TEN OF WANDS in the Universal Fantasy Tarot & RWS Deck (slight revision of post)

Since early Fall 2011 I've been getting the Ten of Wands (10W) in my readings for myself. (It's actually been years since I've more than rarely read for others. And my almost daily readings for myself are meditative and much more like talking with a good friend than predictive in focus.) After the first several times the 10W showed up I blew up a color copy of it from the Universal Fantasy Tarot, as it was the deck I was using most then. I think you can see what I mean when I say this is an unusual and intriguing rendering of the 10W:


At that time I first noticed it turning up a great deal, I intended to use it as the underlying theme for my coming 2012 year. In January 2011 I had been "haunted" by Justice in this same deck. So copied it and wrote "Balance" and "Re-Balance" on the left and right edges of Justice, posting it to my bedroom wall. Balance and then re-attaining it (ad nauseum) has proven to be the connecting thread throughout 2011 for me.

So I sat with this large xerox of the 10W to see what it was saying to me repeatedly. (And I did not yet know that I had many weeks to go in which it would keep showing up. And it's still appearing regularly in my readings, sometimes along with the Eight of Wands.) Then it hit me, almost in the form of a haiku:

We expose, we burn
We create, we heal
We paint a new picture

I don't want to sound self-pitying, nor do I wish to sound like an egotistical "artiste." But I will lay claim to having a nature that not only thrives on pursuing creative urges, but needs to follow them in order to maintain her sanity. However, it's no easy road after that initial joy, i.e. once the work interfaces with the outer world. Or at least, it has not been an easy or very pleasant road for me. That's where a more usual version of the 10W such as in the Rider/ Waite/ Smith [RWS] deck comes in:


It's almost as if these two cards are about two different phases of the creative process. The RWS version (immediately above) being about the work once there's any attempt to take it out into the world. And the Universal Fantasy Tarot version at the top emphasizing my favorite phase: the actual creative process itself. (No surprise there, given the hermit/introvert I am. :-D) However, as with all phases of life these are not totally distinct from each other. Each informs, even entwines at times with, the other. Therefore, that little three line poem/ aphorism above.

By the way, I did post the Universal Fantasy Tarot version to my wall, but not as my 2012 theme. It just did not seem to want to be in that position in my life. This 10W with my little three line aphorism running around its edges, greets me every morning as I stumble out of bed, reminding me there's always a new picture to be painted. (A different card holds the 2012 theme for me, but that's for some other post.)

* * * *

‘til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry; Roswila’s Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka); Opening to the Light (for digital pix only).****