Ace of Wands and Emperor

Both of these are heavily male gender Tarot cards. Ace of Wands means male and looks like a penis. Emperor is a God the Father type, is the head man, the old man, etc. All they talk about is old, entrenched, established power and enforcement.

sexy grandpa

sex with the old man

federal power

powerful leader

the president’s orders

has to be Number One

I’m your daddy; you have to.

He’s Daddy; I have to.

rebels against Father

He gets his orders directly from the chief.

threatens an old man

bossy old man

you’re old but you have clout

a very important old man

we have to get old

fight the Establishment

victory for the Establishment

the higher-ups are old-school

a confrontational elder

federal enforcement agency

the most senior

old-fashioned blunt force

the oldest and strongest _

her old steady mate

challenge the incumbent

the old order (the good-old-boys?) asserts itself

old age is such a challenge

vitality when you are old.

Ace of Wands and Devil

Another pair that haven’t connected in ten years of archives. Looking at some of the phrases they make, I wonder why they haven’t.

What can you say when the devil and a penis meet? Both these cards can call up sexual cuss words. Both can be about things brutal and forceful. Devil is one of the most general cards: Read it last in a spread; let the other cards bring out what it is about. Devil means common things like physical, attachment, wrong, anger, mistake, dirt, infection, problem, obstacle, disability … so it’s useless as a lead card.

physically challenged

strong attachment

have to attach (it)

The devil made me do it.

what makes you mad

overcome a bad habit

overcome a disease

overcome a disability

fight infection

attack by demon(s)

struggle with my dark side

sexual obsession

sexual pervert

sex problem

male sexuality

rough sex

Down and dirty good sex: That’s the main thing

most evil

the most corrupt

main obstacle to

the very worst

huge mistake

a big problem

the main problem

the dirtiest

hurts the worst

fighting mad

resisting my vice

addiction gets the best of you

just have to get nasty

obsessed with power

brutal crime

brutality and torture

punishment for crime

confronted about a mistake

the worst mistake

the wrong orders

Ace of Wands and Tower

Here we have a blow, and to fall over or be destroyed, as basic meanings of this pair, so most of its translates are about overthrow and disasters. However, Tower means mild things like ‘suddenly’ and ‘unexpected.’ Ace of Wands can mean strong, win, important, vitality, and some other pretty good things.

sudden unexpected win

suddenly strong

unexpectedly overcomes

a threat ends unexpectedly

an order of eviction

cease-and-desist order

overturned the order [legal]

overthrow of powerful

knocked out of the number one spot

debunk the main point

how the mighty have fallen

forced into bankruptcy

total destruction

has to be destroyed

destruction of an evil is top priority

extensive property damage

have to throw (it) out

has to be demolished

have to quit

had to quit ‘cold turkey’

forced to quit

have to divorce

to hit with force

strike a blow

the boss is mad

big temper tantrum

fired for insubordination

have to be fired

the biggest disaster

major disaster

The Big One earthquake

part with once and for all

short circuit of high voltage

huge eruption, major eruption

aggression backfires

enforcement backfires

fire a weapon

explosives as weapon(s)

weapon is destroyed

arrested for sure

gets the point across: a shock

is blunt, is a shock

coitus interruptus [medical]

hit with a club

hammer blow

hit and fell to pieces

a major flareup [medical]

Ace of Wands and Star

Now here’s a card the force and dominance of Ace of Wands cannot influence. Star is good feeling, good loving (and love) (and saying ‘I love you’). Star is good health and enthusiasm. Star is even the card for The Talk (only women know what that means).

Star’s barrage of talk (and song) shuts Ace of Wands up a lot. Ace of Wands suddenly is: having to, making, must and ‘got to,’ big, very, all, and sexy. Its big stick is transformed by effusive declarations of good feeling.

The Talk

blunt talk

say it bluntly

the main point in a speech

the main thing he/she has to say

make your point when you talk

have to explain

have to tell (them)

(we) have to talk

admission against interest [legal]

make him/her talk

make the best of that loving feeling

have to say ‘I love you’

totally adore her

funloving girl gets the best of him

a big promise

big news

The good news is, you win.

important good news

talk about something sexual

have to tell her she is beautiful

it’s important to compliment her

gotta praise the curvy women

praise is important

have to praise the ladyfriend

have to encourage her

Rah Rah, I’m all for it

a very strong good feeling

feeling very very good

feeling very good all over

high spirits take me over

on-top-of-the-world happy

have to cheer up

top-notch performance

peak performance

assertive performance

the show must go on

supreme joy

the most enthusiastic

the most inspiring

extremely grateful

sexy talk

sexy song

song is number one

sexy beautiful woman

strong voluptuous woman

a curvy woman with clout

sings to her in bed

sex with a beautiful woman

beautiful woman’s sex life/experience

the most beautiful woman

enjoy sex

mostly blarney

wins by bullshitting

have to take a bath

a strong flow

have to publicize

major press release

must advertise

must promote

the sales spiel is vitally important

the words are the important thing

gotta persuade (them)

they tell you you have to

tattletales are an obstacle

forced to confess

Ace of Wands and Four of Cups

Ace of Wands is like the offer you can’t refuse … except there are people who do refuse those. Four of Cups is one of them. Ace of Cups is force and Four of Cups blocks. Here we have some flavor of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object.

Think of Four of Cups as ‘None of the above.’ Four of Cups is also famously ‘not interested’ and ‘doesn’t want. ‘Doesn’t know,’ with an undertone of ‘doesn’t want to know either’ is another Four of Cups frequent phrase. Four of Cups also ‘has reservations about,’ which isn’t a full ‘no’ stance.

Well, every card’s gotta have an exception, gotta have a fork off its main highway. And Four of Cups does. To hold out. To hold out for something else. Here, saying ‘no’ plays a part in a larger picture, and puts Four of Cups in a very different perspective. Remember to check for that.

can’t say ‘no’

not against

won’t fight

can’t make (me)

can’t boss (me)

Don’t take orders

not important

say ‘no’ to power

Don’t force it.

have to pass that up

absolutely refuses

in no mood for sex

not interested in sex

no interest in being boss

no interest in being number one

doesn’t want to be a VIP

no interest in being a winner

not Type A

can’t threaten me

not going to be ordered around

refuse to cooperate with your order

not gonna take it any more

not listening to the boss

can’t force them to

at full force, it doesn’t get through

total blockage

resisting sexual temptation

to hold out for the best

Ace of Wands and Five of Cups

Five of Cups is all about loss and regret; Ace of Wands in this context uses its sexual meanings and its general ‘very’ meanings, its ‘had to’ and ‘must’ meanings, its ‘huge’ or ‘massive’ meanings.

a huge loss

total loss

loss of power

had to lose

lost a fight

lose a battle

a threatening loss of body fluid

massive hemorrhage

loss of sexual ability

castration or spay

very sorry

overwhelmed by sorrow

overwhelmed by heartache

overwhelming depression

oppressive force

sorry for aggression

sorry about a sexual

sorry I had to

sorry for what I had to (do)

remorse for hitting

ashamed when confronted

overcome by grief

regret gets the best of (me)

aggravated grief [medical]

grieving a mate

missing my mate

very homesick

booze as a huge issue

total waste

a major spill

very depressed

a big failure

devastated by failure

failed at the most important

failed at what I had to do

have to declare bankruptcy

can only wish I had stood up for myself

a big hangover

to combat the blues

to counteract what I’ve been through

judge issues an order

judicial decree

Ace of Wands and Six of Cups

Six of Cups has several categories of meanings that arise from its illustration of to well-dressed children in front of dwellings, the little boy giving the little girl flowers.

Here they are:

love and romance

the sweet life

child, children, childhood

that was then: the past; old; used to

give, gift, exchange

old neighborhood, good neighborhood

innocent, innocence

trust

house, home, neighborhood, home for children

friends

Ace of Wands again is limited to its non-confrontational phrases by the mellow scene of Six of Cups, so here you see it meaning: have to, father, an order, overcome, comes first, nothing like that, I’m just the one to, etc.

have to trust

father of the children/child

have to be home

have to have kids

an order re child _

the children have to

overcome childhood _

the kids come first

have children, so I have to

make kids behave

Kids are a big challenge.

nothing like when we were kids

I’m just the one to make a home sweet home.

It’s got to be that old neighborhood.

Making an all-out effort to have a house for the children.

Let’s play house, we gotta play house now!

To live with somebody you love is the best!

Once and only once: puppy love!

Gotta have romance in your life.

an impressive gift

a loving relationship is all-important

totally old-fashioned love affair

one thing about our past

my one and only true love

I used to have the most quaint house

Nothing like the way life used to be

Ace of Wands and Page of Cups

Here’s this guy dressed like a girl, with this funny hat, carrying a fish around in a cup, his back to the waves behind the seawall he stands before. The waves symbolize instability (milder than the ones in Two of Pentacles). Is this goofy, or what? Inappropriate, dumb, and an invitation to put his sentence into question form. Page of Cups is one of the cards that puts your sentence into question form. It means words like ‘question’ and ‘silly.’ These two cards together turn the meanings of Ace of Wands into questions.

Is he the boss?

Is it enforced?

Am I in control?

Do I have to?

Does he have to?

Why do I have to?

doubt they can make you

Have to make a fool of yourself.

dumbest idea

silly fight

Why fight it?

may have the clout

Can I overcome this?

a question about orders

have to ask

has to wonder

have to doubt

something’s up, for sure

may be male

a gay male

a sexy bi guy

a challenging question

but is it sexual

how can I overcome

What can combat (it)?

Sure do look silly

a foolish stand to take

no idea why he’s in charge

important questions

may be a win

questionable achievement

the best comedian

very inebriated

Ace of Wands and Queen of Cups

Of all the people cards, the personality cards, Queen of Cups has the most narrow range. She’s the good woman, the sweet lady, the understanding girl friend. She belongs to the think/feel/know tribe, and she also understands and figures out. Understands her man and has him figured out – and admires him too.

Her meanings limit the scope of Ace of Wands’ meanings. Ace of Wands trots out: for sure, one thing, sex, has to, a challenge, main. These words do appear but the sentences they are in tones them down: bossy, assertive, defend.

She knows one thing for sure.

she is the one and only woman for him

She is thinking of sex.

Sweet but bossy gal.

Sweet-natured lady can be assertive.

That sweet lady is the boss.

she knows what has to

she has to think

She’s having a blond moment for sure.

a blond woman for him for sure.

A woman who understands him is a challenge.

The main woman who’s interested in him.

The one and only lady in his life

defends the lady in his life against

sex with this dreamy chic

She thinks he’s sexy.

She knows her man is good in bed.

You can be aggressive with the blond ones.

Ace of Wands and King of Cups

King of Cups is the quiet type. There’s a spectrum to his meanings. Most often, he is the good guy, the fellow in customer service or with a desk job who is content to be a, shall we say, wage slave. He is the emotional and emotionally available man, the honey of a guy, a gentleman, a sweetheart … good guy. He is the older good guy, and Knight of Cups is the younger. When you see them together in your spread, they are most likely setting a good-guy or sweetheart theme.

King of Cups can also be the snipey type, the resentful, vapid, boring sort of person, or even passive aggressive. He is so famous for being a bureaucrat that this is the main card to stand for government, along with Emperor as a federal government.

Ace of Wands’ assertive meanings often pair with King of Cups, either referring to Mr. Cups asserting or another person being assertive toward him. Ace of Wands sexy themes also pair comfortably with King of Cups the sexual sweetheart. The ‘have to’ category of Ace of Wands goes with any other card, so it’s here too.

The gentleman is sexy.

He has to, he is a drinking man.

a government forces

forces a government to

has to be a gentleman

You have to be patient.

A nice guy for sure.

a weak man with a lot of power

a quiet levelheaded man wins

passive-aggressive

a high-ranking professor

the boss is a meek man

he is very considerate

He is her primary love interest.

for sure a quietly neurotic fellow

in a weak moment, he has sex

he is vulnerable to intimidation

a very moody man

as her honey, he has to

emotionally exhausted when he asserts himself

such a nice guy has to stand up for himself

the boss in Personnel

bureaucrat in Human Resources

the head diplomat

making that all-out effort to be a good man

Ace of Wands and Five of Pentacles

Five of Pentacles is about desperate lack. A mother and leper son are outcasts, barefoot on the street in freezing weather, clothed in rags. Son leans on two crutches. They walk by a church that would provide them with a meal and warm bed … if he were not a leper (The bell indicates leprosy.) This is a night scene, and Dark Night of the Soul is one of Five of Pentacles’ meanings. But you find this Tarot card also talking about self-pity, and being so down you don’t see where ‘up’ is.

You quickly look for a rescue card when you see this in your spread. A negative modifier card (negators, we call them), or a card that makes this just a thought, or a card that puts it into the past or the future … anything. Like Ten of Swords, Five of Pentacles can indicate that indeed the situation has hit bottom, that this is as bad as its going to get.

One of the less painful translates for Five of Pentacles is the ghetto. With Ace of Pentacles, it can indicate a road through a very bad neighborhood. You will chance upon less-desperate Five of Pentacles stories.

And then there’s Ace of Wands emphasizing these dire straits with its meanings like absolute, very, total. So we prefer its overcome and challenge categories.

Victory over desperation.

Get a grip on feeling inferior.

achievement when I hit bottom.

overcoming sickness

Strength comes from Dark Night of the Soul.

Hard times made me strong.

Make the best of a bad situation.

in charge of homeless people

enforcement relating to street people

achievement due to the ghetto life

making an all-out effort when you’re so tired

total lack

totally bummed out

absolutely no help

achievement versus failure (all or nothing)

win or lose (all or nothing)

suffers from not being assertive

Poverty gets the best of us.

Depression gets the best of you.

confront major depression

poor and militant

militant toward street people

against homelessness

the downside of being Type A

Being macho, he lost out.

have to go hungry

have to suffer

This is the lowest low point.

very low sex drive

doing without sex

have to do without

have to hit bottom

severely handicapped

feeling very sorry for yourself

sex when I’m feeling sorry for myself.

the challenge of being homeless

caretaker to a sick person

caretaker to a disabled person

boss is disabled

lacking in leadership

lost my moxie

lost my will

person drains you of your strength

makes (you/me/us/them, etc.) miserable

warning of freezing weather and snow

out on the street in the cold

walking through a rundown neighborhood

Ace of Wands and Seven of Pentacles

It’s all about MAYBE. The Seven of Pentacles fellow is leaning on his shovel wondering whether he will have cucumbers, whether the plants are opposite genders. He has done the work, and he won’t know whether it pays off until he sees blossoms on that healthy plant. Seven of Pentacles ponders, asks himself, contemplates, is unsure, wonders why or wonders whether, guesses, considers, or supposes.

Seven of Pentacles is an anchor card: one with clear and few meanings that blend well with other cards’ phrases. The word ‘question’ as a verb or a noun, and any form of a question, are Seven of Pentacles meat-and-potatoes.

One thing about Seven of Pentacles: It’s simple – the simplest. Usually you just put the card it interfaces with in question form, or use the word ‘question,’ or a word like ‘maybe’ or ‘wonder’ that means the same thing.

Questions Seven of Pentacles asks are typically: isn’t that, should he, could he, is that why, who would think, what does, maybe you should, how could. It seems, and then there’s … I don’t know … somehow.

And now notice all the meanings of Ace of Wands come out, that the other cards did not call for – lots of them. Here: big, confront, have to, make me, important, fight, man, order, threat, win, strong, boss, get the best of, enforced, stand up for, clout, powerful, prize, hit, force, authority, something comes of it, all, most, main, a guy, against, manhood, overcome.

the big question

how big

confronted with the question

Do I have to?

Can they make me?

ya just have to ask ….

What’s so important about that?

What are we fighting about?

What kind of man are you?

Is he a heavy-hitter?

Is that an order?

Is that a threat?

Are we winning?

Am I strong enough to?

What makes you the boss?

Did it get the best of him?

Can I fight it off?

What’s the fight all about?

Is it worth fighting for?

Is that enforced?

Should I stand up for myself?

Do they have the clout?

How powerful is it?

Do I get a prize?

Should I hit (it)?

How much force?

Question authority.

Maybe something will come of it.

Uncertainty gets the best of you.

Wonder what it’s all about.

most skeptical

big theory

main theory

I think he’s a guy.

I think I’m against that.

Doubts his manhood.

what I doubt the most

figure it could be sexual

This may be the hard part.

the main question

does his best thinking out in the dirt

You overcome your doubt.

It hit before you even knew it.

Ace of  Wands and Queen of Pentacles

Queen of Pentacles supports generously and is capable and able. ‘She can.’ She has money or handles money, she is running a place (business or farm or estate or enterprise). See the money she holds in her lap? Queen of Pentacles doesn’t have to represent a ‘rich’ women, but she can of course. Queen of Pentacles manages what she has, is a good steward. She may back her husband in business. She can also be a backer of some other business. She can be the Earth Mother type. I think of her as the Italian Matriarch, partly because she is the wife of King of Pentacles, the Italian Stallion. Queen of Pentacles is the caretaker (even a nurse) or the woman who cares – very common phrases for her. She is often devoted to someone, and is a social person. Sophia Loren would be a good model. This savvy woman is a solid member of a family or even the matriarch of a clan. (She was Nine of Pentacles when she was single.) She is fiercely loyal: Her values are their values and she stands up for whatever she was born to. and she can baby her man or her boy to the point of being possessive as well. She is pictured here in Rider Waite Tarot outdoors on solid ground (no water on her throne!) surrounded by a bunny for fertility, and by verdant growth. Here, she is the wife and the mother, and is part of a mutually devoted couple.

But Queen of Pentacles is associated with money, management, and being skilled, as well as investing and contributing. She is generous to causes she believes in. She may support her husband and/or family – even relatives.

Lest you think she is 100% Mother Teresa, Queen of Pentacles can also stand in for a possessively controlling dame, or one of those ‘my kid can do no wrong’ or ‘my people are always right’ females – not today though.

So we have the aggressive male in Ace of Wands and the nurturing talented female in Queen of Pentacles, who is also associated with money. But Ace of Wands can also serve to amplify just about anything. Instead of aggravating the Lady of Pentacles, Ace of Wands can make her devotion a sure thing, and make her investments, her money, ‘the most’ or ‘the best.’

She has it all.

She pays a lot of money.

She has a lot of money.

She has to pay money.

She takes care of all of us.

She has control of this money.

This money is important to you.

A woman who has money has clout.

She is in sole charge of her assets.

A caretaking woman is the very best kind.

A fight with her about handling the money.

Overcome being the one who cares so much.

She is overcoming being so generous.

You gotta donate to our cause, Lady!

Gotta have a woman who pays my way.

She is so supportive I’m overcome.

It’s the money in your own name that’s important.

She donates a lot of money to her spouse.

She is putting important money into their joint account.

Getting this one point across: She makes good money helping people.

You invest most of your attention and effort, support and care, in one man.

Something precious to you is threatened.

The main thing is, she takes great care of me.

To be blunt: You are being his nurse.

A possessive woman is a dominant one.

She enables him to achieve great things.

To do well, you have to use what you already have.

Mama gives him money when he threatens her.

He bites the hand that feeds him.

Fight with the woman who is supporting him.

It’s the money in your own name that’s important.

She is the head bookkeeper.

You can be very skilled at investment.

Put all the money you have into your own business.

Ace of Wands and Eight of Swords

Ace of Wands and Eight of Swords present the idea of force being contained, power being ineffective, something you can’t fight. Ace of Wands is the force, the ‘I gotta,’ the threat, winning … all that. Eight of Swords is stifled, ‘can’t,’ contained, prevented.

With Eight of Swords being the actual death card in Tarot Verbatim, and Ace of Wands being a club, you can see how these two rarely modify one another except for a few phrases.

You just can’t assert yourself.

can’t help myself, I gotta!

can’t fight it!

can’t win.

can’t force it

spayed or castrated

can’t do sex.

have to shut down

death threat

death of a leader

boss is disabled

hit a helpless

have to put it on hold

an all-out effort when boxed in

It gets the best of you, and you’re stuck.

Must pin this down!

severely disabled

died from blunt force

Make a big effort to stifle that.

It’s powerful, I can’t get out of it.

have to put him/her in a cage or crate

major limitations

Be aggressive about the fix you are in.

Force is ineffective.

obstacles to achieving it

energy is contained [mechanical]

If you could, you would for sure have prevented this.

Ace of Wands and Queen of Swords

Well you have the only negative female court card in Tarot Verbatim, and a card about fighting that means male, so there’s war with the ole lady. Queen of Swords is also the strong woman and Ace of Wands is threatening and adversarial. Got locked horns in these major meanings. We also have the dissatisfied woman and the sex life.

Mama rules the roost, the boss expects a lot of you, and sex with the ole lady are as positive as we get here. Well, a strong woman with her head screwed on straight too.

As I have pointed out consistently in this presentation, these rarely appearing cards tend, in a spread, to glom onto some other card than what we have as its mate here.

a strong and sexy woman

a strong-willed assertive woman

Mother is the boss.

mother’s rules.

She is a strong fighter.

The boss expects a lot of you.

battle with the ex-wife

Elderly mother is assertive.

She nags you because she has to.

bossy bitch

strict mama punishes him/her/us

rebels against mama

sex with the old lady

female victim of a beating

she is dissatisfied with her sex life

a victim has to assert herself

She has a head on her shoulders, that’s for sure.

Grandmother is strong.

Got on the fightin’ side of the old lady.

Hardheaded woman issues an ultimatum.

Mama was self-sacrificing because she had to be.

She mourns a dead baby boy.

She mourns her mate.

a widow on the warpath

Ace of Wands and Four of Wands

Four of Wands shows a society wedding, so it refers to marriage, family, weddings, and the socialites of a community. Like all the other marriage cards in Tarot Verbatim, Four of Wands refers to organizations of any size, groups of people, plural pronouns (we, us, them, they), and to house, home and buildings. In Four of Wands’ case, with its emphasis on the society celebration, it refers to public buildings (court house, hospital, etc.).

The common meanings of Ace of Wands that interface with Four of Wands are: ‘something important,’ something that comes first, ‘most,’ winning or ‘leading,’ against, competitive, opposition, power, and sex.

aggressive family member

have to be a member

all those people are competitive

Family comes first.

the most normal people

have to be one of them

we are winners

we are all important

my tribe are the achievers

‘We are Number One.’

the leader of the clan

against those people

we are against

a fighting team

rule the home

powerful family

the leading families

people with money have power

the boss of the company

have to get married

(my) marriage comes first

spouse has all the say

marry for sex

sex in this marriage

oppose the family

everybody in the family is against

a family fight

orders from headquarters

a big wedding

have to have a wedding

us versus _

My background is my challenge.

their main point is

the dominant party

the winning party

The Establishment rules

voters are the main thing

Ace of Wands and Five of Wands

Ace of Wands and Five of Wands could substitute for one another in many of their applications. They both mean: all-out effort, try hard, difficult, energy and expenditure of energy, doing, fight and battle and war, resisting, against, struggle, conflict, quarrel, force, and aggression. When you see them together in a larger spread, they probably establish a theme.

So we are glad they have other meanings, so we can make sentences out of them. Five of Wands is exercise, activity, getting involved, sports, energy, resistance, effort, and similar terms.

The fallback word for Ace of Wands are: have to, must, win, important or main.

win the fight

win the struggle

win the argument

win the war

fight to win

brutal fight

got to fight like hell

have to fight it out

it’s gonna be hard to win

important battle

competitive sport(s)

win or victory in sport(s)

fight for dominance

challenge the dominant

strong contender

number one contender

heavy exercise

must exercise

have to take action

must join in the activity

join them in opposing

overcome opposition

gotta get involved

have to get in on the action

the most important struggle

most important fight

main thing we fight over

try hard to get the main point across

have to try hard

all-out effort

the energy to combat (it)

big effort to be Number One

high energy

all that energy focused on one

oppose aggression

armed resistance

try hard to win

it’s hard for (me) to assert (my)self

fight as hard as you can

against it with everything in me

totally opposed

heavy opposition

make the best of an adverse

rebel against the powerful

difficult to combat

beating with a blunt instrument

fighting with a blunt instrument

hit with a blunt instrument

in a fight with a club

active sex life

sexual activity

sexually active

rivalry or competition for sex

gender warfare

Ace of Wands and Seven of Wands

Personally, I think of Seven of Wands as (1) ‘Gimme the car keys, and hell no, I ain’t filling the tank’ (the mouthy mooch) and (2) ‘I’m mad as hell and won’t take it anymore,’ or ‘Hell no, I won’t go.’ Seven of Wands applies to invading another’s turf, and defending against the invasion, applies to offense and defense. (This is one of the cards you ought to buy the lesson of, along with Two of Cups, Six of Wands, Death, Seven of Swords, and Ten of Swords.) Watch for Seven of Wands to be about a demanding drunk, too.

