Universal Fantasy - Nine of Wands

This card has been showing up in my dailies quite a lot recently; 3 times in the last four days in the "Underlying Energy" position (from the bottom of the deck). Every time I see it I think, "Again??" So, I thought I would see what everyone else has to say about this card.

We see a half-man, half-beast (sorry, can't remember the name of this fantasy creature), a cloven-hoofed man with long, pointy ears and horns coming out of the top of his head. He sits against a tree that has eight long branches growing upwards, and he is playing a flute-like instrument (the 9th wand). He is surrounded by blue flowers. Behind him are rocks leading to a stone bridge and an even larger gateway. In the distance you can see a person with what looks like a sword in his hand. It seems as if he's sneaking around, searching for someone. Under the bent leg of the man/beast is what looks like a knife. It seems that he is ready and waiting for an ambush, but he's not fretting about it. In fact, his flue playing may even be drawing his enemy toward him.

I think I can see a connection between this card and the RWS image, but with a totally different mood. Rather than tense it has a very relaxed feeling. What do you see? As often as I keep getting this card, I'm still not clicking with it. <sigh>

I saw the 'flute' as the ninth branch from the tree form behind him, if you look you'll see the cut. I figured that was what the knife was for. I had some more thoughts on this card but I will have to post them later; I'm at work now.

Yes, I saw that the flute is the 9th branch as well, and it makes sense that the knife would be to cut the branch. Darn. There goes my link to the standard Nine of Wands.

This card is just confounding me. I'm thinking that I should try to forget the RWS images that keep popping up in my head (along with their standard meanings) and try to read this deck with the images alone.... I've chosen this deck for my One Deck Wonder exercise, and it's kicking my butt right now. I'm hoping that something clicks soon...

It will come, and will probably surprise you when it does. Have you done a deck interview reading yet? After reading the one that valeria posted, I decided to do the same with the UF. Very interesting spread, I wasn't sure what to expect.

I do see some correlations to RWS. The armored warrior in the background appears to be guarding a bridge by himself. That reminds me a bit of the preparedness/defensiveness of the RWS. The faun/satyr in the foreground could be said to be resting which would equate to "a pause in the action" which is also associated with RWS. With that said, I do like that this card moves away from the expected images.

I see this card as representing a time of waiting, but not wasted time. This lull is needed to allow something or things to come to fruition. The red warrior seems to represent an outside factor who is actively engaged in providing the faun with the opportunity for peaceful development. I see the eight remaining branches moving/growing to the music of the ninth branch/flute. The branches may indicate the project that is in the midst of coming to fruition, but it must be allowed to develop without interference. I had some other ideas, but they move away from what appears to be the main focus of the card.

.traveller. said:

It will come, and will probably surprise you when it does. Have you done a deck interview reading yet? After reading the one that valeria posted, I decided to do the same with the UF. Very interesting spread, I wasn't sure what to expect.

I do see some correlations to RWS. The armored warrior in the background appears to be guarding a bridge by himself. That reminds me a bit of the preparedness/defensiveness of the RWS. The faun/satyr in the foreground could be said to be resting which would equate to "a pause in the action" which is also associated with RWS. With that said, I do like that this card moves away from the expected images.

I see this card as representing a time of waiting, but not wasted time. This lull is needed to allow something or things to come to fruition. The red warrior seems to represent an outside factor who is actively engaged in providing the faun with the opportunity for peaceful development. I see the eight remaining branches moving/growing to the music of the ninth branch/flute. The branches may indicate the project that is in the midst of coming to fruition, but it must be allowed to develop without interference. I had some other ideas, but they move away from what appears to be the main focus of the card.

Click to expand...

Traveler, what a great post! Thank you for helping me out with this card, and it does make lots of sense in the way you've tied it into the RWS image I'm used to. Makes me feel a bit thick... , but I know that symbolism is a challenge for me, and that's why I picked this deck. It's just a bit harder going than the Victorian Romantic would have been.

Yes, I did do an interview with this deck when I first got it, and it was terrible, which is probably why I put it down for a few months before I picked it up again. Here's what I got back in November:

What kind of relationship will we have?
Eight of Swords (which funny enough is about the way I feel right now)

What will be the best kinds of readings for you?
Nine of Swords (which again, oddly enough, fits. I used this deck almost exclusively in March, which saw a lot of health issues for me that drove me into anxiety attacks. And this is when this deck spoke the loudest for me, helping me with the questions I had at that time.)

What message do you have for me?
Knave of Wands (I confess, I've always had trouble interpreting court cards...)

So, looking back, I guess this deck was speaking truths for me. I suppose I should ask it how I can get past my mental block!

I'm glad I could help
That's very interesting what you pulled for your interview cards, did you just ask the three questions? Maybe I should start a post where we can discuss our deck interviews, I asked mine six questions and the results were pretty cool.

I actually have these three questions (or something similar) as my regular interview of a new deck. So, I had these particular questions in mind when I was drawing the cards. It's interesting to look back and see what I thought those cards meant back in November, because of course my interpretations are different now based on my time with the deck this last month.

I know some people who draw only one card, and I tend to like the simpler drawings for a new deck as opposed to more cards. If I haven't gotten to know a deck yet, it helps me to let it speak slowly, with fewer cards to start.

What I should probably get into the practice of is doing milestone type readings to see how we're doing together and how we can improve our "relationship." (I always get a kick out of talking about my deck as if it were a person. )

This is the first time I've done a deck interview, I had always thought the idea slightly silly so I never gave it much thought. However, it seemed the right thing to do with the UF and the right time. The six questions I asked (taken from valeria's post who, in turn, was quoting FireRaven.) were:
What is your most important characteristic?
What is your greatest strength as a deck?
What are your limitations as a deck?
What are you here to teach me?
How can I best learn from or collaborate with you?
What is the potential outcome of our working relationship?

I just liked the balance of the questions, but I could see dropping the teaching question since there is a learning question. The first two seem very similar, so perhaps dropping the first and keeping the second would reduce things a bit as well. That said, all the answers I received were very enlightening and I found it a worthwhile exercise. It felt very much like a conversation.

*creeeeeaaaaak* (the sound of an old thread being resurrected)

I'm IDSing this deck at the moment and this card confounds me.

.traveler.'s "a pause in action" would make sense. With his knife, the Pan has cut the 9th branch and whittled it to make a flute out of it (there are little wood shavings on the ground near the knife). So this dude had some time on his hands.

A thought that occurred to me was did the Pan instigate some mischief which is causing the man on the bridge to freak out and act paranoid? Is the Pan, then, just waiting to see the final results of his trickery before moving on to the next bit of mischief?

The LWB (I promised myself I wouldn't refer to the LWB during my IDS but maybe it will shed some light) states: "Those who know how to harmonize strength and wisdom are able to keep their will under control and wait their turn."

For me, the keywords are "harmonize" (the Pan playing music) and "wait their turn." Perhaps this advice is directed towards the Pan as well as the dude on the bridge.

I'm still confounded. *hmf*
I do, however, LOVE this deck for all the challenges it presents in its subtle deviations from the "traditional", RWS meanings...