Seven of Wands

The six ordered wands of Victory are overlaid by a crude club, and the flames have become disordered.

Netzach, Victory, in Atziluth, the world of emanation. Victory, the sphere of Venus: feeling, desire, art, the bliss and the instability of the emotions. Below Tiphareth the Tree is no longer balanced, and Netzach shows force without form. The Sevens are Netzach in the four worlds and tend to show the element degenerating.

Netzach in the world of Fire: the harmony of the Six has slipped below Tiphareth and force is losing form. Mars in the last decan of Leo gives raw courage but no refinement.

Mars in the third decan of Leo (20°–30°, about Aug 12–22). Mars is force, war, energy, the breaking of forms so that they can move. On the Tree it is Geburah; among the trumps it is the Tower. Mars also opens the sequence of the decans at the first degree of Aries.

Leo is fixed Fire: the lion, the heart, the height of summer, pride and generosity. The Sun rules it. It is the kerubic sign of Fire, and its trump is Lust. The trump of Leo is Lust.

This decan is ruled by the Knight of Disks, whose arc runs from 21° Leo to 20° Virgo. The two Shem angels of the decan are Reiyel and Omael.

Bliss: feeling, desire, the pleasure and the instability of the emotions. Netzach, Victory. The Sevens tend to show the element degenerating; the Chariot is trump VII.

Intuition defended against doubt; the sense of direction held by will alone. The Wands are usually read as the intuition function in Jung's typology, an interpretive convention rather than a text of Jung's.

Rider-Waite calls the suit Wands, Rods or Staves. Its small cards carry scenes; the Thoth small cards carry the suit emblems arranged geometrically, with the keyword printed at the bottom and the colours of their Sephirah and decan. The Golden Dawn title (Lord of Valour) is shared by both traditions.

Mars at its best gives courage, decisiveness, protective strength, passion, independence. At its worst: violence, impulsiveness, cruelty, rage, or, when repressed, passive aggression and burnt-out apathy.

Leo (“I will”) brings generosity, creativity, warmth, courage, leadership, loyalty, playfulness. Its shadow is vanity, arrogance, need for applause, drama, domineering.

Together: Mars has no essential dignity or debility in Leo. Dignity explains part of the title and the Sephirah explains the rest: a planet at home in its sign can still sit in a hard sphere, and a weak planet can be carried by a strong one.

The Sun crosses this decan around Aug 12–22, so it is the decan card of anyone born then; their court card is the Knight of Disks. Find a birthday.