Ace of Wands

This is our primordial energy, our life force, or elan vital, the drivenness of individual beings, ‘natural as opposed to invoked force,’ awareness and other things that life can make from metabolic heat. By analogy with the fire triangle, heat, fuel and oxygen must all be supplied to create or sustain a flame: fill in the parts of the analogy. Oxygen, for instance, might be exposure, or it might be the literal molecule that allows metabolism. The buildup to this moment might be regarded as fuel. And note that a new flame will need tending, unless it emerges in a flammable or explosive context, or else it might die out. The process may still be a little endothermic, requiring more input to reach a kindling point. Learning how to light up is a task the Ace shares with the Princess, but she is a little further along in the learning process. The force may feel like a creative pressure or urge, pressure wanting expression, a pioneering spirit, a chal- lenge that calls to action, empowerment, and carping the diem. Note that it’s pressure in the blood that holds the phallus erect. This is either a call for or a source of courage and self-encouragement, a new source or energy or motivation, a getting fired up, an excitement, or an enthusiasm. The Yijing counterpart is Gua 16, Readiness or Enthusiasm, a building charge of energy. This is called a responsive movement, stimulated, rather than purely self-initiated. This signals a starting point or new beginning, a personal enkindling or quickening; a new personal project, such as living life more vividly, or raising mindfulness, or fulfilling a drive. It might be a new identity or role, a new or renewed sense of purpose, a new interest or stimulus, a new passion ignited or kindled, a new torch to carry, or just something worth getting excited about. We may be discovering a personal potential or undeveloped gift still to be realized, still more promising than actual, perhaps not yet a source of dynamic energy, but needing more input or nurture, a flame in need of fanning. This may still be a general drive that needs to be narrowed or specified to get real. It may be that the raw energy is already there but its use or outlet is still undefined. A new state of mind has received a majority vote of the selves that one is made up of. There is nothing quite like novelty for piquing our interest or awareness and bringing our selves together. This is called will, but it’s not yet will until it’s in motion, so it’s actually more would now than will, more like a willingness looking for its chance. This could also be an unblocking, or a opportunity at last to act, starting with finding the right place and time, a moving forward for which one has been ready for some time. There may also be a rhythm that one first needs to synch up with, or some other way to overcome inertia and capture momentum. Or it could refer to the renewal of a source gone dormant, the fanning of old embers and sparks, the revitalization or reinvigoration of a state that we have known and learned we could lose. The past might be regarded here as fuel.