The Universe in Motion

Queen of Wands has the Moon in their blood

We’re in Aries season! Let’s continue in the series where we look at each sign’s corresponding court card as an embodiment of the lessons learned from the preceding sign’s Major card. I always feel so clunky introducing this concept, but take a look back at the other posts if you haven’t already: Knight of Wands (Sagittarius) as a response to Death (Scorpio), Queen of Pentacles (Capricorn) as a response to Temperance (Sagittarius), King of Swords (Aquarius) as a response to the Devil (Capricorn), and Knight of Cups (Pisces) as a response to the Star (Aquarius).

Aries’ court card is Queen of Wands. Aries follows Pisces, and the Pisces Major card is the Moon. So in what way is Queen of Wands a response to a deep encounter with the Moon?

You may have heard the Queen of Wands described as the ‘witch’ of the Tarot. I think all Queens are witches in their way, but there are some valid reasons that the moniker is mostly attributed to the Queen of Wands. One is certainly this ‘mastery’ over Moon energy—having wandered through its mystery and come out the other side. The Moon represents our instinctual and intuitive nature. It’s an invitation to drop into our guts and move instinctively through the unknown. In the Moon, we can access the wilder and more animal side of ourselves. Think Clarissa Pinkola Estés ‘Women Who Run with the Wolves’ energy. It’s easy to see how Queen of Wands embodies that vibe: a refusal to be caged or diminished, a commitment to honoring their own intuition and desires. Queen of Wands is hungry for life (fire=appetite) and, like all wild animals, doesn’t interrogate or shame their hunger.

Photo by Jonny Clow on Unsplash

The Moon is our subconscious, and all manner of spiritual/emotional/psychological material that we’ve repressed; at some point we must dive in, to seek for and recover lost pieces of ourselves. Queen of Wands has done that deep mining and the treasures that they’ve found there are wonderful fuel for their creative life, as Queen of Wands can be deeply committed to artistic self-expression. But that recovery work has also made this Queen very protective. They realize how much was lost to shame and for how long, and they tend to their inner fire now with joyful vigilance: no one gets close who may threaten to douse those flames.

In shadow, this Queen can be deeply resentful and envious. The Moon’s landscape is boggy and sucks at your ankles. If you’re not careful, you can get stuck there amidst all the baggage. Queen of Wands can feel disempowered, over-focused on what they were never ‘allowed’, on what they had to repress and hide, forgetting that now, they do not need to wait for anyone’s permission. Now, they are the ones who must bring all of themselves forward.

At its essence, the Moon is the primordial ‘stuff’ from whence we all came. It is the dark waters of the metaphorical, universal womb. We emerge from the Moon both a differentiated individual, but deeply aware of our common cosmic origins. I once pulled Queen of Wands for this well-known quote from Rumi: “Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.” I think that is the heart of the lesson this Queen has learned from the Moon, and certainly one of the reasons they have earned the name of Witch. Witches refuse to act small, to disown their power. They are made of the same stuff as the stars, and they burn and burn and burn.

A simple affirmation to pull for today (and I would love to hear your pulls in the comments if you’re willing to share!):

I give myself permission to thrive.