seven-tarot-blog

[seven-tarot-blog]

Seven of Wands

The seven of wands is a call to action.

Are you advocating for yourself? For your beliefs? For your communities? How are you using your power, privilege and visibility? Are you adopting a me versus the world mentality, or working on fostering collective action? What needs to be manifested? Do it. Make it happen.

This is the card that inspired this project. This card called me to be vulnerable and speak my truth with courage. This card was a call to let my long experience with tarot blossom into a more public space to be shared. With that comes vulnerability but also visibility. So before anything else, thanks for reading.

I’m showing four different cards from four different decks that I use and discussing their meanings. At the bottom I’ll include tips for interpretation, some helpful astrological correspondences, and card combinations.

First off is the Seven of Keys from the Collective Tarot. It shows is a group of people organizing and protesting before the state. It shows people organizing themselves and acting on what they believe. They have burned the lock their keys are supposed to fit into. It is a call for no more fitting in.

The Seven of Wands, like all cards, also has a more complicated side. Rebecca Schoenecker's Laughing Eye Weeping Eye tarot card reflects a harsher aspect. It shows the person with the voice and visibility being a policing, oppressive figure. The power this card urges us towards can take many shapes. What we do with it is our choice and our responsibility.

The Seven of Wands from the classic Smith-Waite is ambiguous. It calls for advocacy and power but raises a question: are the people at the bottom of the hill trying to topple and overtake the person at the top? Are they all a team and the person at the top is serving as a leader? Is this representing a me versus them mentality, or is it calling for personal advocacy and accountability in group leadership—representing its members and caring for the group’s wellbeing?

Is it both? Binaries like easy/difficult, good/bad, lucky/unlucky, get very blurry the deeper you dive into tarot cards. We can at once hold a grandiose, romantic, and potentially egotistical me versus the world vision *and* still strive to unify and represent a group whose voice needs to be heard. And with that position of power we can be incredibly uplifting to some people and also oppressive to others.

The more abstract Seven of Wands from The Ok Tarot by Adam JK highlights a less specific meaning. It simply points. It suggests action with direction, as a group. It resembles geese flying in a V formation, which speaks about leadership not as the one leading the many, but as a complex system of relations and distribution of power that brings about focused, directed action.

The Collective Tarot card does not necessarily show a leader ruling “over” the rest of the crowd. The focus is placed on the person in a wheelchair faced us directly, proudly. There is often fear and doubt lurking behind the call of the Seven of Wands. Showing up for yourself, your communities and what you believe in leads to a very vulnerable position. Occupying this position takes a lot of courage.

The seven of wands is not necessarily a card of beginnings but rather of fruition. Something that is already in existence needs to blossom into power.

Astrological Correspondence:

The Seven of Wands is closely related to the energy of Mars. I often hear Mars talked about as something to control, or something that isn’t desired because of its association with masculinity, war, impulse, and fire. I think there is a great potential in this association to re-think our relationship with this energy and what it has come to represent.

Initiating things, launching a project, and advocating for what you believe means stepping into a very vulnerable place. This nakedness is what Mars represents. Mars brings courage and visibility along with vulnerability and instability. As always, what to do with that courage is our choice. You can chose to finally call out a manager who has been hurting you and you coworkers with their actions. You can bravely chose to not do something, perhaps not to fall into habitual, automatic patterns.

I tend to put too much on my plate. The ten of wands is a card that comes up for me constantly. Overwhelmed with everything I’ve picked up I’m often exhausted and irritable. I draw on the energy of Mars to take a firm stance with myself and learn to say no to myself and others. I will not take on a new project.

I often associate my self worth with how much I’m doing. Saying no to a fun exciting new project means being faced with this question of my own self-esteem. If I am not doing something constantly, where is my value derived from? This is the moment of vulnerability. After channeling Mars in that moment, I then turn to Venus to heal, rebuild, rethink, care and nurture myself in this vulnerable place.

Interpretation Questions:

The subject of these questions will depend on the reading. If it���s you, then ask these questions of yourself.

When the Seven of Wands comes up in a reading, no matter the orientation, ask yourself:

Whose voice is being heard the most?

How is power being used?

Who/what is silencing? Who/what is being silenced? This may be you silencing aspects of yourself—it often is both internal and external.

What needs to be advocated for?

When it is upright:

Where am I being called to action?

Where should I become more vulnerable?

What do I need to bring to fruition?

When it is reversed:

How am I misusing my own power?

Who is fighting too hard, wearing themselves down?

Where is there a me versus them mentality?

Is there a situation where someone needs to step down and let other voices be heard? This may be because their energy as a leader has been exhausted and they need to retreat to a place of being cared for.

Card combinations:

Look at other cards in the spread for more hints about what this card is referring to.

If there are cups around, think about the charisma it takes to be a leader. An ace of cups crossing a seven of wands would indicate to me that it is time to be empathetic and emotionally present to understand the needs of the situation, and then act with charisma, diplomacy, intuition, and creativity.

If there are more wands relating to this card look specifically at what actions you can take to jump start this process. Specifically the five of wands, and fives in general, would be an interesting card to look for, since it is often signaling the origin or root of the conflict that is now calling for action.

Swords can often signal caution and care in how to proceed. You might need to pay special attention to your mental health in the process, or there may be a lot of complicated word games between you and your goal—read the fine print, chose your words wisely, take time to check in with yourself.

Pentacles can signal that the result of taking the action that the seven of wands is calling for will yield a stable, grounded situation. It also could point to a process that might proceed slowly but eventually will yield fruits. For more information regarding what that might be look at that card specifically.

With the court cards there might be a person with that card’s qualities that will be relevant to the process that the seven of wands is calling attention to. The knight of pentacles, for example, would signal someone who is very hard working and meticulous, but still grounded, practical and driven, who might support the achievement of the goal indicated by the seven of wands.

When paired with major arcana cards think of what part of the major arcana card needs to be acted on and manifested in the world. What aspect of that card is the seven of wands calling to action?

Thank you for reading

Much much love 🌸