Welcome to Tarot Thursdays! This week we will be exploring the Nine of Wands and how it can be used as a prompt or brainstorming in our writing.

Tarot is an interesting thing. It’s based upon symbolism and metaphors through imagery. With these images the subconscious mind is tapped into through the story provided. Not everyone gets the same thing from a piece of art. Each piece will influence each person in a slightly different way.

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Introduction of the Card

The Nine of Wands is card number 30 in the deck and the Ninth card of the Wands Suit in the Minor Arcana of the Tarot.

Let’s take a look at the following examples of this card below.

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Card Examples

 

 

Notice the similarities between them and take note of their differences. Do any of these move you more than the others? Take your time and allow these cards to tell you their story.

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My Analysis of These Cards

In each of these cards, the individuals are facing a task that appears to be without end and they’re on the ropes, so to speak. The ship is in rough waters but it isn’t sinking or breaking even though the safe harbor is out of reach in the image of the Mythic Tarot card. For the Dragon Tarot and the Tarot of Dreams cards, the stair way seems to ascend without end. And in the Universal Tarot card… well, I don’t know what this guy is supposed to be doing but he looks tired as hell to me.

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Themes of the Card

Each card has a set of keywords associated with it that serve as themes for its image. These keywords will vary somewhat depending on who you ask.

According to the Learning the Tarot website, the keywords associated with the card are:

• DEFENSIVENESS
• PERSEVERANCE
• STAMINA

You can learn more about what this site has to say about this card here.

According to the Biddy Tarot website, the keywords associated with the card are:

• COURAGE
• PERSISTENCE
• TEST OF FAITH
• RESILIENCE

You can learn more about what this site has to say about this card here.

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What this Card Means to Me

What’s that old saying? “Winners never quit and quitters never win,” or something like that. And that’s basically about the size of it with this card. This card is all about putting those big girl panties on and keep on keeping on. Yes even you boys. Put your big boy pants on. Get it done. Sometimes we’re tired and we just need to give it that extra push otherwise we’ll never see it through. It’s by being resilient and persistent that we make it to the end. Just like in the classic fable of the Tortoise and the Hare.

The keyword I choose for this card is: PERSEVERANCE.

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Music Playlist

In this spirit of all this, these are the songs I have picked out for this card.

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The Writing Exercise

This exercise is a free write. Permit yourself to write whatever comes to mind based upon the theme of this card. Choose a keyword or key phrase and run with it to see what you come up with.

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I would love it if you linked or pinged back what you wrote so I could see where you went with this.

Happy writing!

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Mythic Tarot by Liz Greene (Author), Juliet Sharman-Burke (Author), Tricia Newell (Illustrator) © 1989
Dragon Tarot by Terry Donaldson (Author), Peter Pracownik (Author) © 1996
Universal Tarot by Lo Scarabeo (Author), R. De Angelis (Illustrator), A. E. Waite (Designer) © 2001
Tarot of Dreams by Ciro Marchetti (Author), Lee Bursten (Author) © 2015