The Wild Unknown Tarot - Father of Wands

Sulis

The background of the image is black and against that is a coiled king cobra. The upper half of his body is raised, he has his hood flared out and his forked tongue protrudes a little from his mouth. A white stick or wand stands at a slight diagonal angle amidst his coils and a lightning flash or orange and red light streaks from the top corner of the image and extends down behind the snake and the wand. He looks as if he's looking at something intently that is just off to the side and front of the image (if that makes sense).. I'll put an image of the card below.
The only colour in this card is in the flash of energy or lightning... Since this is a Fire card, it's probably to do with the element of Fire.

Fathers are the equivalent to Kings in more traditional decks... They show the most mature level of court cards and I equate Kings in Tarot to the element of Earth; they have mastered the qualities of their element to such a degree that they can manifest those qualities in the real world (this isn't the same as the Golden Dawn court card correspondences where I think Kings are Fire)..
So with way I do it, this guy is Earth of Fire..

He's a King Cobra so he's a leader and a natural leader at that.. Like all of the Wand / Fire courts he is flamboyant, ambitious, a bit of a show off, goal oriented and has a bit of a hot temper.. He's the leader who is really good at encouraging others but again, like all of the Fire family, he needs to have his interest stoked at all times, he gets bored and if things get boring he'll move onto the next exciting thing on his list although being a Father or a King he has mastered this impulse to an extent.. He's not as flighty as his son who loses interest in things very quickly.

This guy can be quite intimidating I think and maybe even a bit scary..

If anyone has any input about the symbolism of cobras in particular please feel free to post :). All I can think of is that they are poisonous and very scary and also that they can raise a lot of their bodies into an upright position and stay like that for a long time before striking with deadly speed. That makes me think of someone in business who is very good at what he does but is also prepared to be quite ruthless.

More thoughts are welcome :).
 

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Pixna

Wonderful synopsis, Sulis -- thank you! This has helped me understand this Father a lot better.

A few additional things I read about cobras: They will look a person in the eye. When challenged, they flare their hoods and emit an extremely loud, growl-like hiss. They are shy and are typically avoid human contact; but they will become very aggressive when confronted. Cobras mostly feed on other snakes -- both venomous and nonvenomous. They can raise up to one-third of their body off the ground and continue to move forward.

I would be petrified to deal with a Father of Wands in business (or almost anywhere else), but this fella does seem confident, self-possessed, protective, shrewd, cunning, alert, intelligent, energetic, and strong. He's probably brilliantly creative . . . but also a tad scary. :)
 

Sulis

Thanks for the information about cobras Pixna...
It all sounds as if it could fit a King of Wands really well although the stress seems to be on the intimidating and ruthless qualities he may have.
I like your summing up paragraph a lot and that does seem to fit both a King of Wands (human) and a King Cobra:
I would be petrified to deal with a Father of Wands in business (or almost anywhere else), but this fella does seem confident, self-possessed, protective, shrewd, cunning, alert, intelligent, energetic, and strong. He's probably brilliantly creative . . . but also a tad scary.