Two of Staves

Fire in Chokmah ~ Impulse of Will ~ Drive

Metaphysics. It is the nature of being to desire change. The entire long evolution of the cosmos can be viewed as the result of an innate creative urge. At the stage depicted in the 2 of staves, there is not yet a differentiation of the individual self from the rest of being, so this is the drive to grow and the drive to achieve united in a single principle. It is the force that drives the seed to sprout, as much as it is the force that drives the human spirit to create a better self and a better world.

Psychology. The drive to create and achieve is connected with a fantasy: the belief that all creation is subject to one's will. This is the world of the infant. In metaphysical terms, perhaps there is only one will in the cosmos. But in terms of practical psychology, the drive to remake the world according to one's desire carries with it both pride and vanity. Without drive, we are impotent and apathetic. With it, we may become ambitious to the point of heedlessness and callousness. The solution to the dilemma is not to abandon or dilute the drive, but to temper it with other influences, such as the empathic attraction of the 2 of cups.

The card asks us to consider what we are really trying to accomplish, what we strive for, what we seek to do or make. We may be tempted to look first at our secondary objectives: a job, a new relationship, a big plan we want to carry out. But this card probes to a deeper level: what things do you do that serve no other goal, but are ends in themselves? When do you find yourself completely absorbed, completely lost, in the process of doing? Writers and artists understand this deep level of involvement very well. The rest of us may have to search deeply before we find it.

There is also a sexual implication in the card; the sexual urge is nature's drive to create operating through us. In males especially, drive is connected with lust, passion, and a certain amount of aggression. Drive can lead to irresponsibility and disregard for consequences. Indeed, all the twos represent a world of urges without consequences. The consequences come later.

Events. All of us, and perhaps the cosmos itself, make things happen because of raw desire. Look for events that arise from the basic urge to create or control: the new venture, the bursts of passion, assertions of dominance, uncontrolled and unexplained bursts of energy or willpower.

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Copyright © 1998 Tom Tadfor Little