6 of Wands: A Fake Horse?

Elven

sliderkta said:
Just thought I should add one more thing --> Okay, let's say the horse is real. How come the legs (esp. the left foreleg) and tail are covered? It doesn't make sense to cover up the horse like that and have it trot through a crowd with a rider on its back. It's dangerous because the legs could get tangled in the sheet and the animal could fall down and injure itself. Plus, the rider could also be seriously wounded from such a fall. If the animal is real, it could be the rider is taking a big safety risk as he parades around on the horse. Hmm...

Yep, I think Rosanne mentions this as well as myself also - the bards are usually fitted, this one certainly does not look very 'fitted' more like a cast over - but it leads me to think about a couple of things - 1. That it may be a real horse on a 'stage'. 2. Do you think that it may not be a bard, but a victory rug (like the ones they throw over Racing Horses after theyve just won a cup)? I wonder this because the face of the horse is not protected either, and in battle, a face sheild for the horse was worn.

Getting back to what kind of victory it is - its in the parade - so I assume that both rider and horse are rested, out of battle attire, and are indulging in their victory?

Though Rosanne - your right about the guy looking as if he just about to slide off the way the angle of the illustration is drawn :bugeyed: Though the rider looks confident enough. Im thinking - (not so much about Pams interpretation in illustartion, but my own) that the stance the rider has on the stirrup, and the horses head at that angle - the rider could be turning the horse around - right leg lean and right tight rein. Maybe hes gonna do a 'victory lap of honour' lol!

caridwen - If you put all the horsies in a row - you can see how similar they are - in size and proportion too - I thought this was interesting too. Even if the illustrations were resized slightly, the lines still match on some of the horsies bellies.

Blessings
Elven x
 

arya ishtar

google image "parade horse." a horse walking like that can only lift his knee up at a right angle to the front thigh joint, at the BOTTOM of his chest. so either pam didn't know much about horses and didn't have pictures to paint from (think her lions and sphinxes), or that is a fake horse. there is no way his knee could lift up like that. and the tail is greatly exaggerated as well.

so if it WERE a pantomime horse, what would that mean? perhaps that your victory does not rest solely on you, but on all the people under you? bring a little less ego to it?
 

EmpressSha

Wow I was just thinking the exact same thing today I'm so glad I found this although I'm still confused by this card... It doesn't seem like Victory now that I look at it plus it always comes up in positions where it couldn't possibly represent a Victory (for me anyway)

Looking at it now I am suspicious of the other people in the background... They look almost like paparrazi especially the guy in the bottom left. He could even be about to assassinate our friend on the horse. The rider does not look comfortable to me, we can only see part of the face and from what I make of the expression it is not at all Victorious, more steely. Maybe the fake horse is an insight? Perhaps the rider is a figurehead, somebody who has been hired to be the face of something but has done nothing to deserve the victory (think Milly Vanilly lol)... Or maybe they were forced to ride that horse around town on display, perhaps they are about to be shot down?

I'm more confused now :S maybe I will start a new thread on the subject because this card has me stumped right now


Sha x
 

Richard

Wow I was just thinking the exact same thing today I'm so glad I found this although I'm still confused by this card... It doesn't seem like Victory now that I look at it plus it always comes up in positions where it couldn't possibly represent a Victory (for me anyway).....
The Six of Wands is Jupiter in Leo, the realm of the Sun. The descriptions of this decan in Renaissance astrology seem not entirely favorable. The Waite (and Thoth) decks take a more positive spin on the card, perhaps because it also represents the Fire element in Sephirah 6, Tiphareth (Beauty).
 

ravenest

I found it interesting reading through this thread. On the one hand, sometimes, people think that by applying astrology or kabbalah to cards is taking it too far, but look how far some people take it with imagery and their perceptions extended from the imagery they perceive and give all sorts of implications to the cards interpretation ... maybe its not a victory at all ... maybe its a trick, they are going to attack the rider ... maybe beat him up and the two (or three ?) people in the 'pantomime horse'?

What I see is a bunch of people, with threatening sticks, trying to push this guy over a mossy cliff (on which he sits straddled) one of them is holding up a cardboard cut out horses head, and there are runes carved into the cliff on the bottom right corner. Danger and treachery threaten; a mob will turn against you .... beware of friends.
 

EmpressSha

It's so interesting how different people have different impressions of cards... It leads me to think what if a person is a hermit type for example somebody who suffers from social anxiety or agoraphobia? Then they would certainly not see riding through town on a horse as a victory.
I wonder if this card could ever mean Public Humiliation instead of Recognition? The querents impression of the card could be significantly altered by their perception of other people as well as their desires. To an attention seeker the 6 of Wands would be the ultimate victory but what if you hate attention?

Funny how deep you can go into the cards sometimes :)

Sha x
 

Richard

......What I see is a bunch of people, with threatening sticks, trying to push this guy over a mossy cliff (on which he sits straddled) one of them is holding up a cardboard cut out horses head, and there are runes carved into the cliff on the bottom right corner. Danger and treachery threaten; a mob will turn against you .... beware of friends.
:D That explains Frankie Albano's version of the card. The red sky obviously symbolizes the anger of the mob. It has nothing to do with occult nonsense like Wands being Fire :D
 

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Zephyros

Well, victory needn't be happy. To me those people look like a conquered nation, begrudgingly showing courtesy to their new ruler. Sevens are cards of endurance, and as such the Seven would fit well as an uprising against the conqueror in the Six. Victory is good, but someone always pays a price. For some reason this card makes me think of Cyrus, although I don't know why.

I don't think the horse is fake, though...
 

DamianStraton

I don´t think the horse looks fake. He looks proud of his owner and the blanket signifies optimism, cheerfulness and enthusiasm.
 

Teheuti

I tend to ask myself - what is the use of all these different perspectives? They aren't telling us the truth about what Smith or Waite intended. They aren't giving us the "real" meaning of the card (6 of Wands in all decks), since there isn't any. They show that humans perceive things differently, which are often linked to personal memories and emotions, and that they then make up stories and rationales to explain their perceptions.

If you ask a person to literally describe a card - just the pictures with no meanings or assumptions - the majority of people can't do it without adding their own assumptions. It's the difference among:
• "a man wearing a crown and sitting on a throne"
• "a king sitting on his throne"
• "a dictator who is setting laws"
• "my boss who is angry at me"

So the use of these different perspectives is to tell stories (which are all too often felt to be the truth).

As a reader, I compare these "stories" with the core meanings of the card, the question asked, and the other cards in a spread to see how a person reacts to the situation. Depending on the person, I may want them to see how their own perception influences an otherwise objective situation, etc.

If a reader is totally caught up in his or her own story, to the point of losing track of the objective situation (governments and authority figures are bad - for instance), then there is a danger that the reading will not be that helpful - like a "fake horse" and the querent either won't want to follow its advice or will follow it to his or her detriment.

Another theory is that the reader and querent were brought together by synchronicity and therefore whatever the reader's biases, they will be appropriate to the querent at that moment. But this is not the meaning of the term synchronicity.