Wheel of Change- aces

Belladonna

The thing with Andrea Genetti is that she places the suits in a different order than I'm used to: Disks, Wands, Cups and Swords

I've seen a couple of people work this way, but it goes against the grain for me. I've always thought of the suits as being Swords first (understanding the present circumstances, the inception of an idea, the inspiration, the decision and focus),

then Wands (the idea formed in Swords becomes the vision, the goal, the passion, reqires energy and will and creativity, drive and power to move towards it)

then Cups (Only true love and real feeling for your wish will see you through the difficulties and ups and downs to be encountered in any journey. This is courage and faith, hope and belief in yourself and your ideals when faced with obstacles, or when the initial passion of the wands begins to falter.)

then Disks (When we see our original image or idea manifest in our world. Our idea to start a new business has become real. Our desire to have children has resulted in the birth of a baby, etc.)

Of course, Andrea's version is valid, I've just worked so long this way I'm afraid I'm a bit rigid about it.

Then, last night, I was looking at the ace's. The Ace of Swords in particular because to me it is "the first" card and I came to realize that I don't think the meaning of the card itself is modified at all for having been switched around in order.

This is an awakening, an enlightenment of the mind. A new understanding of our surroundings, our environment, and our actions (in an everyday sense as opposed to the grander sense implied by the Judgement card.) Being able to analyze our situation keeping an open mind, being unswayed by popular opinion, emotion, gossip, etc. Seeing clearly even what is unseen. Seeing and understanding our own thought process. Seeing and understanding the implications of our own thought process and how it affects the world. (I believe this is the Dominion aspect)

Ultimately this card shows the power of the mind to effect change in the physical world through first understanding and awakening to our own circumstances, situation, life. And proceeding from there to understanding "how things work.

But I'd love to hear some different opinions!
 

Wildchild

I hadn't really paid much attention to the order of the suits before. I laid out my aces from this deck & noticed something. If you lay them out in the order she has them, it forms the axis for the solar year...Disks at north, Wands at south, Cups at west, and Swords at east. Also, if you connect all the suits in a single unbroken line, you would have the infiniti symbol, going from north to south to west to east and back to north. Heh! Just a thought.

From her perspective, the order of the suits makes good sense. In this, I see the evolution of our growth. As a baby, we're very tactile...we touch, taste, grasp everything. Babies put things in their mouths not as much to taste the object but to feel the texture of the object. This is the suit of Disks.

As we grow, the spark that gives us our curiosity is the suit of Wands. We explore the world around us as we play in the playgrounds, go to school, look under rocks, climb trees.

The suit of Cups is where we learn to care for others and ourselves and the world around us. As we grow, we learn to be less self-centre and more caring of others, friends, family, relationships to all living things. We learn what hurts us and what makes us laugh. We learn to open our hearts and sadly, how to close ourselves off.

As we develop, our mental capacity grows as in the suit of Swords. We're able to take on new ideas and expand old ones. Evolution of our minds, working our way into the spiritual.

:) I've rambled on & haven't got to the Aces yet. I'll have to come back...son needs the computer for homework.
 

Belladonna

How about the Ace of Wands? I've never connected it with the idea of divinity so much before. Andrea Genetti really plays up Beltane in this card with the maypole and all, and the idea of the Ace of Wands relating to trees- sacred conductors of energy, and the God of the Greenwood.
Well, it certainly goes with the idea of energy.
Just out of curiosity, any other wiccans own this deck out there? It's just funny, because connecting to divinity and raising energy would be the second step of casting a circle which would relate to air and swords.
 

Wildchild

I find it hard to understand the Beltane reference also. I've always thought of Ace of Wands for inspiration for growth, to-take-action kind of meaning. If I try hard enough, I can almost see how that all connects with her meanings but it's a stretch.

Whenever I come across a card like this where I have a hard time understanding her thoughts on it, I tend to go with my interpretations.

When casting a circle, you can use a line of light...which does relate to swords and fire, rather than air.
 

Belladonna

You see, I connect wands to fire, not air, so it is not so much of a stretch for me to see this card as representing both energy, and the ultimate energy, or divinity.

While swords represents winter, to me, wands represents spring. Perfect for new beginnings, will, passion, courage, action, creativity and growth!
This is why the Beltane reference, too, May 1st.

But what about the Ace of Cups?
 

darwinia

Suit Order

Ah, here you are Belladonna, I had forgotten to check for new threads on the deck study.

I always do the suits in this order: Wands, Cups, Swords, and then Pentacles, I think probably because the Haindl and the Osho Zen are two of my first and favourite decks and that's the way they're set up. Same with Tarot of the Old Path.

I like that order because I can remember it. Does it really matter though? I don't think so, because the suit order doesn't affect the cards in a reading because the cards aren't in order. It's the elements themselves that seem important rather than the order of the suits. It seems to me the order is simply what's comfortable and memorable for the individual, kind of like how you store the cards or shuffle. I remember the order that way because that's the way it was with the decks I taught myself with.

The William Blake Tarot changes the elemental associations of two of the suits which is very strange to contemplate but somehow Ed Buryn makes it seem sensible. Try working with that, it's confusing!

