Dr.Nikki's Tarot -
The Suit of Staves
Many of you may be more familiar with the name
of Wands for this suit.  Wands had long had an
association with negative dark power, mainly due
to fictional literary tales.  In the modern age the
“wand” of dark power has completed a
metamorphosis into the softer and more
acceptable “stave.”  Whether you call it a wand,
stave or walking stick, it is still aligned with the
element of fire.

There is some debate in the Cartomancy world
whether wands are the forerunners of clubs or
diamonds.  Either way, the earlier affiliations of
the suit to the forceful powers of Sun still apply
whatever you feel is correct.  Aligned with
Freya, the Norse goddess of creativity, beauty
and fertility the wands are a potent symbol in
your spread.  The Staves speak to your personal
capability of creativity, action, passion, energy and
spirit.   

If your spread is filled with a predominant number of
staves, it is a call that change is on the way.  Use
your creativity to look at the situation and, if
necessary, the Stave is a very effective tool for
helping to clear a path!  

In general when Staves appear in your spread they
represent the creative spark, the fire of progressive
energy, the internal life force that animates the husks of a body.  The Staves
also remind us that through growth we can develop a strong sense of our own
potential and creativity.  The Staves talk of movement in our cycle of life’s
continuing renewal.

Thought to impart the energy of the Sun (fire energy), Staves are aligned with
Lions, the animals of the Sun.  Considered the suit of the laborer, if Staves
appear in abundance in your spread you can be sure that toil (either physical or
mental) is on the way.   

The process of change is assigned to Staves.  If you have ever seen the
destructive yet regenerative force of a wildfire you can understand the amount
of change that Staves can represent.  A wildfire can roar through, spitting
flames hundreds of feet in the air in a voracious run as it skips across the
crowns of the trees turning fuels to ash in an instant.  Then, after the short
span of a single year (a turning of the wheel), new growth has already begun.  
Trees that have no other way to reproduce than the heat release the seeds from
tight cones spread their young and small growth begins to appear.  Fireweed is
named for its ability to capitalize on the rich earth and abundant sunshine that is
left in the wake of a devastating fire.  Life forces it way through, always
reaching toward the sun – the fire energy that guides all our lives.

Paracelsus (1493-1541) hypothesized that the Salamander was a being who
lived within the element of fire.  Although we know that to be an incorrect
hypothesis now, the association of the salamander to the suit of wands still
remains.

By studying the suit of Staves we can prepare ourselves for the changes life is
bringing to us.  There’s one thing for sure about life…it will change.  Whether
the drastic and dramatic change of national disaster, or the intimate change of
internal thought processes, with Staves appearing in your spread the changing
energy of Fire is coming your way.

Click on the link below to view the meaning of the other individual cards within
the suit of Swords.
(Also known as "Wands")
Please click on the link below to learn more about the other cards in the Tarot!
- Veterans -
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