MAAT Tarot Study group 10 of Wands

juliecucciawatts

Still part of the Full Moon Cycle of Cancer
Major card-The Magician- Planetary ruler Saturn

The week of new moon in Capricorn (new moon January 18th, 2007)

"The new moon phase symbolizes always being at the beginning and end
seeing life as an ever opening bud, the intuition rather than logic
rules here, the projection of self on other's motivations. Very
powerful for beginnings and endings."

10 of Wands

Planetary ruler Saturn

The traditional meaning of the 10 of Wands is that a burden will soon
be lifted, it can also imply a change of residence or a person whose
path is obscured by his burdens. I would like to also include that I
see symbolically illustrated in this card is the idea that 'your
character is your destiny '. Implying the idea that even if we shed
our skins and reincarnate our karmic debts follow us and must be paid
in full, as well as that which we are owed must also be returned to
us. Our karma is the work that we have come into the world to do.

Making the suggestion that tending to our burdens and
responsibilities will create the joy and harmony we seek.


Our actions create our reality and what we do has a direct effect on
how our lives are much of the petty disharmony of our lives is of our
own making. Personal internal issues are often reflected in the
external world. At the same time natural catastrophic disasters can
happen to innocent people who don't deserve the suffering just so the
people who owe so much can find ways to pay back the karma they owe.
Natural disaster can serve as a wake-up call to people who are
addicted to 'creating disaster' so they can come in and play the role
of hero and feel better about themselves. Natural disaster can show
these 'disaster junkies' or 'the people who are always looking for
evil/the shadow outside of themselves' there is plenty of disaster in
the world and we don't have to create it, provoke it or seek it out.



Publicly sending money to charity that was acquired by the sweat of
someone else's brow does not release the giver from the karma of
having done some despicable and deplorable act. Ordering someone else
to do something is not taking personal action. Pledging one's
allegiance to some cause or party will not purge past misdeeds. The
legacy of misdeeds will continue to linger with the individual until
the wrong is made right. Likewise the misdeeds of a few can not be
projected onto the individual's entire race, nation children or
future children. Karma good or bad can not be transferred. It is a
joke to think one could use another as a 'scapegoat'to purge misdeeds.

The only real way to release ourselves of our personal karma is to
deal with the tasks set before us. The task at hand is the task that
requires our immediate attention, even if it is tiresome, boring or
repetitious. Putting off tasks just turns them into big tasks later.
The tiresome, boring and repetitious tasks are what make the
exciting, inspiring fun tasks more pleasurable and meaningful.


We may have been fed the dream of a life full of gallant heroic tasks
for god and country that would leave an immortal legacy or the dream
that with hard work we can become rich and never have to work again.
But the reality is that work is what we do as humans work gives us
purpose and fulfillment. Work keeps us strong , mentally sharp and
contented. The real heroes of the world are the ones who unobserved
wipe tiny wet noses and clean up the cup of spilled juice. The real
heroes are the ones who folded that fifth load of laundry and put it
away without acknowledgement, compensation or accolades, the people
who opened a door or gave a seat to an elderly person, the people who
clean the soiled beds of the sick and old. For these souls are
setting the personal world into harmony and this is its own reward.
It is the kindness shown to people that no one else sees that shows
the true character of a person. The most rewarding jobs on Earth the
ones that don't pay at all.The image for Maat Tarot's 10 of Wands is
an old Native American woman trudging through the deep snow with a
bundle of wood. The sky is pink suggesting that the sun is just about
to rise. The size of her burden shows us she has been up early before
light ,collecting the wood with intention of preparing the day's meal
as well as keeping her lodge warm. The trees ahead of her obscure her
view but she knows what lies ahead without being able to see.

Traditional tarot meaning: relief of a burden, or an inability to see
where one is going because of a burden.

Other Capricorn moon cards to think about...

