I was meditating on the Knight of Wands. He is Air of Fire. That combination alone says almost everything. The rational, mercurial, mental element applied to direct and immediate action on the world. It’s the moment when plans are acted upon, when the mind gives direction to the flame. He is the conqueror who brings order and focus into the chaos of desire, the one who does not just burn but makes the fire blow in the right direction of his target.
If the King of Wands is pure action, almost to the point of choleric and martial oppression, with the duplicated presence of Fire, the Knight adds strategy, mental suppleness, and flexibility. There is calculation in his impulse, awareness in his speed. He likes to be in the field too, not just in the palace relaxing.
He reminds me of Hegel, who, seeing Napoleon in Jena, wrote: “I saw the soul of the world on horseback” – Ich sah die Weltseele zu Pferde. Few men have embodied the spirit of the Knight of Wands so clearly: a man with fierce determination, with an overwhelming ego (Fire) but who knew how to manoeuvre (Air) a battlefield like few others, leading columns of men across Europe. And, as no court card holds all four elements, Napoleon too lacked Water to temper the passion of victory and Earth to enjoy the territories he had already conquered. Often times this is the price the Knights have to pay for their unrelenting approach.
Kύριε ελέησον