Page of Wands

Identity

Symbols

• Leaves at the Staff's TipFire itself is putting out leaves — there is life inside the impulse, not pure destruction.+

  Under the Queen of Wands, Waite notes that "the Wands throughout this suit are always in leaf, as it is a suit of life and animation." The Page's staff keeps that rule with a few small sprigs set along its length, from the tip down almost to its foot.

• Salamanders Whose Tails Have Not ClosedThe fire-creature has not yet closed its circle — the spirit has no settled shape yet, but already circulates within.+

  In his autobiography Benvenuto Cellini recalls being shown a salamander in the hearth at about five, his father boxing his ear so he would remember. Here the creature is stitched over a youth's tunic: a marvel worn, not glimpsed.

• Red Feather in the CapNot a helmet — a messenger's cap; it announces he is on the road, not on the battlefield.+

  The Knight of Wands wears a plume in fire's colours too, but on a steel helm. On the Page it sits on a plain cap; read along the suit's court, the sign of fire is worn here on cloth, before any armour.

• Pyramids on the HorizonAncient, unmoved — he does not yet know how far he will go, but it is already waiting for him.+

  The pyramids are kept small and low on the horizon, while the staff in his hands rises far above them. The oldest built shapes in the scene stand against its youngest growing thing, and his eyes go only to the growing one.

• The Upright Wand in Both HandsHeld upright before him in both hands and taller than he is — a staff raised to be seen, not one for leaning on or striking.+

  Waite has him "in the act of proclamation" and counts "an envoy, a postman" among his meanings. Greek heralds carried the kerykeion, the herald's staff that Hermes also bears; this herald's staff is a living branch.

Story

Here the eye climbs. It starts at the feet planted on open, empty ground, rises along a staff taller than the youth who holds it, and stops where he is looking: the top of the wood, where it has come into leaf. Everything else in the scene stays low and far away; the pyramids sit small on the horizon, and the land between is bare and quiet. He is not walking anywhere. Waite calls this "the act of proclamation," yet no listener is drawn: the single figure speaks into open country, with only the land and the light to hear.

Correspondences

Elemental Dignity

Shadow

Related Cards

Ace of Wands

Page of Pentacles

The Fool