Rushing: The Eight & Nine of Wands
Deck credit: Moonchild Tarot
The mind likes to move quickly, even when the body doesn’t. If left to its own devices, the mind would leave the body behind. Just now, I stumbled upon a free video sharing service—the pitch is that the platform will allow you to “become faster than typing.” Typing itself being faster than writing, and writing being, if not faster, then a more optimized and efficient way of spreading information than its predecessor, oral tradition.
I have carpel tunnel. This is because when I type my mind seeks to leave behind the limitations of the body: aching muscles and tendons in my wrists and forearms. Even if I were to address this by, for instance, creating content only via video, I doubt I could ever speak at the speed of an idea—and I think this is the aim of inventions that seek to optimize the way we produce information. To enable us to create at the speed of thought. To remove the obstacle of slowness that the human body presents to channeling inspiration.
We will never be able to do this, of course, and if we could the results would be disastrous. Thoughts are messy, nonlinear, and for the most part, total nonsense. Having a good idea gives us the illusion that most of our ideas are good; that if we don’t work quickly to channel, immediately, what is inspiring us, then it will escape our grasp.
I think that this is true in the moment of inspiration, but once the electricity has past, many of us cling to the illusion that speediness is a virtue. That moving quickly is the only way to be creative. And, because of this, we miss out on the opportunity to develop the diligence and discipline that genuinely support creative practice.
In the Tarot, the eight of wands is the moment of inspiration. It does invite us to move quickly. It asks us to act first and think later. When this card appear, it is wise to honor the current of creative motivation. Moving through this eight, we are gifted with the transformative power of saying yes to something that we feel called to.
For me, the nine immediately following has a completely different message. I drew both cards at the beginning of this week. The nine of wands always appears for me when I’m getting way too far ahead of myself. Traditionally, the card is associated with becoming exhausted just as one is nearing the completion of a task. For me, it is about the exhaustion that is a direct result of over-ambition, of the unwillingness to work with what’s in front of me and the desire to, instead, invent and endless series of future things to accomplish. This card epitomizes unhealthy relationships to divination: drawing cards or looking at chart progressions for months and then years into the future, and becoming overwhelmed by the quantity of information and hazy predictions. Warmly, the nine of wands reminds us to tend to the task at hand.
And when moments of inspiration pass, the task at hand is often dull. It is editing, or studying, or reviewing, or creating listlessly but diligently and hoping that inspiration will come again. It’s easy to get carried away by things that excite our imaginations: this is what is supposed to happen in the eight. But when we try to maintain the speed of production or creation that inspiration demands, burnout becomes inevitable. Slowness is the salve.
That’s the message of this astrological moment, at least, when we have so many planets stationing retrograde. These moments aren’t fun or exciting, but they are necessary. They teach us the value of showing up without expectations. Of moving further and further away from attachment to the results of our process. Of creating slowly and surely.
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