The Two Of Wands

ofbainbridge

My take...
2's are about connecting, bonding, acknowledging
Wands: Identity, personal strength and inner power

So the 2 of Wands upright could indicate connecting to ones own sense of strength and power and indentity
Reversed it could indicate an inability or unwillingness to connect with ones own identity or strength or ability and sense of power in some area...
 

The crowned one

And a year later here is my take:

I was studying this card tonight and I find it interesting that Etteilla, The Picatrix, Golden dawn, Waite, well everyone can not seem to define this card. Everyone has a different idea. I think this is because of the fact that the card is a two. The wand we can solve.

The problem or good thing about twos is that they can both split power or double it...good/bad, hot/cold you and me ...or balance out every now and then. So depending on what your intuition is telling you will depend on what school of thought you follow as to what this card is saying. Is this a good card or a bad card or a balanced card?

In my mind this card generally means "thoughts and desires" "bold plans and promise" Developing ideas and insights" but all these meanings can be doubled or halved in their strength depending on how you see the two aspect of the card and that is what makes it both a good card and a bad card...or a easy card to read and a hard card to read. Lastly sometimes I think it just means a journey...eirther you are going or someone important to you is leaving...see its that two again influencing this wand/staff/baton ;) Once in a blue moon it means someone is arriving.

That is my take on this card.
 

Akuts

The crowned one said:
The problem or good thing about twos is that they can both split power or double it

I'd never thought of looking at twos in this way. Thank you for giving me something to think about.

I've never really had a problem with this card. To me it seems full of opposites: the man is standing in a nice safe castle and before him is an unknown and possibly unsafe countryside, one wand is on the ground and seemingly clamped to the wall while the other is in his hand and higher, etc. Regardless of all these opposites, I've never had a doubt what the man intends to do. The globe in his hand seems too low to be in his line of sight. I think he's gazing over it at the scenery to the left of the card's border, thoughtfully weighing the globe as he ponders. And I think in just a minute or so he's going to toss that globe over the battlements, say "To heck with it", and, grasping the wand in his hand, go marching off outside and away over that bridge you can see in the distance.

Well, that's what I've always felt when I look at this card. Do whatever it is that you know inside yourself that you really want to do.
 

HoneyBea

The number 2 for me has always represent union, duality, choice, co-operation and balance - I see the twos in the tarot sequence as being the first step to creating. For me it is where the Ace has divided into opposite forces and this of course can result in balance or conflict.

The Two of Wands in the Original Rider Waite Deck has a fair bit of symbolism in it that will lead us to how it could be interpreted.
We have a man who is dressed in very earthy colours (grounded in reality) holding one wand in is hand while the other is fixed in place — perhaps the fixed one stands for the actions already taken and the one he holds for the actions he has yet to take. In his other hand is a globe of the world — this could indicate here ambitious ideas. Upon his head is a red hat may well suggest that he has active thoughts and he looks across the sea to the distant mountains — ideas that may just take him further than he has already come.
On the stone battlement is the coat of arms of Roses and Lillies and again could well signify the idea of choice.

The message in this card could well be one that talks of duality of choice, and what action will give the best results. After all the Ace was the raw energy of the suit not quite formed — the potential of what it could be and so the idea needs to be grabbed and set in motion. In the two we see the beginning of the creativity that started in the Ace and now it is one step further along. The man in this card seems to be trying to decide what his next move will be and as always the Wands themselves show sprouting leaves indicating here the possibilities of creative thoughts put into action.

This card though is just a transitional stage, there is more to come before these ideas can be turned into a reality and that is shown in the three.

Just a take on this card looking at the possibilities of what the actual symbolism may be trying to say. :)

~HoneyBea~
 

Emerald_Empress

I am only new to Tarot, but this card still confuses me. However, I cannot relate to alot of the meanings written of this card but studying it myself, I believe the card means this to me:
The person wants to set out and conquer, they know what they want and where to go and what to do, however there is a connection that needs to be broken in order to do this but the connection is important/grounding and not a decision that can be made easily.
Being a 2, the decision can go either way and surrounding cards will provide any advice or lessons learned.
 

re-pete-a

this card only implies torn between two points when one isn't grounded. If one feels the card (rws) the attention is on the world, outward looking. Outside of self, there is no power only results . When one is centred choosing is without problems.condensing the preamble means,decisions concerning desires,favours towards this or that,hard separations,choices,with undesireable consequences.Attachments to results. In the greater scheme of things(the world in hand) stuck.(personal power given to objects)
________
Ship Sale
 

namesoftrees

Wicked thread.

Faantastic to read through this thread with all that stuff on it now.

I feel quite comfortable with that card now. The two certainly do point a forked road into comprehending the whole reading don't they?

After all that bafflement on the battlements...
 

The Chinese Empress

A choice involving action or passion

I know this is a very old thread, but I am new here and have an opinion about what the Two of Wands means.

In many readings I have done, I've noticed that at least, for me, the Two of Wands sometimes seems to mean the querent has up till now pursued two simultaneous courses of action, but now has been forced to decide to drop one and pursue the other from now on. Examples can include:

- The man who has actively dated two different women while keeping them secret from one another, but now has to move to another city and decide which woman will be the one who moves there with him and marries him,

- The woman pursuing two talents or two careers for many years but finds out finances will now limit her to pursuing just one, and

- The CEO, of either sex, who has toyed with two marketing campaigns for over a year but has just learned s/he can only commit company resources behind ONE.

Wands are an action suit and tend to favor things that we do, opposed to things that we feel (Cups), things that we build or spend (Pents), and things that we think (Swords). If you blend that with the "you must choose" element of the Two pip, to me it seems the Two of Wands is saying, "OK, you have spent some time dabbling equally in both of these two things. Now circumstances dictate that you will need to put away one, and launch all remaining force behind the other. Which will it be?"

Just my humble thoughts. Hope this helps.
 

rwcarter

Welcome to Aeclectic, The Chinese Empress! Your thoughts on the 2 Wands make perfect sense to me. (And posting to old threads is encouraged here at Aeclectic. :) )
 

Zephyros

To me the Two of Wands is creative energy in its most abstract form, power that has potential but not form yet. It is the first crystallization of the element after the Ace; more ordered but not manifesting fully just yet. Self-control is implied here, great power over the Self. I like the Alexander idea, as the man seems to be ruling over his domain, but not actively doing anything with his power other than to observe it. The Golden Dawn aptly named this card Lord of Dominion.

The astrological attribution to this card, Mars in Aries, reinforces this. Mars is in his own house, and feels no need to be the destructive fire, but rather glowing embers ready to spring into action at any moment.