Swedish Witch 10 of Wands
Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 21 Apr 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.
| galadrial |
21 Apr 2003 |
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I got my Swedish Witch deck (woo hoo!), and have been able to figure out the meanings of nearly all the cards. Fortunately, I have a Thoth deck, and Angeles Arriens book for that deck, because several of the cards seem to be much more Thoth inspired that RWS. However, the 10 of Wands has the meaning of Oppression in both decks, yet the poor gentleman being burned at the stake seems more than merely oppressed! The key word at the bottom is URSINNE; would anyone be kind enough to translate? Also, any thoughts as to the significance of his plight, or of the escaping hedgehogs and fairies, would be welcome.
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| WolfSpirit |
21 Apr 2003 |
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The suit of wands is identified with the element of fire in most decks. The 10 is the highest level of energy of a suit, the wands become too heavy or the flames become too high, time to move on to another cycle.
What started with a lot of enthusiasm in the ace of wands, has now become too much: you may break your back or get burnt.
So I don't read this card differently from rws-based decks although the picture looks more dramatic.
As for the hedgehogs...I guess they are cleverer than the man and took care to get out of the oppressive situation while they still could ;)
There are lots of funny animals in this deck, I appreciate them but they don't really offer anything new in most cards IMO.
Enjoy your deck !! I still like it a lot.
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| galadrial |
21 Apr 2003 |
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Thank-you, raeanne, I think I will look up a few of the other card's key words as well, just to see.
And thank-you WolfSpirit, I really feel you have hit the nail on the head! Also, I agree that a lot of the animals don't seem to symbolize anything, or just basic "owl=wisdom" stuff, but in some cards I'm not so sure. I've drawn the 5 of Wands (in 3 card readings) yesterday and today, and I think that Saturn in the sky probably refers to the Saturn in Leo aspect, which might explain the Sphinx (part Lion) as well. But that Ostrich dominating the foreground has me wondering! They seem to be very fast birds, lots of energy, but shy as well, a limitation. It's interesting to speculate, even if the artist just likes Ostriches:-)
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| jema |
21 Apr 2003 |
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about the ostrich on the 5 of wands:
the importance of speaking up and fighting for your right and not "sticking your head in the sand" when there is a conflict.
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| galadrial |
22 Apr 2003 |
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Yes, I can see that. He is pretty assertive looking, right at the front of the card and looking you in the eye. That also ties in well with the fact that I've drawn the 7 of Wands two days in row now. I had to laugh when it sunk in which three animals the artist chose to be menacing her- "Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!" (a famous line from the "Wizard of Oz" movie, for those not familiar with it).
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| WolfSpirit |
24 Apr 2003 |
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There are so many details in the swedish witch, it often makes me wonder: why would she use that here ? But maybe she wants us to think about it for ourselves what we want it to mean, instead of giving us fixed meanings.
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| jema |
24 Apr 2003 |
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i think a whole lot of what goes on in the deck is contributed to Hans Arnold, the illustrator, it is typical of his style to add little creatures like that so not all of them are really significant - but just cute and funny:)
but yeah, what wolfSpirit wrote, it is really up to the reader to find the "hidden" meanings here. even though perhaps not all of tehm were intended they can still add to our readings if we use our creativity and imagination.
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| Kissa |
24 Apr 2003 |
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the majors can be seen on this link from the official artist's site : http://www.hansarnold.com/htmls/tarot/tarot_galleri.html
just click on the small picture and you'll get a big one. As Jema said, Hans Arnold seems to have a wicked sense of humour, drawing lots of caricatures that can be viewd there too.
Kissa
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| WolfSpirit |
29 Apr 2003 |
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I see Hans Arnold illustrated a lot of books - is he famous in Sweden ?
Even in his erotic artwork he has chubby little men and women running around. He does has a typical kind of humour, very original.
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| Fuchsia |
01 May 2003 |
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.Galadrial..
"The key word at the bottom is URSINNE; would anyone be kind enough to translate? Also, any thoughts as to the significance of his plight, or of the escaping hedgehogs and fairies, would be welcome."
..."Ursinne" means flying into a rage... as in really going passionately mad about something or doing something in which one would ask..
"are you totally bonkers?" e.g riding a motor bike at an ungodly speed.. then one would ask in swedish, "är du ursinnig?" translation.. "are your crazy?"
hope that helps... as for the hedghogs and the rest i have no clue. just decided to do the swedish translation for you...
and yes.. in case you are wondering... i do undersand and speak the language!! :)
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| galadrial |
01 May 2003 |
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Originally posted by Fuchsia
..."Ursinne" means flying into a rage... as in really going passionately mad about something or doing something in which one would ask..
"are you totally bonkers?"
Thank-you! Kind of reminds me of the saying "Envy shoots at others and wounds itself", the guy could be being consumed by his own rage. That would certainly be one way to depict "the highest level of energy of the suit" (to quote WolfSpirt:-) and would surely be the end of the cycle, as once his rage is spent he is going to have to start over (maybe by making amends with his hedgehog and fairy friends/neighbors).
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| WolfSpirit |
03 May 2003 |
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Nice one, galadrial :)
It is thinking further on what I have written. I wrote this down in my notebook as well.
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The Swedish Witch 10 of Wands thread was originally posted on 21 Apr 2003 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.
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