Discussion Group - Aces

Poledra

It was suggested that instead of going through the minors card by card, we spend some time with all of a single number at once. For myself, I think what I will do is take a few days trying to find the energy of each of the cards in my life and post the experiences here. So, I will leave the four Aces out, and if I have a Eureka! moment (no matter how small) I can post about my Ace of Wands experience, and so on. This will hopefully help me develop a better understanding of the numbers as a whole as well as develop a deeper personal relationship to the cards.

Please feel free to explore the Aces in any way you feel important and tell us about it, the more different ideas and approaches the better!

So what are your experiences with the Aces? What do these cards say to you?

Poledra
 

Poledra

I'm very fond of Ginny Hunt at 78notes.blogspot.com and she describes the Ace of Swords as a moment of truth and clarity that leads to a readjustment in thinking. Today, I had a meeting about my direction for the next couple of weeks with my supervisor. I was prepared for him to tell me to head off in one direction, and had even started doing some reading in anticipation, but he suggested I start somewhere completely different. In the end, the goal is the same, but I had to readjust how I was approaching the project.

I think this could be a manifestation of the Ace of Swords, no?
 

Poledra

I got off to a good start with the Ace of Swords, but I'm having trouble finding the energy of the other Aces in my life as it stands now. In order to start to get past that, I thought I would explore the imagery a little bit

Ace Swords:

A glowing hand holds a sword upright over a rocky mountainous terrain. At the top of the sword is a crown, as if the sword were wearing it, and two bits of greenery hang off of it. The crown emphasizes the mental, heady aspect of the suit, but I don't quite get the greenery. There are also 6 yellow leaves? flames? drops? around the swords crosspiece.

Ace Wands:

A glowing hand holds a wand upright over a rolling agricultural terrain with a castle in the background and a river in the foreground. The wand is sprouting and leaves are emerging from the top and drifting down the side.

Ace Cups

A glowing hand holds an overflowing goblet over a pond with lilypads and waterlilies growing in it. A dove seems to be depositing something in the goblet while rivulets of water stream over the sides. This imagery fits with my understanding of the meaning of the card - the first rush or outpouring of an emotion. I suppose the water rivulets could even be streaming UP from the pond and just be starting to fill the cup! Ooo. . that's an illogical but interesting thought.

Ace Pentacles

A closing hand cups a disc over a hedged in garden with lilies growing in it. A path moves from the foreground through an arched entrance and into the distance. This garden seems to be the same garden seen in the IX of Pentacles, maybe just earlier in the season? when it was just starting to grow?

I guess the Ace I'm having the most trouble with is the Ace of Wands. What exactly does it mean for all of you and how have you experienced it's energy in your lives?

Poledra
 

HoneyBea

Poledra said:
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Ace Swords:

A glowing hand holds a sword upright over a rocky mountainous terrain. At the top of the sword is a crown, as if the sword were wearing it, and two bits of greenery hang off of it. The crown emphasizes the mental, heady aspect of the suit, but I don't quite get the greenery. There are also 6 yellow leaves? flames? drops? around the swords crosspiece.

The Swords are about clarity and clear thinking the Ace of Swords, can represent a new thought or an idea. It is focused thought that creates victory as symbolised by the crown. This crown is decorated with vine bearing berries and an evergreen - Robert M. Place in his book Tarot, History and Divination says of these vines, that they are "symbols of prosperity and lasting achievement. The flames are actually Hebrew yods and of these he says "they are the seeds of new words and ideas".

So your Ace is about having one of those Ah Hah moments in life. *lol*- that lead you on to experience new opportunities, or create new experiences for yourself, or even just gain the clarity to something you hadn't seen or understood before.

Ace Wands:

A glowing hand holds a wand upright over a rolling agricultural terrain with a castle in the background and a river in the foreground. The wand is sprouting and leaves are emerging from the top and drifting down the side.


I guess the Ace I'm having the most trouble with is the Ace of Wands. What exactly does it mean for all of you and how have you experienced it's energy in your lives?

Poledra

The Ace of Wands like all the Aces represent beginnings or renewal - Wands we associate with creativity, action, energy and I guess they are the drive that makes us feel motivated, so they are associated with feeling, but not emotional type feelings - these are the feelings that motivate us into action.
The Wands are a Fire element and Waite/Smith have depicted this fiery element by showing a living wand, one with growth pointing towards evidence of the spirit or energy that animates the soul.

The Ace therefore represents that moment when you grab an idea and set it in motion, it may be a burning desire to do something, you may well experience this energy when you start a new project or form a new relationship. Or simply in everyday life, the drive to get things done.

Hope that's been of some help.
 

Poledra

Wanted to quickly add another thought that I remembered on my way home. The Aces, as 1's, are connected with the Magician and as such are related to channelling manifesting energy and reality.
 

HoneyBea

Poledra said:
Wanted to quickly add another thought that I remembered on my way home. The Aces, as 1's, are connected with the Magician and as such are related to channelling manifesting energy and reality.

