Eight of Wands
Mutable fire: the speed of light, arrows, lightning
EIGHT OF WANDS
The Eight of Wands is a card of brightness in the dark. It is composed of flashes of light, rainbows, wildfires, and ideas that move at the speed of light.
The Eight of Wands pierces us, makes us feel the prick of the arrow, the scent of blood, the thrill of the hunt. It is immediate and it is alive.
It is lightning in the dark. Electricity in the blood.
SAGITTARIUS I + EIGHT OF WANDS
This card correlates with the first decan of Sagittarius. You can learn more about the decans here.
Austin Coppock describes Sagittarius I as a place where
a vision erupts. The ideal self, the half divine hero, appears, composed entirely of spirit-fire. To see it is to be moved by it. It is the shape one’s spirit takes as it enters the mind.’
This decan is ruled by Mercury and Jupiter. The generosity of Jupiter combines with the swiftness of Mercury. Wild fires erupt, posts go viral, arrows are loosed from their bows.
SAGITTARIUS, TEMPERANCE + RAINBOWS
T. Susan Chang notes that Temperance, the major arcana card associated with Sagittarius, describes a different kind of bow – ‘to do not with the classic hunting weapon, but with the meteorological phenomenon that is a rainbow.’
She says that, ‘While there is no rainbow explicitly depicted on the Waite-Smith Temperance card, it is there in code. To one side of the Temperance angel, we see a stand of irises - blooms named after Iris, the messenger goddess.’
The Eight of Wands in the Thoth deck is also composed of arrows, lighting, and rainbows.
The creative forces present in this card require fire and force to emerge, and their reach is unpredictable.
Like the rainbow plant, that ‘requires fire or smoke exposure to chemically condition seeds for germination.’
Its sparkling, iridescent sap entices and traps insects; it requires exposure to wildfires for germination; it is carnivorous – a sharp-toothed weapon like an arrow.
This card, and Sagittarius I, teach us that there is no creative vision without struggle, and nothing can be born without a bloody battle, without fire.
But what results is wild, free, and full of creative heat.