Unlike in days of yore when Pages were strictly boys, today's tarot often depict girls or women in the Page position. Sometimes they are called "Princess" or "Herald" instead of Page, but they are nonetheless functioning in the role of Page: the newcomer, student, messenger, servant. The Page of Wands often deviates from this role, however, as he or she can be a bit of an upstart. This Page often has his or her own idea about how something needs to be done and they impulsively follow their own lead and create their own paths in life.

The Princess of Staves in The Lovers Path Tarot by Kris Waldherr is a really fine example of a woman with her own mind who illustrates the qualities of the Page of Wands in all her sometimes erratic and firey ways. Kris chose Brunnhilde to represent this rebel and what an excellent choice it was. Brunnhilde was known as a mighty female warrior, one of the Valkyries, who were the messengers of Odin, the primary god in Norse mythology. They were primarily corpse goddesses who fought and roamed the battlefields looking for worthy warriors to take to Valhallah. In Norse legend, Brunnhilde defied Odin by deciding against his preferred king in a battle so he imprisoned her within a ring of fire on earth (or, depending on the version of the story you read, he might have imprisoned her in a remote castle behind a wall of shields on top of mount Hindarfjall in the Alps instead) decreeing that there she would remain in sleep (because Odin knew if you leave this firey maiden to her own devices she would figure a way out) until a brave hero rescued her. Siegfried braved the fire, broke her charmed sleep, and fell in love with her. Who wouldn't?

This Page of fire is apt to defy authority, not just because they have issues with authority as much as they simply become inspired by their own ideas and think they can do the required task in a different and better way. These Pages are creative and courageous, or maybe they have a bad case of thinking they're invincible, but whatever the case they will always being trying out new and different things. Not much holds their interest for very long and they seem to hop from one passion to the next with alarming, distracted speed. These guys are very hyper and may even have attention deficit disorder and can't sit still for long unless playing video games which, by the way, they are very good at because they're always coming up with different ways to approach the problems presented in the games. This is their greatest strength. Elementally this Page is "earth of fire" which, together, simply fuels each other. Fire uses earth to burn but also enriches the earth with ash which makes the earth more fertile. Wherever this Page goes, she finds inspiration to fuel her next idea and adventure.

Trouble comes via her inability to clearly think through her plans before acting on them. Half-baked schemes and ideas provoke just as much response and really brilliant ones, so she might find herself in various pickles. But these don't tend to thwart her as she will either quickly come up with another way around the problem or she'll drop the project altogether because she thought of something else to do instead. So as advice this Page may be cautioning you to think through your grand ideas a bit more before putting them into play as they might yet be immature and not ready for action. Conversely, if you are more apt to think and plan something to death and find it difficult to act on your ideas, this Page could be saying Just Do It! Do something, anything, because it's better than just sitting there.

Often, the Page of Wands is depicted in tarot decks as traveling, going to distant lands and moving about. They can bring news from far away, quickly, as through email or instant message. They can also bring news that you will be traveling, such as being told by your boss that you will need to attend a conference in Borneo next week. Timewise, these Pages act quickly and suddenly, so whatever news is coming expect it soon and be ready to grab the opportunity and act on it because it also quickly passes out of sight.


The Lovers Path Tarot by Kris Waldherr. Copyright 2004 US Games Systems, Inc.