Four of Wands
Wands
How This Card Is Derived
Papus gives no separate description of this card. It is derived from his system: Wands is Yod (י), the active, originating principle, acting in Atziluth, the archetypal world; the number 4 is He final of the first series, and Yod of the second, realization — and the pivot that begins the next movement. The meaning below is that combination read out — the active, originating principle taken at its 4th term — not a quotation from him.
Upright
The pivot. The active principle realized becomes an established thing — four staves standing, the garland between them, the ground marked out. Papus's fourth term fixes, and what is fixed here is a frame: a household, a partnership, a founded institution. It is the suit's only stationary card, and being a pivot, everything the second series contends over begins from what got built here.
Reversed
The frame raised over nothing — the celebration without the substance, the fourth term claimed early. Or a foundation so satisfying in itself that nobody goes on to use it.
Correspondences
- Suit
- Wands — Yod (י), Atziluth, the archetypal world
- Suit principle
- the active, originating principle
- Number
- 4 — He final of the first series, and Yod of the second
- Numeric role
- realization — and the pivot that begins the next movement
In a Spread
At the commencement, the matter begins inside something recently established. In opposition, an arrangement whose stability is in the way. At equilibrium this is the firmest footing the suit offers. As the result: something is founded — and Papus's pivot hands straight on to the contest at five.