Druidcraft Study Group - 4 (Four) of Wands

GoddessArtemis

Let's get this study group going again..

The Four of Wands in the Druidcraft is one of the most peaceful depictions I've seen. I really like this card...the home sitting on top of the hill..the fire still burning under the 4-post garland...the sun just coming up. You can almost hear the birds (not actually in the card) chirping early morning songs...

This card reminds me of a really good get together, and the period after when some leave, others go to bed, and there's peace after a lot of activity. But this card also makes me feel a little sad. You know how when you really look forward to a party, plan for it, invite people..and the party is a hit..and then it's over? To me, there's sometimes that feeling of coming down from the "high" of the party and now needing to re-adjust to the quiet and solitude of the post-party calm. The fire is still burning, a token or reminder of what was a great together. But it is otherwise quiet everywhere else, so much so that it leaves an almost anticlimactic feel. There's peace...quiet...and solitude. This card also has a bit of a lonely feel to it.

In a spread, it all depends on its position..but it generally can mean peace, or being comfortable and cozy at home, or having left a place of peace...or moving (emotionally) to a place of peace, and taking that sense of comfort with you.

It really is a beautiful card, and I prefer it to the usual RWS-based cards, where you see a happy family...that often confuses me, especially when compared with the 10 of Cups. But for a number 4 (four), which is a number of things temporary...this is just right...

GA
 

geministar

Ready and raring to go with this study group!

Its almost like you can hear the silence. Everyone has gone home, which is nice and cosy and warm. But if this card is about celebration, why isnt there people there celebrating? It looks like there was a celebration there, but why cant we see the actual celebration taking place?

Geministar xx
 

ana luisa

May I join in? I really liked the description you gave for the card,Goddess Artemis. I don´t feel sadness, though... It´s more like a sense of happy accomplishment, a warm and fuzzy feeling of having lived something grand and very good. i also see in this card something to do with heritage. Not in the sense of money but as legacies we leave to offsprings, marks, monuments we leave for future generations. Something quite poetic as saying that our experiences in life will not be dead after the moment is gone but will leave traces for other people to see. Also, for some weird reason, I always think of stonehenge when I see this card...
 

GoddessArtemis

ana luisa said:
Also, for some weird reason, I always think of stonehenge when I see this card...
LOL, ana luisa. I know what you mean..I think it's the 4-post garland standing there. I sometimes think of Stonehenge with this card, too...so I'm not sure what that's about. A distant, past-life memory, perhaps? ;)

As for the sadness...I suppose that is a very subjective statement on my part. Wands are fire, and they often involve a lot of movement or action. But in this Wand card, it is surprisingly quiet and peaceful, and it makes me sad..wondering, where did all the energy go? Maybe that's where it comes from..but looking at the card again, even now as I'm typing this...I still feel that 'sadness' from it. Not sure why.

Geministar said:
It looks like there was a celebration there, but why cant we see the actual celebration taking place?
Agreed, Geministar. Where are all the people? I think it's difficult not to want to apply traditional definitions of RWS-based cards to the DruidCraft, esp. since that's where the interpretation of a celebration comes in for the 4 of Wands. But in this deck, we don't see the party or a celebration, do we? This, to me, is more apropos to the card meaning...because it really shows the silence, calm, and coziness of the after-party scene. After all, going with the numerology aspect of it, the number FOUR is one of temporary peace...or temporary non-movement. Look at any of the FOUR cards: 4 of Cups is stagnant and stuck in emotions; 4 of Pentacles is holding back all belongings; 4 of Swords is often one of a silent, meditative, peacefully resting (if not dead) depiction. So, to me, it always seemed odd that the 4 of Wands was party time! In this deck, the card is more true to form..and it shows peace, calm, and a sense of belonging, of being home...even if for a short time...

GA
 

Mystic Leo

I like everyone's comments about this card..

This card showing the garland atop the four wands
represents "completion" so to me party's over, it is
now just a very peaceful, and contented setting.
Though notice the clouds, in the sky, I dont think it
will last for too long........
 

WalesWoman

I've thought of this card as a sort of a cross roads... not sure why, but it fit once with a reading I did with this card.

I do like the comments and descriptions so far, because it does feel like the main event happened and everyone is off someplace else. THAT made me think of the lack of people and the hut set off from everything... the origin of the Honeymoon... where after the happy couple were joined they stayed together in that hut for one month without doing anything but be together and drink lots of mead "honey wine"... they didn't work, they didn't socialize with others, they just focused on their new mate.

So in that regards it is the completion of one thing and the intitiation of the new, going beyond in one sense and setting boundaries in another... creating the foundation. The symbolism is good too, the round eternal circle of the hut and the square of the wands. The foundation for eternity.

Oh now I see where I got the crossroads idea... you follow the path and can either enter the hut or the woods.... protected domesticity or the wild side (or can't see forest for the trees).
 

Le Chat

From Le Chat

Hi All,

When I look at this card I feel the welcome there. The party is not always over, maybe it's waiting to begin. It makes this house inviting, possibly stating we are always willing to take in a stray. I think that's the cat in my.

Blessings, Le Chat
 

Bat Chicken

To me, this card is like a frozen moment in time - Like a photograph taken with a very long exposure - anything alive and moving is not in the frame long enough to leave a mark on the film - so only the object with a slower vibration would remain. The fire is burning still and it is like an island of contentment - a long moment of complete peace. A sharp noise or a cheer would break it and all the people still celebrating would re-appear.... and one would step back into the movement of time....
 

Arania

I usually take this card to mean that life is ok, but that fact isn't always noticed, because the excitement has passed. I love this card, so very calm.
 

MissCW

Four of Wands

The Four of Wands before in other cards has definitely been my marriage card, I've accurately predicted a couple of proposals with it before.

But this card feels a bit different and as I am new to the deck I am have to re-train my brain on Four of Wands.

This feels more like the "home" card, the stability of home, keeping the home fire burning etc. I'm not sure yet whether it is an "active" card or not … it hasn’t come up in my readings yet (I only got the deck at weekend!).

What has this Four of Wands represented for you when it has come up in your readings?