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Tarot Writing

Tarot Stories #64: King of Wands

Once there was a king who had two important virtues – one that was very obvious, and one that was not. The virtue that came easily was the king’s decisiveness and readiness for action. It was apparent to all who saw the king – the way he leaned forward in his throne, eyes narrowed, ready to spring forth to defend his lands, argue an important point with a member of the council, or lead the way to lunch. It was a virtue well-matched to the king’s family crest, which included a lion mid-leap, caught in the moment of action and movement. This virtue served the kingdom well, but it also could be used against the king by those who might seek to entice him to rash action and hasty decisions. And so, like many of us, the king found that he needed to temper one virtue with another.

The second virtue the king possessed was keen sight. His sight was so keen, in fact, that he could see a companion nearby who no other person could. It was a small lizard, barely a shadow, and even though it never spoke, it was the king’s most trusted advisor. Like many of its kind, the lizard spent a great deal of time taking the sun, drawing energy from the world around it for when it truly needed to act. The king, having seen the lizard behave this way day after day after day, came to realize that he might similarly take some time, sometimes, and soak in the wisdom of his councilors or of simple patient thought before taking action.

Now, this didn’t come easily to the king, because that lion’s heart within him was still restless indeed. Still, while action always called to him, the king was determined to act in service to the people and the lands, so he set about giving himself reminders of the lizard’s wisdom. He had a symbol of the lizard stitched into his favorite cloak, so he could put it on as a reminder. He went so far as to have that same symbol added to the family crest, above and around the lion that had always been there. And finally, the king had his court moved outdoors whenever he could to give his shadowy, unseeen-except-to-him advisor some extra time under the warm sun, to thank it for its lessons.

In this way, the king cultivated the lizard, to balance the lion, and went on to rule with a bit more wisdom than he might otherwise have had.

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