Enchanted Tarot/ZernerFarber Study Group - 9 of Wands

9 of Wands

I participate in a few daily draw threads and the 9 of wands has come up in several of them. I've been getting several nines lately, three in one week, and the 9 of Wands in the Enchanted Deck is an interesting image. All wands have the fiery orange tint to the cards. The woman in the image has taken 7 wands and planted them in the earth at the mouth of a cave, like a protection against intruders. She holds two more large wands, ready to go into the earth as well, completing the protective barrier, which is also, at the same time, a cage. The keyword for the card is discipline, and the book itself says that discipline can become a cage. While the focused activity that the card indicates is essential, we need to be careful that all that focused energy and deft handling of the Wands do not cage us in, and trap us. Discpline and freedom need to dance together. BB, Michael

I was examining the 9 of wands more closely and noticed that the woman in the card doesn't actually grasp the two wands that are upraised. Her hands are in front of the wands. She is standing in a very commanding way, as though she were calling up elements or casting a spell. There are also military stripes at the ends of the two upraised wands that seem to indicate fighting, skirmish, or battles of some nature. The card seems much more offensive than defensive to me. The two magenta colored petal/flames at either side of the cave mouth, coupled with the look of concentration on the woman's face, her upraised arms and the miliary stripes bespeak a readying of power that will shortly be unleashed. She doesn't appear fatigued like the figures in other 9 of wands cards often do.