Mar 01 | 2023 — X of Wands
Well, well, it seems our story of cycles continues still further. Monday: Ace of Pentacles; Tuesday: X of Swords; Today: X of Wands. Now we just need X of Cups and we’ll be TEN! TEN! TENS ACROSS THE BOARD! (And the remaining two tens — cups and pentacles — are both happy cards, so that’d be nice!)
The X of Wands is the card of excess. Carrying too much, being burdened, burning the candle at both ends… the struggle is real! When I think of this card, I think of Lusia, the lesbian sister in Encanto as she sings “Surface Pressure,” and the burden of expectation placed on her. She represents the X of Wands to me. (And if you want to know something really interesting about Encanto and psychological archetypes…)
Traditionally, the X of Wands sees the main figure struggling to return to their house carrying their bundle of wands. They are alone with no one to help them; often a result of the choices made in the previous Wands cards which have left them alienated and with no support. That’s certainly one interpretation and has its place in the general Tarot meanings… but you know me…
Message of the Day: As we look at X of Wands from a self-reflection perspective, it seems pretty obvious. We often carry so much emotional weight and baggage with us that it’s a struggle to manage what we have, not to mention add anything new.
This, my friends, is why we need to learn to manage our bag of fucks.
When we’re young, we have a huge bag that we carry with us; plenty of room for tons of fucks. How we look: check! Who we hang out with: check! Social injustice: check! We care and we care HARD. And as we get older — mostly out of necessity — we begin to downsize our bag to maybe a smaller box. Eventually, maybe something handheld, like a lovely clutch or maybe, if you’re super cool, a fanny pack. As we downsize, we have to shed some of the fucks we give. What was important when I was 20 has less weight now that I’m 46, and I sure as shit don’t want to spend the energy to carry around a giant bag of fucks when they do absolutely nothing for me.
I believe this lovely woman sums it up best:
Now my fucks are hand-picked and fit nicely in my pocket. They are things I worry about and care for. I have reduced my stack of sticks, my burdens, the senseless expectations I’ve made for myself (or others have made for me), to focus on what I really need to be happy and progress in life.
Remember that this is YOUR life and if you can’t spend the energy to give a fuck about something, then you’re better off without it. That goes for your job, friendships, family traditions, keeping up with the Joneseses, politics, and church (sometimes, er often, the same as politics). It can even be as minor as not making your bed every day or loosening your routines to allow yourself to breathe and be just that much happier in your day.
So the challenge of today’s X of Wands: which fucks are you willing to dispose of? Maybe you can get your KonMari on and thank them for their service with a bow and blessing and then send them on their merry fucking way. That’s one less thing for you to have to carry today.
Decks shown above:
