Day Nineteen. November 2nd. Five of Wands.
Definition: Sasha Graham says fives represent “challenge”. Waite says, “gold, gain, opulence.” Seriously…it’s always about money with him. The Four of Wands was about “prosperity”. He says it’s about “disputes” when reversed.
Detail: What is the Elsewhere Tarot presenting?
It’s a space probe in space, with some unconventional antennas. One looks like a rooftop TV antenna from prior to digital TV. One looks like a ship’s mast and a cloth sail. One looks like it comes to a point, like it ends in a knife. One looks like it ends in a sickle blade or a crescent moon. At first I thought it was a satellite, because of how it looks, but it’s too far from Earth, so it’s a space probe.
I can see Sasha Graham’s “challenge”. The exploration of space has long been a great challenge humanity has set itself to. And hmm. Our space probes go out alone. Voyager is nearly one light day out from Earth with dwindling battery power. I loved the plot of the first Star Trek movie as a kid; Voyager 6 went off into space and became more than we ever imagined it could. That’s the essence of the Two of Wands Pamela drew. Hmm. Contending alone with the world to become who you can be? But why does Pamela’s Three come first then. Determination? Taking? Consumption comes before being shaped by your contentions? The Elsewhere thematic progression doesn’t match Pamela’s thematic progression?
Day: What does it mean to me in my life today? I do feel I’m on a path with journaling games, exploring otherworlds, a journey of my own, becoming something completely different than I could be in the temporal world from my contentions within them.
Discovery: I don’t see how Waite gets “gold, gain, opulence” from Pamela’s Five of Wands. She drew a card that’s about disputes. Ten years ago I actually gave Pamela’s Five of Wands to Nate Marcel as a reference for an illustration in The Clay That Woke.
Is Pamela’s card similarly a game? Or is it a real dispute? Boys brandishing and competing with their living wands? It’s certainly a thing boys do. Pamela’s Five of Pentacles was about poverty and separation from possible help. And the Elsewhere Five of Wands is a probe alone in space, separated from its origin. Is Pamela’s Five of Wands also about separation? It doesn’t vibe like team game. It feels like every boy for himself. They all have desires. No one is aiding anyone else in their pursuits.
Twos are about not having the energy — being able to see and want it, but not being in a position to have it. Threes are about control. Fours are about being affected by the essential energy of the suit. Fives are about how it separates us from each other.