Ace of Wands

A great flaming torch rises through the card, its flames branching into ten Yods arranged in the pattern of the Tree of Life, with lightning behind. The whole card is a single burst of energy.

Kether, Crown, in Atziluth, the world of emanation. The Crown, the first emanation, the point that has position but no dimension. Nothing can be said about Kether except that it is; the whole Tree unfolds from it. The four Aces are the roots of the elements seated in Kether, and the Princesses are their thrones at the other end of the Tree.

The Ace is the root of Fire seated in Kether, the first letter Yod of the Name, the seed of the whole suit of Wands. Its throne is the Princess of Wands, who rules the quadrant of the earth called Asia. In a reading the Ace is the pure element rather than a card of the decans, so it takes no planet or sign.

The Aces are the roots of the elements and stand outside the zodiac; they take no decan, planet or sign. In the Golden Dawn scheme the Ace of Wands is enthroned by the Princess of Wands, who rules the quadrant of the earth called Asia.

The Point: position without extension, the will before it has content. Kether, the Crown. The Aces are the roots of the elements here, and the Magus is trump I.

Intuition in its purest form: the spark before the idea, the sense of a direction not yet named. The Wands are usually read as the intuition function in Jung's typology, an interpretive convention rather than a text of Jung's.

Rider-Waite calls the suit Wands, Rods or Staves. Its small cards carry scenes; the Thoth small cards carry the suit emblems arranged geometrically, with the keyword printed at the bottom and the colours of their Sephirah and decan. The Golden Dawn title (The Root of the Powers of Fire) is shared by both traditions.