The Eight of Wands stands for intelligence on the spiritual level of human expression. Eight of Wands upright: goal-orientedness. Eight of Wands reversed: directionlessness.
Intelligence allows us to differentiate, analyze, apply logic, reason, measure, and recognize patterns.
Intelligence is a tool. Garbage in, intelligent garbage out. We better feed intelligence with wisdom than nonsense.
Intelligence is the universal problem solver. But it has a playful, naughty, prankish, and manipulative side. If too much ambition goes in, rule-bending comes out.
The corresponding power of consciousness is the formulation of goals. Remember that the Seven of Wands stand for motives? The power of the Eight of Wands turns motives into goals. Goal-oriented working accelerates progress.
Motives only care about what they want, goals take circumstances into consideration and have a direction.
Defining goals is an intellectual skill. Goals need to be SMART, meaning specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
An auspicious Eight of Wands may indicate that a goal-oriented approach will help the querent to overcome her challenge. It also calls for a wise use of intelligence.
An inauspicious Eight of Wands may indicate that the querent is pursuing a selfish goal and is tempted to manipulate and/or take advantage of people. The karma of manipulation is conflict. That’s where this card’s secondary meanings come from: violence, warfare, rapacity, insolence, theft, or robbery.
The opposite of manipulation is looking for win-win situations. The higher self loves win-win. If you look for win-win, the higher self has your back.
Eight of Wands Symbolism
The design of the Eight of Wands implies an eight-spoked wheel, which suggests that a goal is in place and the querent is ready to roll in a chosen direction.
This is where the following secondary meanings come from: acceleration of plans, approaching of goals, swiftness, acceleration, movement, and momentum.
The eight-spoked wheel is an ancient symbol. In Buddhism, it represents the eight noble paths. Following the eight noble paths prevents the intellect from bending or breaking rules.
The Five Psychological Core Meanings of the eight of Wands
We derive the psychological meanings of Tarot cards from their position on the Tree of Life.
According to the Enlightenment Tarot framework, the Eight of Wands represents Hod of Tiphareth, i.e., intelligence on the intentional-spiritual level of human expression.
Every Tarot card represents a faculty or power of consciousness. We can use faculties of consciousness constructively and destructively, which produces either a fortunate or an adverse state of mind. Hence, every Tarot card has five core meanings. Here are the five core meanings of the Eight of Wands:
- Power of consciousness: Goal-setting
- Constructive use: Goal-orientedness*
- Destructive use: Directionlessness
- Favorable internal experience: Orientation
- Adverse internal experience: Disorientation
*The Germans have a meaningful term for the constructive use: Zielstrebigkeit, which translates as goal-striving.
Reflective Questions
If the Eight of Wands appears in your spread, you may want to ask yourself the following questions:
- Are your goals SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound)?
- In what areas of your life might you be relying on intelligence without the guidance of wisdom?
- When you do business, how often do you come up with win-win solutions?
- Have you ever pursued a goal by manipulating or taking advantage of people? What karma did that cause?
- How can you better balance your ambition with ethical considerations to ensure a constructive use of intelligence?
Eight OF Wands Summary
The Eight of Wands calls for a goal-oriented use of intelligence, which accelerates progress. Aligning ambition with ethical considerations will lead to win-win situations and new opportunities.
Where Do Tarot Card Meanings actually Come From?
The meanings of Tarot cards come from various sources. The most common are:
- The position of the Tarot cards on the Tree of Life
- Astrological correspondences (signs, planets, & houses)
- The symbolism of Tarot cards
- Intuition
- Meanings that pertain to fortune-telling
Most of the Tarot card meanings you can google are astrological correspondences and go back to the Golden Dawn and Arthur Edward Waite. Astrological meanings dominate at present because Astrology is a divination tool and favors fortune-telling. But these meanings are unsuitable for (psychological) Tarot readings.
If you are interested in an overview of the astrological correspondences, you can download a high-resolution chart by subscribing to the Enlightenment Tarot.
Tarot card meanings are a bit of a mess since the meanings that pertain to their position on the Tree of Life are mixed up with astrological correspondences, symbolic interpretations, and fortune-telling connotations. That’s tedious to memorize. Further, tarotists’ opinions, knowledge, and linguistic backgrounds shaped some of these interpretations. Last but not least, many meanings are fuzzy, contradictory, and overlap. If you want to understand why they overlap, read the article How to Deal With the Overlapping Meanings of Tarot cards.
The meanings of the Enlightenment Tarot are based on an objective, holistic framework: the Tree of Life and the four levels of human expression. The resulting meanings are transparent and logical, and hence, easier to memorize.
What do Various Tarotists Say about the Meaning of the Eight of Wands?
Let’s explore what different tarotists wrote about the Eight of Wands.
Usually, tarotists consider the astrological significances of Tarot cards. The Eight of Wands corresponds to the first decanate of Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter. This causes an aspiring, benevolent disposition.
Choice emanates the 27th path illustrated by the Tower/Awakening card, the 30th path illustrated by the Sun/Life card, and the 31st path illustrated by the Judgment/Realization card.
What Paul Foster Case Said About the Meanings of the Eight of Wands
For the Eight of Wands, Paul Foster Case offers the keyword swiftness.
Indeed, a goal-oriented approach accelerates progress.
Paul listed the following secondary meanings: approach to goal, aspiration, foresight, rapid expression of force but quickly expended, the acceleration of anything in which the querent is interested, activity, generosity, confidence, freedom.