And Ace of Wands also is assertive and confrontational. So both these cards are ‘in your face.’ When you have two cards who mean the same main things, they tend to make phrases with other cards, not with one another. That is the case here. They tend to establish their main meaning as the theme of your reading.

The one thing I struggle with.

The one thing I am against.

forced to defend (your)self

have to defend your position

stand up to pressure

have to push yourself right now

you win against the aggressor

the underdog wins

outnumbered defending yourself

neighbors invade your property

oppose the violation of property rights

wins, outnumbered and overwhelmed

overcomes the aggressor

Be strong and fight against the odds.

an immediate challenge you are not prepared for

a challenge or threat takes you by surprise

Your challenge is just to hold out.

You try so hard on short notice, and you succeed.

I’ve got to do it; it’s important.

Fight your way out of there.

He spoils for a fight, so fight him.

the biggest hell-raiser

aggressive sales pitch

Defy authority.

‘you can’t make me’

‘Hell no I won’t’

Sex, against my better judgment.

He demands sex.

Guy feels pressure to be sexual.

He pressures (you) for sex.

sexual attack

defending oneself against attack

defending oneself against sexual attack

Ace of Wands and Nine of Wands

Ace of Wands is intimidating, and Nine of Wands is intimidated. Ace of Wands is orders, and Nine of Wands is on guard duty. Ace of Wands is the superior and aggressive force, and Nine of Wands is wounded and afraid the attackers will return. Threat and apprehension.

Ace of Wands is about sex, and Nine of Wands is nervous, apprehensive, even squeamish. Nine of Wands is PTSD, and Ace of Wands overcomes it.

Orders are to stand guard.

uneasy, being intimidated

feels defensive under pressure

defending against superior force

He feels he’s accused for being male.

Here you are, defending your manhood?

have to hold your ground

The oppressor and the oppressed.

dreads a confrontation

ever on guard against

tensions are high about what’s coming

Nervous when threatened.

a big debilitating headache

he worries about sex

under pressure to be sexual

you have a bad feeling about sex

You have a bad feeling about standing up for yourself.

Aggressive people give me the willies.

not comfortable giving orders

am ‘under the weather’ big time

Squeamish about being macho.

You must be very cautious.

Uh-oh, I have to live up to being Number One.

Tired of being expected to ‘hit the nail on the head.‘

Overcome PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

Overcomes dread.

Ace of Wands and Page of Wands

And here is the male counterpart of Empress: His life has been easy, and he is fitting easily into whatever his social setting is to be, and is. And just as Empress is the attractive woman, Page of Wands is the attractive man – and both are associated with sexual charisma and being sexy. Page of Wands can be a flirt, even. The good-looking fellow ‘of good family,’ respectable and polished: well-dressed and well-spoken. Same for our Empress.

Page of Wands is the lead card (in my opinion) for the speak/tell/say tribe.

Page of Wands is the handsome man and the flirt, and Ace of Wands is all about sexy, sexy, and sexual.

a sexy Prince Charming

sexy fella who flirts

You have to be respectable.

You have to have a good image.

You have to look good and speak well.

He excels in speaking.

He dresses sexy.

He has to be his best self.

You have to be honest about it.

It has to be in your personal name.

Gotta have a good-looking respectable guy.

He has an absolutely clean record.

You have to tell (them/him/her, etc.).

Have to appear in person.

Speak up for yourself, assertively.

We have to talk.

Make him talk.

Number One is that he talks!

said what you had to say

Have/Had to make a speech.

Very handsome young man.

You’re young and in good shape.

A young man who looks the part.

The boss is good-looking

A strong young man.

Young buck.

He’s young and cute but he can fight.

He’s young to have all that clout.

A good guy like you is a winner.

Strong body.

The body is in good shape.

His son is a good guy.

His son is a winner.

The best salesman.

Return to Two Card Combinations

Return to Two Card Combinations King of Pentacles