Two of Wands

THE TWO OF WANDS/FIRE

From the Mythical Goddess Tarot by Sage Holloway and Katherine Skaggs

original writing by Kathryn Ravenwood 11.27.15

It is so easy to get distracted. We are bombarded with news - most of it insane - social media, entertainment opportunities, work, family and friends, daily routines, and now the holidays are upon us with all their triggers that can push us into frenzied preparations or depressed anxiety. If you have found yourself feeling separated from meaningful life lately, you are not alone. 

The question is not so much what a meaningful life might be rather than how to reclaim it. Sometimes it feels to me that I am adrift in a river being carried ever away from the banks of solid ground where I know who I am, where my life has meaning. I have lost track of the tools I have and how to use them to support myself. I am unable to get a grip. I feel disconnected and adrift. 

In the featured card, we see a woman sitting peacefully, holding light within her hands. The light is coming from within her; she has reached inside and drawn it from her center with her focused will - her personal power - and it expands all around her in glowing auras. This light is the Divine Gift within each of us; we all contain this Divine Spark. When we are able to consciously connect with this light, this power, we move beyond the turmoil of whatever has caused us to get lost in the external, when we forgot that real peace comes from within.

The Two of Wands, or Fire, is often referred to as possibilities. There is always something else going on, options to choose from, something else we put upon ourselves to do, to be, to think. I love that in the card above, the woman uses her two hands to hold her flame. She brings the duality of life into focus with the one true source of power, where she centers her attention, and connects to the higher consciousness of who she truly is. From this act she is better able to resist the illusions and distractions of what is outside of her.

The Wand/Fire cards in the Tarot are about our will. We must apply ourselves with conscious effort. We are the power that creates our patterns, recognizes them, and we are the power that can create a new way to live our own life. The woman in the card looks serene in her simple act of centering. She has made time for a daily practice which requires discipline, the application of her will to learn, to apply, and to draw upon to sustain her. This is not something we do for awhile and then go on auto pilot. Discipline requires constant attention, a consistent centering with our power.

But oh, those distractions! When you find yourself being pulled in multiple directions, feel overwhelmed, lost, or just plain worn out, remember the light within you that connects you to your divine power and wisdom, that place within you that centers you in the storms of life. Stop and breathe. Reach into your heart. Pull out that flame of love and peace and remember you are more that what is happening around you. Don’t get distracted in the doing of this - you don’t have to create a whole new ceremony or go on a retreat.  Light a candle Smudge. Say a chant. Offer a prayer. Breathe. Be aware. And go from there.

When you can move outward again from that center of your divine power, be that power, that centered calm and peace in the world. The world surely needs it.

…Kathryn Ravenwood 11.27.15