The Archetype and The Tarot: The Monastic and Six of Wands
Through the Monastic and Six of Wands, this week we’re being called towards disciplined devotion. Can we trust ourselves to put our calling into practice?
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The Monastic Archetype
This archetype is more traditionally called “The Monk” but I wanted to move away from gender binaries around the word, so I’ve decided to call it “The Monastic” instead. In our world, we recognize a Monastic as someone who has taken vows and lives a life of devotion within a religious or spiritual tradition. But this pattern can be found within each of us, whether we follow any particular religion or not.
The Monastic possesses tremendous powers of discipline and perseverance. They also have a deep connection with Spirit and can sense when the Divine calls them into the Monastic life. If they decide to respond to that calling, they commit themselves to a life of profound dedication and service to their spiritual connection through work and devotion. Sometimes this looks like a move towards solitude and contemplation, or sometimes this looks like a move towards community service. There is no one way to live as a Monastic, but it is a time focused on the practice of devotion.
When we feel called or nudged towards daily, structured connection with what is sacred to us, that is the Monastic awakening within us.
In the light, the Monastic is tireless in their efforts to cultivate a life of devotion to the Divine, Spirit, the higher self, a higher purpose, etc. Through this devotion, their life experience becomes one of service and their actions are guided by the sacred. Often setting aside their own desires and comforts, the Monastic in the light views their life as part of a greater whole and selflessly engages in the rigid practices of their tradition.
The shadow side of the Monastic, however, might have a tendency towards self-righteousness and excess piety, potentially fostering an ‘us versus them’ outlook or a judgmental attitude towards those who do not follow the same rigorous path. This can create a sense of superiority and alienation, rather than compassion and understanding. Within this, a potential for isolation can cause the shadow Monastic to become completely disconnected from the world, leading to loneliness and a lack of practical engagement with life's challenges. Most commonly, though, the Monastic in the shadows simply doesn’t answer the call to do the work of devotion.
Some questions to consider this week:
How do you recognize the Monastic archetype awakening within yourself?
In what ways do you feel called to incorporate disciplined devotion into your daily life?
How can you balance a life of spiritual dedication with maintaining compassion and connection to those around you?
How can you ensure that your path of devotion and service does not lead to feelings of superiority or isolation, but instead fosters a sense of interconnectedness and understanding with others?
Six of Wands
In this card, we see a figure on horseback, riding through what appears to be a crowd of people raising their wands in celebration. The person on the horse seems to have an air of pride about them and has a laurel wreath around their head as well as one at the top of their wand.
Often, this card is associated with victory, but to me, it’s not so straightforward. Rather than conquest, I think this card is more about victory in the sense of confidence and certainty following a time of doubt.
The way I come to understand the sixes (of all four suits) is that I first have to look back at the fours and fives. In the story of the tarot, the fours are all about stability. And then the fives come along and insert some sort of change into the story, some sort of destabilizing event. So then with the sixes, we are asked: what now? How will we respond to the destabilizing event? What will be the integration or expansion from that transformative time of the five?
To me, the wands are specifically about the spiritual realm; they are the conduits between us and magic. It is the wand that brings spirit or life force into us. When I put this idea of the wand together with story of the six, what I end up with is the notion that we’re on the other side of some version of a dark night of the soul and now the wand—the fire of wisdom—ignites within us. Now we have clarity about what we’ve been through. By the light of this fire, we can see the meaning of it and we know exactly how to respond. We have confidence in our next actions.
In short, this card tells us: don’t worry, you got this!
How does this pair work together?
Here I see the Monastic awakening within us and asking us to do the work of tending our spiritual lives. They urge us to do our daily rituals, whatever they might be, and put some real effort into our devotion.
Perhaps because of past experiences of this that were not fully realized, there’s a part of us that’s lost faith in our ability to engage in our sacred lives this way.
But like our own personal hero, the person in the Six of Wands arrives and hands us that big magic wand that sparks our self-trust and tells us that we do know how to respond this time. Through this fire, we have the confidence to know what we want our daily devotion to look like, we can see clearly the actions our souls want us to take, and we have the wherewithal to see it through (even if just for today).
This feels to me like a sort of sequel to last week’s pair with the Explorer and the Hermit. Last week we were called to get clear on a particular path to commit to in a really big, profound way. This week feels like now we’re being asked to put that into practice, to actually walk down that path.
I feel especially called out on this one. I’m pretty good at seeing big picture sort of things, but taking action is another story. If you’re struggling with this week’s message, I’m right there with you! Let me know how you do by replying to this email, sending me a DM, or leaving a comment below.
“I end up with is the notion that we’re on the other side of some version of a dark night of the soul and now the wand—the fire of wisdom—ignites within us. Now we have clarity about what we’ve been through.”
Oh I love this Jenna. I feel like the exactly describe what my past two months have been.
Hi Jenna, thank you for yet another enlightening post.
I feel called to share with you that I keep thinking of the beautiful ritual that you did where you took a bag of precious stones down to the beach, each stone representing one of your readers, and you did an "ocean ritual" with your subscribers. There is something so meaningful to me in this and you have inspired me to open a space where I may offer a similar blessing to subscribers of the Rising of the Divine Feminine Substack. I have a sense that you embody a very balanced way of offering your 'original medicine' in the world. You seem to remain detached from outcomes in a healthy way, while simultaneously nourishing and brightening the connections between you and your readers. It's a beautiful thing to witness and be part of. I feel gratitude in my heart for you having the courage to be all of who you are❤️🙏🕊️