ELEMENT
Fire
WANDS POWERWORDS
Energy / Sexuality / Adventure / Creativity
TEN OF WANDS POWERWORDS
Burnout
QUICK MEANING
This card means that you are in a place of burnout and overwhelm. Your Wands energy is totally depleted.
TRADITIONAL MEANING
Traditionally the card means oppression and exhaustion. The job or project is over and burnout follows. Or the sheer habit of hard work at work or home is taking its toil.
CARD DESCRIPTION
A man walks towards his home carrying ten wands. His back is stooped and his head is bowed. We sense he is exhausted. In the distance are trees and nature and a fresh field ready for new plants to be sown. The town looks friendly.
SYMBOLS
Man
This man is bent over with the weight of the staffs. He is near the end or finished and he is exhausted.
Ten Wands
The man holds Ten Wands. We can imagine it is a heavy burden. Do you carry heavy burdens?
Green Trees and Land
The land is still fresh and green showing hope and rest.
Plowed Field
The card indicates the end of a cycle but the plowed field shows the beginning of a new one. Once this man rests he will feel back to himself and ready for the next adventure.
Town in the distance
The town looks warm and comfortable. Soon this man will deeply rest if he allows himself. Do you allow yourself to rest?
QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU EXPLORE THIS CARD MORE
Like the card above, are you the donkey that carries everyone and everything on your back? To me the Ten of Wands symbolizes many women in the 21st century. Trying to do everything and trying to do it perfectly with a tendency to a lack of self care. Taking on too much and finding it hard to say no. Giving to everybody else and not to themselves.
In the Western world I see one crazy phenomenon involving women which I am also part of = Full time working mum’s. What a crazy idea? I really do not think it is healthy. If a woman wants to do it and manages to keep everything balanced – home, kids, relationships, cleaning, homework, shopping, cleaning, exercise, eating well, work pressure, commuting, community events, birthdays, sick children – then that is great. But I rarely see a mother work 40 plus hours a week with young children and not look like she is about to collapse. In the modern world we want to prove we are gender equal but does that mean we also need to work as many hours? Is there another way?
The other big pattern I see in women when reading the Tarot cards is the ‘over achiever’. The woman with the lists and the list of the lists. Everything must be done well and everything can be done! Really? The hours in a day are finite. I hope you are including self care in there. I hope you realize that over achieving only leads to burnout.
Another massive pattern in women of all ages in the ‘giver’. You give to your family and friends, your work and work colleagues, the charities you are involved in, the friend having a hard time right now, the people who take because they know you will not put your foot down or say no. The giver can forget to eat breakfast because she has to go help someone. She forgets to go to bed early because she needs to ring that distressed friend. Or the time you said yes and then in the middle of whatever you said yes to, feeling deeply exhausted and wanting to run away.
Here are some questions for you to answer to help you understand this card more…
What are you doing right now that you REALLY do not want to do?
What things can you say goodbye to and let go?
Is there a way for you to get help?
Do you fill others cups but fail to fill your own?
List three things you can do to bring more energy into your life? Commit to doing them.
Do you see patterns to your life?
Perhaps you need to say ‘no’ more often?
Perhaps you need to give less?
Perhaps you need to do things without them being perfect?
Perhaps you need too take a step back from your life and take a good hard look at it and how imbalanced it is and how you can rectify that.
GOLDEN DAWN / QABALA
The Hermetic title for this card is ‘Lord of Oppression’.
On the Tree of Life, the Number Ten cards sit on the Sphiroth Malkuth which represents Kingdom or Planet Earth.
After the energy from the Divine enters Kether at the top of the Tree of Life, it next flows to Chokhmah. Chokhmah is the place of wisdom. The energy then flows onto Binah which is the energy of understanding. Then the energy leaves this upper triangle of energy (called the Supernal) and flows down to Chesed, the energy of Mercy. Then the energy flows to Gevurah which is a difficult Sphiroth representing severity and possibly suffering. Then the energy flows to Tiferet which is at the center of the Tree of Life. It represents balance and harmony. Next we move to Netzach which is victory and then onto Hod which is splendor. Then we move onto Yesod which is Foundation and directly under Tiferet in the middle pillar. It is balanced. It is the place where all the above energies now have the ability to become manifest and real. What we think, we become. More importantly, what we feel we become. Finally the energy moves down into Malkuth which is Yesod come into the world and create the planet we live on and everything in existence. The essence of the Creator goes through various stages until it comes to the final stage of being. Therefore we can conclude that all of life and the world around us contains a spark of the Creator. All the 10 cards in the Tarot represent completion of the suits energy. The wands energy is vital and sparkly but can often run out over time. Wands energy must be managed well and the Ten of Wands indicates burnout.
ASTROLOGICAL
Ruled by Saturn in Sagittarius
TEN OF WANDS REVERSED
When this card is reversed the card shows a block in the cycle of completion. Something is now at an end but you are holding on in some way. Mentally, emotionally or physically. You are exhausted but you just cannot let go.
Two important questions to consider with a reversed Ten of Wands:
Are you regretting this specific task or journey you just completed?
Are you so overwhelmed that you feel there is no more movement or excitement in the world?