Four of Wands

Four wands, tipped with rams' heads and doves, cross to form a wheel of eight spokes over flames arranged in a circle.

Chesed, Mercy, in Atziluth, the world of emanation. Mercy, the first Sephirah below the Abyss and so the first that can be called a real thing: the solid, the four-square, the king who builds. Chesed is Jupiter, generosity and law. The Fours are Chesed in the four worlds, cards of completion and settled order.

Chesed in the world of Fire: the solid, the square, the work made stable. Venus in the last decan of Aries softens the energy and lets it settle into a finished form.

Venus in the third decan of Aries (20°–30°, about Apr 11–20). Venus is attraction, harmony, love, art and fertility. On the Tree it is Netzach, Victory; among the trumps it is the Empress, the door through which all forms are born.

Aries is cardinal Fire: the ram, the spring equinox, the head of the year, initiative and the courage to begin. Mars rules it and the Sun is exalted here. Its trump is the Emperor. The trump of Aries is The Emperor.

This decan is ruled by the Prince of Disks, whose arc runs from 21° Aries to 20° Taurus. The two Shem angels of the decan are Mahasiah and Lelahel.

The Solid: the first number that can enclose a space, and so matter, law and the square. Chesed, Mercy. The Fours are cards of completion and settled order; the Emperor is trump IV.

Intuition grounded: a vision that has become an arrangement, a plan that can be lived in. 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 (Lord of Perfected Work) is shared by both traditions.