Two of Wands

Meanings according to Rider-Waite:

ASTROLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Mars in Libra as a symbol of forced agreement without inner conviction — or without practical consequences.

TWO OF WANDS This card combines a statement of fact with, at the same time, a challenge: it shows that we wish to maintain a neutral, indifferent position, yet the situation compels us to speak out directly and unambiguously. Situations corresponding to this card often resemble dead ends. On the objective plane, there is nothing we could consider the cause of our loss, defeat, or bad mood, yet here they are before us, and we do not know what exactly has thrown us off balance. The matter is that we have grown tired of participating in external life and have shut ourselves away from it in yet another ivory tower. In any case, we have achieved a state in which nothing troubles our soul any longer, and we no longer care what happens to those close to us, let alone those further away. One can emerge from this state only by allowing one's notions to become convictions, and one's intentions to become deeds — and to do so honestly.

From the book: Hajo Banzhaf. THE TAROT HANDBOOK. Translated from German by E. Kolesov. Publisher: Center for Astrological Research, 1999.

TWO OF SCEPTRES Dominion. First decan of Aries, from March 21 to April 1. Astrological correspondences — the signs Sagittarius and Capricorn, the planets Jupiter and Saturn. The first decan of Aries symbolizes movement from the depths into open space — furious, ready to overcome all obstacles, and irresistibly striving toward victory. This decan, like the sign of Aries as a whole, is ruled by Mars, and the fiery impulse, reflecting the essence of this sign, is a symbol of every beginning. But this impulse is not yet strong nor protected, and is therefore vulnerable: it has not yet adapted to the existing world. It is a new role for which no script has yet been written. It is uncertainty in a new position due to the rupture with former experience, a blindness caused by one's own impulse due to the inability to see oneself from the outside. For this reason, in order to make a new correct decision, it is important to rely on past achievements. Turning to the symbolic path traversed by the Idea in its development, on the level of the TWO OF WANDS the Idea, as it were, gathers strength and expands. It is about to separate from the Creator and become realized. On a more material level (society), the TWO OF SCEPTRES symbolizes a person with ideas, desires, and ambitions who is forced to seek compromise with other people endowed with their own ideas, desires, and ambitions.

UPRIGHT POSITION In the upright position, the card is a symbol of constructive cooperation (high manifestation); on the low manifestation — misunderstanding, inability to relate oneself to those around, inability to reach agreement. Thus, this card in a spread will indicate a situation in which you will be offered a kind of test of maturity — the extent to which a person is capable of relating to others. The key words for the card will be: the linking of goals and means, of necessity and desire, firmness, boldness in enterprise, capacity for holding office. That is, the problem represented by this card will refer to the problems of a leader who must reconcile his ambitions with social reality, with his surroundings. Therefore, the TWO OF SCEPTRES may also imply a person who knows how to govern himself and does not allow feelings to take the upper hand and distract him from his intended goal. "The ruler is governed by all; he governs no one." In such situations, the influence of planets such as Saturn and Jupiter is strong, as well as the signs in which these planets are expressed, first and foremost — Sagittarius and Capricorn.

REVERSED POSITION In the reversed position, the card may signify anxiety, dependence on others, being marginalized in social terms, lack of initiative, loss of trust, a humiliated position, sudden changes, the "surprises" of fate.