Swiftness, approach to goal, rapid expression of force, and acceleration all pertain to the idea that goal-setting accelerates progress. When Paul wrote that the respective force is quickly expended he hinted at the fickleness of intelligence. The element of intelligence is air, which moves fast. Intelligence is restless, like wind. Having said that, the astrological connection links this card to Jupiter, which stands for the calm, steady, and cyclic influence of benevolence.
Aspiration is a character trait of Sagittarians, who are also freedom lovers. Foresight seems a bit out of place since that belongs to Aries and the Reason/Emperor card. Maybe Paul meant astrological foresight – the Jupiter connection. Generocity is a Jupiter characteristic, too.
Paul’s inauspicious connotations are: violence; warfare; greed, insolence, theft, and robbery. These originate in the intellect’s natural inclination to manipulate people and circumstances.
What Arthur Edward Waite Said About the Meanings of the Eight of Wands
Arthur Edward Waite agrees this card signifies swiftness.
Arthur offers the following secondary meanings: activity in undertakings, an express messenger, great haste, great hope, speed towards an end which promises assured felicity, that which is on the move, the arrows of love, arrows of jealousy, internal dispute, stingings of conscience, quarrels, and domestic disputes for a married person.
The meanings great haste, express messenger, speed toward an end, that which is on the move go back to the airy quality of intelligence, which is mixed with the willful quality of the spiritual plane.
Arrows of love and arrows of jealousy are a bit off. Love belongs to the creative-feely plane and jealousy is an emotions that belongs to the bodily plane.
Internal dispute relates to the inner quarrel of competing desires, goals, emotions, feelings, and thoughts. On its own, intelligence can’t solve those quarrels. It needs guidance.
Domestic disputes for a married person indicates arguments between married couples. Argueing is an intellectual pastime at best, but often a waste of time. People argue to defend their oppinions, which prevents them from negotiating.
What Etteilla Said About the Meaning of the Eight of Wands
Etteilla, a French occultist and the first known professional tarotist, offers the meanings of rejoicing and repentance.
Both meanings are off. Rejoicing belongs to the creative-feely level of human expression. We rejoice upon fulfillments.
Repentance marks a turning point, i.e., when the intellect realizes that its manipulations backfire and, instead, seeks guidance.
What Papus Said About the Meaning of the Eight of Wands
Papus, another French occultist and the founder of the Martinist Order, offers the meaning of partial success.
It is unclear where Papus derived this meaning from. Success or victory are matters of the seventh sphere, across from the Eight of Wands on the other side of the Tree of Life.
What Gregor Mather Said About the Meaning of the Eight of Wands
Gregor Mather, the founder of the Golden Dawn, claims that this card signifies understanding, observation, and direction.
Understanding is a bit off, since it a meaning of the third Sephirah. Having said that, observation and analysis (intellectual faculties) can bring about understanding. The meaning of direction pertains to goals, which give desires direction.
Mather suggests the following inauspicious meanings: quarrels, internal disputes, discord. These go back to the intellects tendency to manipulate and compete, which may escalate if fueled by willfullness.
What Mme. Le Marchand Said About the Meaning of the Eight of Wands
Mme. Le Marchand, a 19th century, celebrated Parisian fortune teller, said that the Eight of Wands signifies fortunate results of unremitting exertions.
Results is off since they belong to the bodily-practical level of human expression. The meanings exertion conforms with Paul’s ideas of a quickly expended force.
The Psychological Framework of the Enlightenment Tarot
Every Tarot card represents a faculty of consciousness. We can use a faculty of consciousness constructively and destructively. This produces favorable and adverse experiences.
We can express faculties of consciousness on four levels:
- The spiritual level (wands/fire/intention)
- The creative-feely level (cups/water/imagination)
- The intellectual level (swords/air/intelligence)
- The bodily level (pentacles/earth/bodily action)
The four tools on the magician’s table symbolize these four levels:
- The wand (spiritual)
- The cup (creative-feely)
- The sword (intellectual)
- The pentagram (bodily)
These tools correspond to the four so-called elements: fire, water, air, and earth.
For this reason, the Enlightenment Tarot wands are made of fire, the cups consist of water, and the pents are composed of earth. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to illustrate something made of air, since air is invisible. For that reason, all swords are made of crystal to show at least transparency.
The Enlightenment Tarot derives its meaning from the Tree of Life and the four levels of human expression. This is an objective, holistic framework that reveals the psychological imports of Tarot cards and their faculties of consciousness. Read more about this framework in the article The Psychological Framework of the Enlightenment Tarot.
The Enlightenment Tarot project attempts to rediscover the original meanings of the Tarot cards that pertain to their position on the Tree of Life. These meanings are simple, clear, and easy to memorize.
*This framework is compatible with Paul Foster Case’s qabalistic system.
Do you want to Learn more About The Enlightenment Tarot?
If you want to delve deep into the psychological meanings of Tarot cards, read the book Tarot of Life.
If you are curious about how the Enlightenment Tarot came about, read this article.
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If you are looking for a psychological Tarot deck, you came to the right place. The Enlightenment Tarot derives the cards’ meanings from a holistic and transparent framework that is easy to learn and memorize. All major and minor arcana carry psychological titles, and the court cards display psychological profiles. Have a look at the Enlightenment Tarot deck here.
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