First Quarter- 3 of Swords-(Sept.22-Oct.21) Planetary ruler Venus Traditionally heartbreak or the Mother's broken heart, in MAAT it is the Spirit/Love goddess broken by dogma and the ruthlessness of religous extremism.


Full-The Queen of Coins(June 21-July 22)Planetary ruler The Moon
A woman of wealth who takes care of herself and others. She teaches the lesson of keeping and using your personal power.


Last Quarter- 4 of Cups (March 21-April 19) Planetary ruler Mars
Lancelot du Lac and the four queens. Teaches the lesson of choosing your heart's desire over what is offered to you by the external world, regardless of the consquences. Lancelot refuses sexual favors from Morgana la Fey and 3 other queens who seem to represent the four directions because of his loyalty to Gwenhwyfar. For his refusal Morgana imprisons him. He is soon released by his jailer's servant because of his kindness to her.


Full Moon Cycle of Capricorn-The Hermit(June 21-July 22)Planetary ruler The Moon- Major card-
The Full moon cycle just after Summer Solstice. The Hermit is the
Egyptian God RA represented by the sun of the afternoon. RA(the sun) who exsists alone in the day time sky except for an occasional visit from his daughter Isis(the moon).

Julie
 

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annik

Usually, with the other 10 of wands, I only saw an oppressive burden. I didn't got any farther. With this card, the burden is more an vital responsability and a necessity.
It is good to see this card today. It is very cold outside. And we also have snow on the ground. I think it fall under the definition of synchronicity. (-:
 

greycats

Maat Tarot Ten of Wands

Those who have been following this study regularly may have observed that we began around the Autumnal Equinox with the Prince of Swords, then to the 2 of Swords, etc. and on through three lunar cycles until we reached the 10 of Swords and the Winter Solstice. With the Prince of Wands, we’ve passed the Solstice and are now beginning the minors in the suit of Wands, except that we’re starting at the 10 of Wands and proceeding to the deuce. (The Aces of each suit surround the World card at the center of the Maat System. See the diagram after page xix.)

Just as a reminder: the numbered minor cards form the large, outer circle and correspond to the phases of the moon in each of the lunar cycles. So each time that the moon changes its phase, we go to a new card. When the 4 phases are complete, we then go to a new lunar cycle. The lunar cycles make up the middle circle, and there are 12 complete ones represented by cards in the major arcana. We’ve just studied the Magician, and now we begin with the lunar phases under her rule.

The first phase, of course, is the new moon which is “always . . . at the beginning and end” and “very powerful for beginnings and endings.” (Maat Tarot, p. 84.) That is to say that the new moon is “liminal,” a wonderful word that means “like a threshold,” and defines the period of moving from one state to another. The moon’s liminality is confined to its three dark days. First-time mothers are liminal, too, but the length of their passage from woman-only to woman-mother is more elastic, varying from a few days to a few months. And other mothers? Older persons? What of them? The Maat invites us to consider their liminal possibilities in the 10 of Wands.

The first thing one notices is the figure of a woman robed in red and standing in the snow at the edge of a forest. We cannot see her face, although we sense she is elderly. Her posture and the apparent frailty of her legs seem to indicate advanced age. She carries a bundle of firewood on her back. Ahead of her is a dark and barren wood backlit by either a setting or rising sun. Snow falls steadily. A nimbus of frosty air surrounds the woman’s head and extends to her left. It might be the condensation of her breath, but it almost seems to sanctify her.

The work she does, gathering wood to fuel the family hearth, is considered holy by many cultures and is a responsibility traditionally assigned to the women of a household. She may have learned this task as a child, undertook it fully as a bride or whenever she acquired her own hearth, and she will carry it out as long as she lives. Her red robes stand out bravely against the snow, and beyond the wood the sun presents another conflagration. She travels toward the darkness and beyond it, to the light. It is a hopeful journey, now near its end. “After this, glory!” is what someone wrote of this arcana, meaning that after the great work (whatever it is) is done, one will emerge transformed. Furthermore, the greater the suffering that one undergoes, the greater will be the reward. It’s a variation on the one traditionally assigned to the 10 of Wands in RWS, but this one is happier, perhaps more just.

