insights, and wisdom activity. This is similar to the energy of the Chariot; renewed and alight with the courage, power, and dynamism of the previous wands, the Eight of Wands is aglow.
In the Waite-Smith deck we see one of the few cards without any human figures, only the image of eight wands moving forward in the air, singing across a blue sky. Sprouting over fields of green the wands move swiftly across the sky over green abundant lands and a blue river symbolizing wealth, fertility, abundance, manifestation, and grace. This card often indicates the arrival of a message or news. This may be a past relation or family member, a message about a business development, or news that can be even be life-changing.
In the Crowley deck, we see a large crystal with dynamic and fiery arrows, like thunderbolts moving outward that electrify the air and illuminate the path. Arching over the crystal is a rainbow symbolizing harmonious communication, beauty, and connection between the worlds. Often the rainbow is viewed as a bridge between spirit or soul and our earthly human existence. This card encourages movement forward on the journey and supports taking actions to continue a relationship with clarity and truth, or developing a business or creative project.
As this dynamic movement races forward, the fire grows steadily within and without, as if the path clears with each footstep. This card indicates renewed and obvious clarity arising in a situation. Things that didn’t make sense before now do as obstacles and doubts fall away. This card indicates positive affirmations for a decision around a business, relationship, or your health. It may indicate a journey or travel, an advance in money or career, or even an expedition or adventure unfolding. Thoughts quickly become realities and sprout into pure energized manifestation.
Exercise: Physical Activity
Because the energy is moving much more quickly in support of a situation, this is a good time to do embodied movement. Choose a form of physical exercise to enact out an intention such as going on a long walk or hike through a beautiful place in nature, dancing, doing tai chi, or some other form of physical movement. Allow the sounds of nature or music to accompany you. Before walking, hiking, dancing, or moving, set an intention and stay open to fresh guidance from your surroundings or movements as you embody the Eight of Wands’ dynamic energy.
Nine of Wands: Resilience
Following the radiant dynamism of the Eight of Wands, we have grown spiritually and dynamically and are aware of our gifts on the path. Here we face the potential of realizing the truth that our spirit-infused projects, creations, manifestations, and energies are firmly rooted in our earthly existence and they must be let go of and released into the greater world to finish their purpose. Spiritual essence, fiery creativity, and dynamic energies can become a burden if they are not properly shared and offered out to others. There is a saying that a poem is not complete until it is shared, and this is the message of the Nine of Wands.
In the Waite-Smith deck, we see a fervent looking figure, wounded and bandaged from working diligently with the forms of fire and spiritual creation. They seem to be afraid of what is ahead and nervously look back at a stand of eight wands as if guarding the way between opportunity and fear of failure. This card symbolizes a final test of courage, faith, and resilience to relinquish any hold on the expression of one’s gifts and spiritual powers. This must be done in a way that still honors the original intention or mission of a project, keeping the spiritual essence alive.
In the Crowley imagery, we see a powerful red wand firmly rooted in the grounding force of the moon, topped by the luminous and radiant sun. The picture gives us an overall sense of strength and purpose in overcoming challenges and obstacles. There is a balance achieved of earth and sky, spirit and form. As this balance becomes manifest in our reality, we often feel a sense of humility and grace in our awareness of the preciousness of human existence. This card indicates integration of seemingly opposing forces and a coming together of our shadow self and gifts to a more unified and holistic sense of self.
The sharing of the Nine of Wands comes with the truth of one’s purpose, alignment, and creative force. Here the energy has pushed and evolved in a dedicated and pure way and perhaps fighting for the creation to be launched into the world. This may also indicate a time to set clear boundaries about what is needed to complete a project, return health to a relationship, or resolve creative differences. This card may indicate a need to avoid naysayers and those who have a negative view on life in general, or are fighting with life unnecessarily.
Visualization: Earth-Sky
This visualization helps to balance you as a channel between the earth and sky energies, allowing for you to create a safe and clear space that is integrated and connected. As you do this, stay open to messages around projects, spiritual developments, and relational issues that may be arising in your life.
Sit in a comfortable, cross-legged meditative position. Keep the spine straight. Close your eyes and concentrate on your breath for a few moments. Focus on where you are sitting, on your buttocks, with hips and legs pressing into the ground.
