Hello witchywomyn,
I think the fey are playing tug-of-war (i hope this is a correct translation of the German 'Tauziehen' - if not, would someone please correct). The rope has some cloth knotted around to show the 'middle' of the rope. They also look very young. So this might be some kind of game with the referee sitting on the branch. Would be unfair if they hat a 2-fey and a 3-fey team, wouldn't it
Of course this is a game of force and energy - so it fits into the wands suite. And as they are feys and not some 'earthlings' - they won't just stand on the ground and toss - they use the branch so that they can use their weight (see the blue fey to the lower left) - or their wings' impulse (see the violet one on the left)...
Imho that card is an absolutely ingenious representation of the traditional rider-waite meaning of the 5 wands. Playing a game; finding out who is the strongest - the primus inter pares (first of equals). You can see on their faces that they enjoy the game - its not a *serious* competition. In the end *all* feys will be a winner as they had a lot of fun...
Btw: A friend of mine once showed the RW-5-wands to her 5 year old daughter and asked, what she'd see on this picture. The daughter *immediately* replied: 'They are playing'. Absolutely no thought about fighting or battling out as we older ones tend to see the card... Greetings to mimi - perhaps you now can understand, why I'm sooo interested in your daughter's storys
Blessings
Widar
