Those Sexy Wands
Because the Wands are generally viewed as enthusiastic, energetic and passionate, many tarot writers accord them a sexual connotation. Here is my very brief take on the subject, which I might apply if I detect sexual implications in a reading (although it’s rather far down my list of preferred interpretations for the suit of Wands). This is the unromantic viewpoint of biological imperatives and sensual overload; you will have to look to Cups for poetry.
Ace of Wands: In its most optimistic sense, sexual anticipation (“Will they or won’t they?”); perhaps auto-eroticism in more pragmatic terms. (I’m reminded of a line from a droll Scottish comedy I’m watching [Still Game], in which a retiree is faking a lame leg so he can get disability benefits. He has a buxom hired domestic helper whom he keeps trying to cozy up to, and she finally chastises him with “You should get yourself in hand!” To which he replies “I think I’m going to have to.”)
2 of Wands: A sexual tryst.
3 of Wands: A ménage à trois.
4 of Wands: Marital sex; “missionary-position” sex.
5 of Wands: Kinky sex (is there still such a thing?)
6 of Wands: The joy of sexual conquest.
7 of Wands: Too many suitors, while not wanting any of them; in a more encouraging sense, sexual adventurism.
8 of Wands: A “quickie;” casual sex, even promiscuity; maybe premature orgasm (George Carlin described this in non-tarot terms as “Man-on-top-get-it-over-with-quick”).
9 of Wands: Sexual bondage (physical) or fixation (psychological); obsessive/compulsive sensuality or sex addiction. This seems like fertile ground for the mystical concepts of the succubus and incubus to operate, which — although I have no scholarly or clinical justification for it — strikes me as a debased expression of the animus in women and the anima in men. (Although the number Nine is usually considered positive, in Wands it suggests “arrested development,” or being stuck in a debilitating pattern.)
10 of Wands: Sexual impotence (particularly when reversed); frustration, fatigue or disinterest (“all work and no play”).
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on June 28, 2023.
