Queen Of Wands

my wand;
raises bubbles of fire from the earth to the sky
charms snakes,
snakes of fortunes,
tails wrapped around gold

my wand;
lifts my head high, crowns it with riches and rainbows
charms others,
with my body,
makes all things golden.

makes flesh be fire.


(I feel particularly uninspired tonight. Damn).

As with other Queens we have discussed, this lady is in control, not in command. That's fitting for a snake-charmer; using her arts and skills to turn risk into good fortune. In China, snakes stand for prosperity - I wonder if Conway was instead thinking of the Queen's snake as sinister, or as a bringer of forbidden knowledge, or as a sexual symbol? I read it as a good sign and as a dangerous one.

She hardly needs more sexual symbols; she's not naked, but adorned - bare breasts ringed with gold and with a beaded chain. To me the getup looks deliberately sexually submissive, but is it my eyes she has in mind? I can't know, can't know more than what I'd make of so many jewels, so much eye-makeup. She is the Queen of Wands. Her rod is budding fire. She controls the channel between dreamings and doings - she sees that creations are made real, she guides fantasy into reality.

Did Conway intend her to give the seeming of a prostitute? I hope not; I hope not because there are plenty of real prostitutes out there and they are more than just people who make other people's dreams come true; they are themselves, like everyone else. But it sure looks like Conway was doing that, and if she was, she's made it look like the ever-downside of all Queens; it's a trap. Why does this Queen display her bounties, and adorn her flesh rather than enjoy it in comfort? (The image is not of a strong woman - her arms shows no muscle tone, her collarbone is deeply recessed, her breasts are very small. Only the neck that supports her jewelled collar shows and strength).

I know I must come back here one day; I am uninspired, I can't hear in my right ear and that's fucking with my proprioception, and I can't see the upside here at all. There must be one, somewhere.


Images of the Queen of Wands:

The Intuitive Queen - yes, just this once, you can see the lady I was looking at.

Sharing - the Osho Zen Queen. The idea here is that the Queen of Wands has so much that she can share without noticing. Maybe Conway was aiming for that too, a sharing of treasure and sensuality and experience from someone who had much to give, but she fucked up for me with that frail body and that unfortunate collar. (though, again, those who wear collars often do have power and experience to share - but you can't aim that niche, lady, you just can't, because tarot images are images, representations meant to be read).

Amano's Queen of Wands - head bowed, rod resting on a hand notably darker than her own. It's very hard to see where this Queen ends - she seems half-pedestal, half-architecture.

The Scapini Queen - I included this because it includes a common icon of the Queen of Wands; a cat. In the RWS, this cat is black - here it's a ginger tabby. Sometimes, it's a tigress.