I'll get back to you on the Aces. Thanks for starting the Minors, I appreciate it.
 

darwinia

Forgot to Say

I kind of like your ordering of the suits. You think first (Swords), then you act (Wands), then your emotions come into play as you push to completion through difficulties (Cups) and then you have the concrete creation, grounded in the real world (Disks.)

I think of it in a similar way even with my ordering. You have the fire of an idea (Wands, which I can't think of as air), then the emotions (Cups), the doubts, the feelings of being overwhelmed or the feeling that it has to be done, then the thought (Swords), the planning, the order, the logical impetus, and then the fruition (Disks.)

Notice though that when I describe the fire as an idea, that could also relate to Swords the way you have them ordered. Ideas and thoughts = Swords in my mind, although the King of Wands is quite the pixie of ideas, eh?

Really interesting, since I never examined this order before. It is what's comfortable and memorable in your own mind and that's one of the reasons I love tarot, there are no rules, no rigid system, just intuition and what works for the individual.

In some people's minds anyway. ;-)))))

I am like Wildchild, I'm rambling on and I haven't even got to the Aces yet.
 

darwinia

Ace of Wands

This reminds me of what Isabel Radow Kliegman says about the Ace in her book Tarot and the Tree of Life. She examines the conventional R-W card and notices that not all leaves are attached to the tree, yet they aren't dead or dried up, they are exploding off the bough because they are so full of sap and life force.

In the WOC card, the fiery boughs remind me of this "explosion" of life. Crackling, mesmerizing fire. It reminds me of looking in a campfire and feeling my thoughts drifting and meditating on ideas, mesmerized by the flames and imagining possibilities.

The maypole means Spring and new growth--ENERGY aflame, awakening, also the feel of wind and cloud in this and the twisting movement and vibrancy of the ribbons. I don't follow the Wiccan precepts, so the Beltane reference was meaningless to me, but seasons and Spring I understand. I think she really captured it here.

Something occurred to me about this background which looks like smoke blowing. "Blowing smoke," isn't that how we describe things hidden? Creativity can have a negative side as in being a creative liar and blowing smoke. "He's just blowing smoke," like bluster or pretension--this might yield an interesting interpretation for a negative meaning. I don't use reversals as I feel the negative meanings are always there in cards, so it's an image to keep in mind.

The equilateral triangle is a basic shape in sacred geometry and she uses it extensively in this deck, which is one fascinating aspect for me, and here she has one on the Ace. Geometry signifies order and growth, indeed, an equilateral triangle is "grown" from the Vesica Piscus whose overlapping circles look like a cell dividing. Unity in the midst of becoming dual. Growth gives rise to the three of the equilateral triangle. More growth and worlds within worlds, like nature.

I love the historical info. she includes in the book and particularly that with this card. Her research and the history of culture excites my mind. Again, she doesn't wishy-wash the sexual connotation and the symbols of potency and fertility which are so vital a part of growth, culture, and human experience.
 

darwinia

Ace of Cups

It is the chalice from the Arthurian deck!!

I love the aces in this deck because of her limitless backgrounds.
Air, clouds, earth, water, universal space, the power of a limitless
universe. That's the sort of power I want to see depicted on Aces
and she's outdone herself.

The dark clouds, rain, setting sun seem a bit depressing, but
underneath the fire of creation and the mystery and depth of the
Earth, constantly at a boil, deep passion. Life is a slog some days
but underneath all that is pure energy. She shows both sides of
emotion here, it's like a microscope slide of the human spirit. The
Holy Grail, the Quest, the challenges we face, the limitless soul of
emotion.

More sacred geometry in the spirals on the chalice and the shape of the border which is supposed to be the outer shape of a vesica
piscus, but her ornamentation seems to have stretched the
association a tad.

Ah, I didn't realize that if you turn the card upside down it forms
another cup. Alexandra always has so much going on, her attention to detail is phenomenal.
 

darwinia

Ace of Disks and Ace of Swords

Planet Earth, the four seasons, different ecosystems of desert, cacti, rock and fruitful fields and forests.

Apart from the obvious connection to grounding I didn't get too much without a read of the book. I couldn't figure out what was in the first border--thought they were balloons and then models of molecules but I eventually saw the pendant and realized it was a necklace. It signifies unending links and continuity of the Universe.

I liked her phrase in the book "primary sustenance," that made sense of the card for me, without Earth we are nothing.

**********

On the Ace of Swords, the first thing that struck me was a feeling of polarization, the up and down, the push and pull of energy. This is bursting with energy much like the Ace of Wands, but it seems disquieting, too much going on, a frenzy of thought and ideas, lightning, roiling clouds, stars, comets, colours, spectrum, the world self-contained in one person's glorious prism of thought.

More magnificent power but a caution perhaps of overdoing it, of thoughts that can overwhelm and damage?

I enjoyed her likening it to the original thought that starts the creative process. This is very much my experience when I get initial ideas of creativity. The relentless terror of a single thought pursued, a totally electric shooting synaptic fever!

I call it "zooming." Of such exquisite disquietude is peace fermented.

Yeah, I'm liking this card. ;-0))))))