Deviant Moon -- Queen of Wands

Aaron Carson

Elemental affiliations

I have to say that I don't find the idea of wands as an earth element unnatural. When I was a child I learned on the Aquarian Tarot, and thought of the Queen of Rods as a sort of woodland Druid Queen, and had assumed that wands were earth because it seemed the most logical to my naive mind at the time due to the fact that the wands/rods were essentially tree branches. When I think of Druids, Witches, and Shamans usually the first emblem I think of to indicate their vocation is a wand or a staff of office from the wood of some sacred tree.

The idea of fire as a creative element is more alien to me actually, as there is no such thing as a fire based life form. Fire burns and leaves ash behind it. It seems to me almost intrinsically destructive and therefore best suited to swords. I can't think of a more creative element than earth as it is essentially the basis of life. Especially the oldest life forms, plants and trees.

The difficulty comes more when you've been trained into astrology and had your head filled with the notion that the element of fire has a monopoly on creativity, and earth is practical. Personally I learned to read Tarot before I learned anything about astrology, and I knew next to nothing about Waite, or Crowly so the idea of an entire suit dedicated to a sort of occult woodland tribe seemed very natural to me. I had been searching for years for a deck, besides the Aquarian which would reflect my intuitive feelings about the suit of wands and was horrified when they finally did decide to migrate the elemental assignation of wands from fire they decided to move it to air, completely glossing over the, (to me), very obvious connection between wands and the forest.

Deviant Moon is the first deck I've encountered in a long time which reflects the specific atmosphere I had first encountered in the Aquarian Tarot, and it's my go do deck these days. The Queen of Wands has always been a very important card to me is it represents for me the quintessential Witch in the Wood.

It was very observant to notice the developed side of the right side of the face. I hadn't noticed that, but I had of course noticed the double breasts on the left side. The right brain dominates the left side of the body, and so it makes perfect sense in this context that the Queen of Wands would have two breasts on the left indicated the dominance of her intuition. I did know about the warrior women severing their right breast to be able to draw a bow, but I hadn't made that connection myself. I'm glad you pointed it out.

I also love that this is one of the court cards to depict a full moon surrounding the tip of the Queen's spear.

In some eastern traditions it is believed that human hair is "antenna to the space", in other words it affords adepts a connection with the divine when meditating, which could account for the tendril like depiction of the Queen's hair. Very inspiring thread!
 

Winterchild

Great thoughts...

To me, she is strong, accepting of all her energies, male and female. Her many limbs and two breasts show that she is creative and capable and ready to do whatever is needed. In spite of her armour and strong appearance she is approachable, and like all of us naked beneath all the outer show.

Anyone notice her 'cloven' hoof or foot? I wonder if this is a nod to the dark side, rather like the black cat on the TWS Queen of Wands...

I think much of the energy of this deck is about illusion, things not always being not quite what they seem, not so cut and dried, there are many layers. With this queen, she has a lot of strength and ability but she is still vulnerable... maybe that finger pointing to the moon alludes to this telling us to look deeper.