"You Are Sure to Hit Something"
Regarding the Eight of Wands, “So many wands in the air, you are sure to hit something, act on what you’ve been thinking about” encourages our Many Queen’s Tarot deck author and artist Lettie Jane Rennenkamp.
While a huge part of our daily dive into the cards is day-specific (I say a brief prayer and invocation before pulling a card for the collective and we explore the card’s astrological correspondence to this specific day) there is always much to be learned about the card itself and its home-base astrological placement on any day through reading this column.
We take a three-pronged approach to each daily card draw.
We will learn about the card itself
We will learn about it’s astrological home-base and why we may be directed to tune into that placement within ourselves today
We will calculate where the home planet and sign are today and figure out their angle/aspect and what it indicates. If it isn’t obvious from the daily astrological chart, I will literally use a protractor to determine the angle.
Today’s collective medicine card is the 8 of Wands! If you are reading these columns as they’re published, or going back in retrospectively in order, I’ll note that today is our third day in a row receiving fire element messengers from the suit of Wands. I see much of the significance of these arrows to be related to the season, especially if you live in the Northern hemisphere like me and this is the first week that you’re noticing the days getting just a tiny bit longer. We are flying on the wings of this turning of our Mother, Earth and the dance of elliptical gravitational swiftness She is engaging with the Sun. So, let’s see what our card has to say about this.
The Eight of Wands is traditionally read as swift and unexpected change just flying into your life with quite focused direction (aka, not a wind blowing in and whipping things up into a tizzy, this change has purpose). Fast, concise, clear direct communication can be achieved as anxieties are relieved and you know precisely what is going on with this turning point. Sometimes the swiftness of things can feel somewhat hasty or rushed, but remember, you got here by working really hard and overcoming many obstacles. Thus, like so many processes of life, I absolutely put the 8 of Wands in the “hurry up and wait” category. So this is a “hurry up” moment who is powerful enough that you probably will be swept up with the energy. If not and you’re finding yourself fighting against the change, remember we are in a time where circumstances are on your side to allow your intuition to really flow. Another of my favorite things about this card is it gives us our first true glimpse at the bigger picture of our next goal.
Mercury in first decan Sagittarius - “Lord of Swiftness.” If Mercury is our messenger, and Sagittarius is our traveler (physical and philosophical), either receiving this card, or being at a time when Mercury is transiting in the first decan of Sagittarius now indicates an excellent time to broadcast messages and communication to the world at large. Both Mercury and Sagittarius love that we are living in the world of electronic communication- we can picture both the planet and the constellation sailing across airwaves, soaring through the atmosphere, bouncing off satellites and just generally having a lot of fun orchestrating our speed-of-light communication. I cannot specifically say as to whether your personal messages/arrows/wands are taking off or arriving at their destination - that’s for you to determine.
Mercury Septile (51 degrees from) the first decan of Sagittarius - Today’s minor aspect can assist us in honing in the focus of our energy so that we can be extremely precise in our communications. We do this by way of utilizing this rarely talked about divine aspect, as our arrows/wands specifically pointing at the spiritual seed of creation from which everything else comes. Communication, travel and thought (Mercury) gains momentum and power in the realms of curiosity, honesty, exploration, and playfulness (Sagittarius) via connection to our own inner divinity. With this transit, we’re more likely to feel connected to spirit and explore what spirituality means to us in terms of how we approach communication. Are you craving deeper spirituality in your relationships and interactions with others? How does this show up regarding how you truly feel about the idea that the purpose for everyone in our lives (and us in theirs) is as messengers? How can attuning to this idea help you balance great care with the swift and sometimes hasty momentum of the 8 of Wands?
I’ll wrap up with noting our moon phase and sign for the day and how we can use this (most powerfully accessible astrological tool) to amplify our 8 of Wands momentum. Today is a waning half moon (3rd quarter) in Libra. Here we have the opportunity to tip the scales. Recap the things you’ve been wanting to let go of, especially whatever has naturally been on your mind over the past week since the full moon. Today Mercury Septile Sagittarius is here to give us the push to make a pretty significant shift, tipping the dynamic scales of balance into our favor, all we have to do is be willing and ready to move along with this force, and maybe say a little prayer while we're at it.
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