Nine of Wands

Mutable fire: heat, tenderness, the warrior

NINE OF WANDS

The Nine of Wands is Martial and Lunar.

It is the magical backstage and the spectacle.

It is the battle won and the battle to come.

It is neon.

SAGITTARIUS II + NINE OF WANDS

This card correlates with the first decan of Sagittarius. You can learn more about the decans here.

Sagittarius II is Neon. It is a kaleidoscopic atmosphere that shifts moment to moment. It is mutable fire.

Kira Ryberg focuses on the ‘fierce but mystical’ co-rulership of Mars and the Moon in Sagittarius II.

This is the decan of the warrior who has experienced the brutality of war, but must persevere regardless. It speaks to the sign of Aries, and therefore has a more aggressive and confrontational nature to it. It is co- ruled by the Moon and Mars, bringing a fierce yet mystical vibe to this part of the zodiac.

– Kira Ryberg

The energy of Mars can produce heat and light but it can also keep us running on empty as with the exhausted, but tense, figure apparently still fighting a battle that has ended.

The Moon is present in the tenderness of the warrior, whose body and nervous system are strung out.

T. Susan Chang describes the nine of every suit as a place of the ‘magical backstage’, the place of culmination. She says that, ‘If you can create change in the 9, the blueprint of reality, it will manifest inevitably in the 10 - our real world.’

The Nine of Wands, concerned with creative energies, has a particular element of backstage magic – there is an element of spectacle to this card, woven from mutable fire and the alchemical intensity of Martial and Lunar forces.

SAGITTARIUS, SPECTACLE + NEON

Christoph Ribbat, in his book on the history of neon, could be writing about Sagittarius season, and the effect of mutable fire.

In the era of artificial lighting and illuminated signs the city was becoming more and more superficial and theatrical, clamouring for more and more effects. Going along with the ideas of a thinker like Guy Debord, one could read the flashing light shows as part of the overall hypnotization of passive consumers, continually dazzled by light in a capitalist ‘society of the spectacle’.

The Nine of Wands in the Thoth deck captures the sense of the spectacle. The wands are arranged to showcase the golden flare of the sun, its illumination focusing the eye to the top centre of the card.

The image recalls Ribbatt’s identification of the era of artificial lighting as leading to ever more theatrical and distracting effects – Debord’s ‘society of the spectacle’ – and Alice Sparkly Kat’s reminder that in ‘the artificially lit world of the twenty-four-hour city, the landscape receded, and with it, the shadow world of the night.’

The Nine of Wands is the red neon light that glows in the distance, keeping you awake, but also reminding you that you aren’t alone.