Yes the Aces are connected with the magician, The Aces are the raw energy of thier suit, they are not yet quite formed - they represent for us the potential of what they could be. The Magician also represents for us potential and opportunity and what he says to you is 'you have the power to create - therefore both these cards are telling you that there is an opportunity here to make something out of the possibilities of life.
 

rcb30872

HoneyBea said:
Yes the Aces are connected with the magician, The Aces are the raw energy of thier suit, they are not yet quite formed - they represent for us the potential of what they could be. The Magician also represents for us potential and opportunity and what he says to you is 'you have the power to create - therefore both these cards are telling you that there is an opportunity here to make something out of the possibilities of life.
Yes, but say that the swords, cups, wands and pentacles are just sitting there, and then say that the hand in the card is your hand, you would say, "oh, I like that, I'll take it." Sort of what you would expect to do if you were shopping, and then what you do with that is basically up to you. You can start something, and then just leave it, and then find something else instead, or you can turn it into something worthwhile. Yes, the potential is there, but it is what you can do to turn the potential into reality is yet another thing. Yes, it would be the first or initial step towards something, whether that is going to be abandoned, or built on, is another matter altogether.
 

HoneyBea

rcb30872 said:
Yes, but say that the swords, cups, wands and pentacles are just sitting there, and then say that the hand in the card is your hand, you would say, "oh, I like that, I'll take it." Sort of what you would expect to do if you were shopping, and then what you do with that is basically up to you. You can start something, and then just leave it, and then find something else instead, or you can turn it into something worthwhile. Yes, the potential is there, but it is what you can do to turn the potential into reality is yet another thing. Yes, it would be the first or initial step towards something, whether that is going to be abandoned, or built on, is another matter altogether.


Of course that is what is called FREE WILL... The Aces are the potential, what you decided to do with that potential is up to you - its the same in any reading you have, the cards show you the possibilities nothing is set in stone because you and only you have the power to decided what you will do.

This does not alter the fact that the Ace are the beginning of their suit and contain within them the potential:-

Wands may well be the spark of an idea that you need to grab and set in motion - but no one can make you do that.

Cups can be an overwhelming flow of emotion good or bad, it says become aware of this and why you feel in that particular way., - again whether you wish to face up to this or not is your own choice!

Swords say put those thoughts and ideas into some order now so that you can succeed after all clarity can bring enlightenment to a situation from which the promise of a new beginning presents itself.

Pentacles -encourages you to manifest those ideas into something tangible - it says if you want to do it now the time is right.

So whatever 'gift' the Aces are offering still depends on your action to set it in motion = your FREE WILL
 

Poledra

Was just tidying up my notes on the Aces and had a few questions.

What is the significance of the position of the hands in the cards? For example, two of the hands are on the right, two are on the left. By the same token, two of the hands are gripping their object while the other two are just supporting it. What is the importance?

What meaning do you ascribe to the different scenery in the aces?

What is the meaning of the dove and W on the Ace of Cups? I assume the W stands for water, but that seems very simplistic.

Thanks,
Poledra
 

HoneyBea

Poledra said:
Was just tidying up my notes on the Aces and had a few questions.

What is the meaning of the dove and W on the Ace of Cups? I assume the W stands for water, but that seems very simplistic.

Thanks,
Poledra

right now I can only help with the Ace of Cups based on what Robert M. Place in his book Tarot, History, Symbolism and Divination says:-

The W on the Cup is an M upside down identifies with Mary to show it is receiving the Host delivered by the dove. (maybe heavenly host - angels?). He says the RW Ace of Cups is definitely an allegory image of the Grail.
The dove is the standard Christian symbol for the Holy Spirit and the Host with the cross is the body of christ.

Now I have always thought the five streams represented the five senses but Robert M. Place tells us that they "represent the five wounds which he" (I assume christ) "bled to bring eternal life to the world." But another interesting things he tells us is that "Waite wrote that there were four. It appears that he wanted to connect the symbol to the fountain in the center of Eden from which four rivers flowed toward the four cardinal directions."

Finally he tells us that this card represents for us the "initiation of a search within the soul for one's true purpose or desires. When we find our true desire, we will discover that we are not it's author. It is like a seed planted in us by the divine, a seed that needs to be nurtured and allowed to grow"

As I have said before, for me the Ace of Cups is about rise in your personal feelings and how it urges one to not only become aware of this, but why you feel like this and what can be done with these feelings.

The hand issuing from the clouds my own personal feelings about this is that it represents a gift from God - I guess the simple reason it may well grab the sword and wand is because that appears more stable, whereas the cup and pentacle have a better base on which to balance - I will when I get a little time research that element.

The different scenery assigned to each Ace would be symbolic to its meaning- for instance the castle in the background of the Ace of Wands could well represent a man made structure showing the manifestation of security in the future. The Ace of course being an action card which urges you to take those ideas and set them in motion to create what you want.
To understand the differences in the scenery you have to study the symbolism.

I cannot recommend enough a good symbols dictionary and if you are interested in the History, symbolism and divination of the cards Rober M. Places book is a good and interesting read.

I hope some of this has been of use to you.