I have always been driven to the suit of Wands. In general, the Wands are fire energy and represent creativity, passion/enthusiasm, spirituality, sexuality, and ambition. Wands also represent the fire signs in Astrology, Leo, Sagittarius (that's me!), and Aries, and tend to represent charismatic and warm individuals. It makes sense to me then, that the VII of Wands is a card of defensive combat. It's not aggressive in the way the Swords suit can be but is really about fighting for what is right and claiming (or reclaiming) what is yours. It's about making your stand when enough is enough and saying, "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" though, perhaps, with less drama and flair as ye olde Gandalf.
Another way to put it, the VII of Wands can be viewed as the "protest" card. I know I've written about this card in the past and used the card from The Urban Tarot in that spread as well, but I feel like it represents the energy of this card so well. With so much upheaval in the world (did you know there's a Global Protest Tracker?), the VII of Wands is a reminder that you must often fight for the values (and rights) you hold dear.
The Seven of Wand playlist is available on Spotify.
Another View of the VII of Wands: I certainly do not want to detract from the importance of protests and standing for what is right. But protest is an external action, and I like to look internally at how I can grow and benefit from this card.
When I look at the VII of Wands, I see my son: a 10-year-old adopted, mixed race, neurodivergent boy making up the third member of a family with two fabulous and neurotypical dads. "Strong personality" does not accurately describe his character. His sense of truth goes straight to his soul, regardless of that "truth" being factually correct; his sense of self-confidence is through the roof. And now that we have the onset of puberty and his growing desire for independence... well, I'm sure you can see where the VII of Wands comes in.
Since the time he was young enough to be in school, we have encouraged him to be strong and stand up for himself, particularly since there are so many "easy" topics for kids to be dicks about (adopted, mixed race, gay dads, etc.). We have taught him to use his words when he needs or wants something (whether that requesting information or further direction - like requesting further explanation at school if he doesn't understand a concept or, at home, asking for another cookie). We have also taught him to use his words when he feels wronged. (Maybe this was our mistake... lol!)
When he's at home with us, in his safe place, his place of stability and comfort, that concept of civil discourse flies out the window. The VII of Wands then ends up representing both us as parents AND him as the child: us planting our flag to enforce rules and routines, and him pushing those rules for what he feels is "right" and "fair" in his world. In this case, we both have our sense of truth (something I also mentioned yesterday in the Wheel of Fortune) and we both fight to be the victor. And sometimes those battles are fierce, lemmetellu; his anger is like a little ball of hellfire.
As a parent (with a fully developed brain and some semblance of emotional control), the VII of Wands tells me to pick my battles. It's easy to get frustrated when the same mistakes happen on a daily basis (hello, neurodivergent child). It's easy to be annoyed at yet ANOTHER fucking Fortnite video played at double speed. I think the key thing is to try to take a step back and look at the situation from a bird's eye view. Is the situation at hand worth the stress of a fight? Crumbs on the counter (again), probably not. Disrespecting the other parent? Abso-fucking-lutely. Something we absolutely do not stand for in this house.
I'm by no means a perfect parent. I raise my voice when I shouldn't. I show a lack of interest at times when I probably should. I probably push too hard in some things and not hard enough in others. But the one thing I ALWAYS try to encourage is communication in place of physical aggression. I try to explain how making choices in extreme emotion never ends well for anyone. We talk about breathing techniques to calm us down (which he absolutely hates), and we talk about Tarot (which he finds interesting and gets him thinking outside of himself). And now we are beginning to see him start to make conscious choices to avoid conflict. It's not the smoothest, most graceful evasion, but I can see his effort.
So the VII of Wands invites us to be... better parents, better adults, better humans. It asks us to choose our conflict carefully, to make the battle stand for something of importance. It asks us to step outside of ourselves and to stay centered rather than responding out of emotion.
Decks shown above:
Subscribe to join the discussion.
Please create a free account to become a member and join the discussion.
