Welcome to Tarot Thursdays! This week we will be exploring the King 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.

---

Introduction of the Card

The King of Wands is card number 35 in the deck, the fourteenth card of the Wands Suit, and the fourth card of Wands’ Court in the Minor Arcana of the Tarot.

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

---

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.

---

My Analysis of These Cards

In these cards we each have an imposing figure of a king. Like the Queen of Wands, he is in a warm environment and is very comfortable in it. However, it goes beyond that with the king here. In each of these cards he looks like “a man with a plan” and is ready to act upon that plan. When he does, I feel like it won’t matter who stands in his way. He’s going to burn his way through. It’s just in the posture and expressions these kings have.

---

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:

• CREATIVE
• INSPIRING
• FORCEFUL
• CHARISMATIC
• BOLD

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:

• NATURAL-BORN LEADER
• VISION
• ENTREPRENEUR
• HONOR

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

---

What this Card Means to Me

As I’ve said before, kings represent the maturity of the masculine aspects within an individual. They have fully come into the power of their aspect and reign supreme of their domain. And the domain for the Wands is the aspects of the spirit. So here we have that bold, creative fire that inspires us all and drives us forward into the world. The king has mastered it and shaped it to the point that they lead others with it. Their very being becomes a light to those around them.

The pitfall here is they risk losing sight of the need that others have for independent discovery. They have become so accustomed to moving mountains that they don’t always stop to consider that they need to step back and allow someone else give it a try for the sake of personal growth. In their minds, their will is the only way to shape the world around them and it isn’t necessarily due to stubbornness, but rather it’s due to the result of their mastery. This has become the ingrained behavior pattern for them and they have forgotten the learning process. They no longer have any other way of being than to be the mover, shaper, and doer in life without a great deal of effort.

The key phrase I choose for this card is: MASTER OF THE SOUL.

---

Music Playlist

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

---

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.

---

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

Happy writing!

---

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