After a few moments, imagine a grounding cord of light extending down into the soil and earth below. Allow your cord to grow straight down, through any rooms below and into the soil of the earth. Make sure your grounding cord is a healthy size and color as it moves through the rock, the water, then more rock into the center of the earth. Notice how it feels to be connected with the earth. You are tapping into the rhythm of the earth.
Now allow your energy to move downward while simultaneously allowing earth energy to move upward, as if your grounding cord is a two-way street. Become a channel for earth energy to move up through your grounding cord. Allow the earth energy to rise higher, through your legs and hips, into your spine and back. Take note of any colors, symbols, and/or sensations that you may experience as earth rises through the body and energy field. When the earth energy reaches the heart, allow it to move through the heart, into your shoulders, down your arms, and out of your hands. Notice any sensations as the energy swirls through your hands.
Next, bring your awareness to the space, the sky above your head, to the area above your body. Take a moment to visualize the dark, indigo night sky above you. Imagine the stars sparkling and the moon shimmering as bright, cosmic light moves down into your energy field. Visualize the energy from the stars, the moon, the sun all swirling downward, illuminating your crown, head, and face. Notice any colors, symbols, and/or sensations as the sky energy moves down through your neck, lungs, and into your heart.
Imagine the skylight swirling in your heart, mixing with the earth energy. Notice how this makes you feel. Be thankful to be mixing earth and sky, to become a true channel of the lower and higher energies, to honor spirit as a creature on earth. Allow the sky energy to move through your shoulders, down your arms, and into your hands.
Finally, bring your awareness back to your body. Bring your hands to the ground, roll out your neck and shoulders. When ready, slowly open your eyes. Take note of any sensations, colors, or symbols that you may have experienced.
Ten of Wands: Releasing the Burden
At last we arrive at the final card of the wands, the Ten of Wands. The intensity of fire, spirit, creativity, and expression has reached its limit—there is a sense of burden and oppression here. When fire burns too long, such as the case of wildfires that wreak havoc across forests and decimate homes, there is an imbalance: too much heat and dry energy. This excess of creative will can overwhelm us both in our bodies as well as in our communities.
In the Waite-Smith imagery, a figure holding ten wands walks toward a distant home or buildings. The figure is bent over indicating the burden of too much energy and the need to release or relinquish the wands. Pushing forward toward the distant landscape, the figure is determined to finish what has been started and lay down the wands that have been collected along the way. This indicates the need to honor and own what you have created as well as let go and burn what is no longer working anymore. Taking stock of the oppressive behaviors, attitudes, and thoughts, as well as clearing out old projects and outdated creative thoughts, will help to open the way for fresh new inspirations. This card may also indicate a willingness to take on a burden to push through a creative project to completion.
In the Crowley deck, we see two large wands placed parallel in front of the eight creative energetic wands burning in the background. Although the feeling is oppressive and forced, there is a spirited dynamic quality in the bright orange colors in the background, symbolizing the need to see what the final obstacles are in finishing a creative project, developing a relationship, or bringing a venture to completion before the next stage can begin.
The ten indicates the end of a cycle and beginning of a new one. Here, the energy has become too heavy to carry forward and there is a need to let go of outdated ideas, old creative projects, thought patterns, and perhaps ancestral karma. Often, we hold onto past ideas waiting for the right time and place to make something happen; however, this card indicates that time has come and gone. By releasing the old ideas, we make room for new creative projects, relationships, and ventures.
Ceremony: Releasing a Burden
Often, we carry burdens from our family history, ancestral patterns, and lineages of both our blood families and social imprints. Releasing these to the fire is a way to symbolically let go of the patterns that may be holding us back from developing further on our path. To rid ourselves of burdens or baggage that may be holding us back, we may use the Ancestral Fire ceremony from the Heirophant’s chapter.
To release a burden, take a month or a few weeks to create bundles representing the people or societal patterns that have felt like a burden to you. In these bundles place images or symbols that represent the people to offer to the fire. These can by symbolic of gifts you have received from your parents or ancestral lines along with healing herbs such as lavender, rosemary, or tobacco. By offering these to the fire you are both honoring your parents and their lineages, as well as releasing them and opening the way further for your own path. This also acts as a gift to your ancestral lineage by doing the work of healing patterns that have been passed down and amplifying your own gifts on the earth walk.