Perhaps, even, more natural. As one gets older, work may become physically trying. But, at the same time, ordinary tasks performed with the loved ones in mind are more satisfying and more meaningful: they become acts of love and kindness which warm the spirit along with the body. They bind the family together even if its members are scattered. That which fuels the hearth will also fuel the heart.

This scene with falling snow, the old woman at the edge of a wood, seems timeless. How often we’ve seen it in fairy tales! Yet, much of it is ephemeral: a person moving away from us into a landscape which itself is about to change. The sun will rise or set, the snow storm will move to the horizon or will retreat ahead of a clearing sky. That is the future. The present is this moment, with our burdens balanced, the woods still ahead of us and our breath like incense on the cold air.
 

magpie9

Thank you, greycats. You have shown me 10 wands as Not a burden for the first time. You write it as a privilege, something we forget exists in physical work.
I was a Nurse's Aid and then Nursing Tech for many years. Did a heap of homecare and hospice cases, lot of hospital work, and a little Nursing Home. (You can't give good care with a 20:1 patient ratio, I don't care how good you are.) It was a privilege to care for these people on the brink, even when they drove me nuts, and my feet and back and all were howling for relief. My life would have been so much poorer without them in so many ways--(none of the monetary!)--I learned so much from them, and although most of them are now dead, they live on in my memory and still enrich my life with their strength and wisdom.
It was good work, and so, not very valued by our society--underpaid and overworked. You know.
Your reading of this card brings those years back to me, in a wonderful way, and reminds me just how much the world depends on these little mundane un-glamorious tasks, and always has been.
Again, thank you.
 

Penthasilia

Maat tarot IDS

Card/number: 10 of Wands/22

Card Image: see attached

First Impression: You do not get an overt sense of "oppression" from this card, but rather a vision or work/responsibility and a healthy respect for the benefits gained from it.

Description: a figure in a red cape is walking in a snowy field, a bundle of firewood carried on the back, yet still walking strong and upright.

Colors: white, brown, red

Senses: chilled snowflakes hit your face and touch your tongue in their sweetness. The wind is blowing gently through the trees, their soft music singing in your ears.

Symbols: carrying a load, winter

Story (intuitive): I smile. Funny how things work. I have been busy preparing for an upcoming trip and have been so tasked that I did not want to take the time to sit down and to my deck study today. How did this happen? How did something that I looked forward to as "my time", my meditation time, turn into a chore? As I ask this to myself, the figure in the red cloak turns toward me, an aged woman with wise eyes twinkling with humor, standing tall as if the weight of the wood on her back has no effect. "It is YOUR work- no more, no less. You can view it as a burden and suffer under it, OR you can view it as a responsibility that will enable you to grow in wisdom and rejoice in it. The work is the same, only your outlook changes, don't forget. So, tell me child, which outlook will help feed your soul?". She winks, smiles and turns, walking steadily home, her head held high and spirit shining bright. Well, there you have it! I see the choice she has made, and I make my own, and smiling turn and walk away, back to finish my work.

Astrologic: week of the new moon in Capricorn, planetary ruler: Saturn

Element: air

Keywords: work, oppression, responsibility

Meanings: work- that can act as a burden that you carry, obscuring your life view

Quote: "The work remains the same, it is only your outlook on it that changes."
 

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juliecucciawatts

Ha! The story on this one is me incarnate today...I'd better listen to the message! Thanks!
 

Penthasilia

Ha! The story on this one is me incarnate today...I'd better listen to the message! Thanks!

LOL- I have heard that a lot since I posted this! I think that the fact that this card occurs in the winter portion of the deck makes so much sense. At a time where we want to hibernate, the message to remember our work, and our outlook on that work, is a wise message indeed!

Have I mentioned how much I love this deck???!!! :D
 

juliecucciawatts

Thank you!