One August Queen

Bianco Nero Tarot,
Marco Proietto, (C)2018 US Games, Inc.

After the last four months of reversed cards in my New Year Reading; The Magician, The Wheel of Fortune, the 8 of Swords and the 7 of Swords, I finally get to an upright card for the month of August.

And what an upright card it is.

The Queen of Wands!

One of my fellow readers calls this Queen, “One bad a$s b*tch!”

I don’t think of her quite that reverently though I do admire her energy and outlook. I should say my friend’s comment about this Queen comes with great admiration and she uses the energies of the Queen as a role model, or in tarot-speak, as a significator; meaning when this Queen pops up in a reading for my friend, she pays more attention to where the Queen falls and the message she conveys in the reading.

Rider Waite Tarot

When looking at the traditional card for the Queen of Wands, the color yellow pops out. We see it in her robe, her crown, the desert in the lower left, the sunflowers and in her hair. Yellow reminds me of the sun which is also connected with the sunflowers, as it's in the name, after all. The back of her throne has a bit of orange in it which is next to yellow on the color wheel. Wands is the suit connected with fire energy and as we know, fire cannot be still. Like air, fire is never calm as even the flame of a candle dances. This is one Queen who is on the go.

This suit is also connected to our passions, to that spark (See. Fire again!) that drives us, that motivates us to get on with life, to live life to the fullest.

Wands is also considered one of the Masculine, or Yang, suits as the drive to succeed is considered a masculine trait. Traditionally, women have been seen less ambitious, more emotional, staying at home, taking care of the children and household. So here we have a woman trying to be taken seriously in a man's world, breaking with tradition. Think of the suffragettes fighting for their rights. Think of the Women's Lib movement. Think of HM Elizabeth I.

The Queen of Wands is one determined woman who knows what she wants and doesn’t let anyone stand in her way. She will not bulldoze over you if you give her room to pursue her passions but, get in her way and she might step on you like a cockroach. Especially if she is reversed! I also like to think of her as a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” woman who helps others achieve their goals as long as you don’t impede her. Just don’t stab her in the back while scratching it. Hell hath no fury like this Queen scorned.

Being she is so determined to accomplish her goals, she is also confident in herself. She knows she will succeed. She also knows she’s quite charming and can use her charms to assist her in her queenly quest. When she walks into the room, all eyes turn to her and many are captivated by her presence and aura. 

When we compare her to the other Queens, we see she is the only one facing forward, even though she is glancing off to her left, somewhat dispassionately. She is also sitting with her legs apart somewhat suggestively, not a very royal posture. I like to view this posture as one that suggests she tackles life head on doing what she feels might be necessary to succeed.

The Four Queens
Rider Waite Tarot

I could feel her energy around me this month. I’d been in an emotional slump. With those four reversed cards, two of them being pointy swords, who could blame me? But, something turned around for me, besides just this month's card.

I’ve been writing more, mostly for the blog, but not my other projects though I can feel the itch to do so. I’d been exploring another project and taking more steps into solidifying that. I’d stepped out safely with a friend for an invigorating walk and planned more with her. I’d started an art project and hope to hang it soon.

Perhaps the Queen of Wands has a message for us all. With the world in this current situation, I feel we need to live life to the fullest as safely as possible. Sometimes that means staying home and finding enjoyable things to do around the house, maybe some creative endeavors. Sometimes, that means stepping out, masked and distanced, and enjoying someone’s company. For me, it means avoiding indoor places for extended periods of time, e.g., planes, trains, busses and restaurants. It also means avoiding crowds.

Sadly, I have come to believe this virus will be with us indefinitely. We have not eliminated other coronaviruses which cause the common cold as they tend to mutate. I believe it will eventually be managed, like the common flu. I feel our medical and scientific communities will get a better understanding of it, eventually. Until then, it is up to us to help slow the virus to give them a chance to do so, ultimately for our benefit.

Yes, we all could benefit by channelling the energy of the Queen of Wands to live life to the fullest yet as safely as possible. After all, a healthy economy thrives on healthy, living workers and consumers.

So, let’s hear it for this august Queen.

On to September and the Three of Cups.