Upright Keywords:
Inspiration, Breakthrough, Thumbs Up, Rising to a challenge, Ideas empowered by desire, Initial fire, Creativity, Humour and quick thinking, Marriage and fertility, Self-reliance, Spiritual strength, Confidence
Reversed Keywords:
Arrested development, Lack of enthusiasm, Oppression. Limits of conventional thinking, Apathy, Spiritual malnutrition, Lack of experience, Wasted effort, Futility, Thumbs Down, Exile, violence, tyranny, Chaos and destruction
Ace of Wands is connected with Prometheus’ fire and it’s connected with Heraclitus’ idea that fire is the beginning of all things. Ace of Wands is the intro to the magic of Fire, this card is the essence of this element in its beginning. Ace of Wands urges the magician to learn about electrical volts, fire aspects in alchemy and the conjuring of Salamanders (spirits of Fire).
Fire spirits give amazing inspiration, stimulate passion and enhance the power of will; they claim that everything is possible, as long as we wish it so, through the doings of the Fire element. Ace of Wands is, after all, just the beginning of the Fire element, and as for the direction in which it will lead us, the rest of the cards surrounding it will tell.
Upright Meaning
When Ace of Wands shows up upright in reading it foretells about the fast, sudden and spontaneous happenings caused by the reader’s wishes and manifestations. It is an omen of new beginnings and wild opportunities that can move things off the ground and get the ball rolling. It indicates that the reader has the strength to rise up to the challenge. If Ace of Wands was a song, it would be Gonna Fly Now by Bill Conti (Rocky 1 theme song).
This card is an omen of reason reigning over impulse and using primal instinct to your advantage, it also means that you will be able to rise up to the challenge before you and be victorious. It’s a strong indicator that you are on the right track and that your current actions and plans have the potential to reach great heights and give birth to success.
Ace of Wands upright also indicates that you have a good empathy to reason ratio and that you are able to be both objective and passionate towards a situation or a matter at hand you’re inquiring about. This card is reminding you to bring more humor to the situation, and to be more light-hearted if you feel stuck or under the weather.
Reversed Meaning
When Ace of Wands shows up reversed it’s a good indication of a lack of enthusiasm from the reader’s end. It indicates arrested development of the situation, or it depicts the current state of matters for the reader, something is blocking you from moving forward. It can also point to the limits of conventional thinking and the inability to ‘think outside the box’.
This card reversed is a good indicator of oppression, tyranny, violence and exile. When the element of Fire is reversed, things tend to get “heated” and “messy”, it’s not a favorable omen that predicts great outcomes; it rather points to some dangerous actions and unfavorable outcomes that can even be potentially dangerous for the reader.
It can also mean that the new perspective won’t be to the liking of the reader, and that things will turn sour. It predicts feelings of apathy, indifference and stagnation. Conversely, this card can indicate that you’re investing your time and energy into a futile project and that the time has come for you to move your attention to other things, of a more pressing nature.