The Eight of Wands - Making Big Moves in the Tarot
Today's post is text only. Audio lessons will be back ASAP.
The Eight of Wands is a card about big movement.
To give you a bit of context whilst you reflect on your own relationship to the card, here are a few key things to know about the Eight of Wands.
The Rider Waite Smith edition of this card appears straightforward on first glance: eight wands in a diagonal row dominate the scene - their tips or their tails disappear off the left-hand side - the card can’t contain their full length. Behind the wands - a cloudless sky and a lush, green landscape.
But there’s something crucial you need to decide when looking at this card - something that may change depending on what’s going on in your life at the moment you’re viewing the card. Here’s what you’ve got to figure out, based on your own interpretation: which direction are the wands flying? Are they just taking off from the ground, shooting off into the sky? Or are they finally finding land after much movement?
What you see may change what the card represents for you. If you see the wands having freshly launched from the ground, just beginning their journey skyward, you’re more than likely ruminating on an element of your life that is about to - or needs to - get going. You may be preparing yourself for a busy period of work or creation or travel, or you may be feeling a desire to be busy, if you’re not actively engaged in something that’s taking up your full energy and attention.
On the flipside, if you see the wands headed toward, rather than away from, the ground, you’re likely at a very different place, mentally, physically, emotionally. There may be a sense of having been through a very demanding, busy period and needing to come home To find solid ground. The rest a while. There certainly should be a sense of pride for how far you’ve come, but also a sense that it’s time, for now, to stop and root yourself where you are for a while.
In either case, the card is about movement - it’s about the big changes taking place in your energy levels. About recognising whether you’re in a lift-off or landing phase, and managing yourself accordingly.
In your tarot journal, you’re asked to reflect on what this card means to you, now, in this moment, and what actions and thoughts it inspires in you. As you journal, pay attention to what you’re personally picking up in the card, but also consider what the key themes and symbols in the card might be telling you. What big energetic shifts are taking place for your right now, and in what areas of your life are you feelings those shifts most strongly? Are you in a lift-off or a landing phase… or are you on autopilot somewhere in between?
This mini-tarot lesson was brought to you by me, Chelsey Pippin Mizzi, founder of Pip Cards Tarot. I hope you gained a little context to help you continue reflecting on the card in your own way, and I’ll see you tomorrow for another mini-lesson.