4 of Wands: A House With You In It
(c) Cheryl Lynne Bradley 2004-7


Morgan Greer Tarot: 40 of Wands

24. ‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.

25. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.

26. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

27. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell — and great was its fall!’

Matthew 7:24-27

Home is where your heart is. How many times have we all heard that expression over the course of our lifetimes? Too many to count I am sure. We are all familiar with the traditional imagery of the 4 of Wands and it is considered to be one of the happy cards in the Tarot whether upright or reversed. It is usually depicting a peaceful landscape, a residence, a celebration, weddings, parties, gatherings, harmony at home, gardens, garlands and rejoicing. I often think of this card as my sense of home - the place where my heart is.

The four wands in this card represent the four things we all need in life: food, shelter, health and education. These are the cornerstones and building blocks that will take us to the place where we have equality to the point of access to opportunity and exertion of effort.

Homes have changed much over the years. It used to be people stayed in one place and lived in houses that suited their needs for space. People gave birth at home and died at home. Houses were built with parlours because wakes were held at home. Love always grew best in little houses. Now people are house poor, struggling with large mortgages for houses with more space than they really need and for what? To keep up with the Jones's? To garner a profit? To impress the banker? Or do they really just enjoy cleaning a big house?

I find new houses, for the large part, to be sterile and devoid of warmth. How can you be comfortable in a place where you are afraid to make a mess? I know people that don't allow their children into certain parts of their house and the children aren't allowed to have friends in. What is that all about? It doesn't sound like much of a home to me - sounds like real estate or prison.

The following story, to me, raises some interesting points on the foundation we are building for our futures and the way we value our lives and ourselves. We often only do our best for others without expecting reciprocation and one day find we are weary from the effort.

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer of his plans to leave the house building business in order to live a quiet life with his wife and enjoy his family. He would miss the paycheque, but he felt he needed to retire. Upon hearing this news, the contractor was very sorry to see him go as he was a good worker. He asked the carpenter if he could build one more house as a personal favour. The carpenter agreed to the task but it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work any longer. He resorted to poor workmanship and low quality materials. It was an sad way to end his career.

When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the key to the carpenter. "This is your house." he said, " It is my gift to you!" The carpenter was shocked. If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built so poorly.

We carry our sense of home inside of ourselves. If this sense of home is intact, it enables us to make anyplace a home. Give me a shoebox in the middle of the road and I can make it a home. As I am often one step away from homelessness and have a fingergrip hold on impoverished, I have come to value this sense of home within myself. I think often that it has come from having certainty and stability of residence in my childhood, I only ever lived in two different homes until I went out into the world on my own. The stability of my childhood has eluded me in my adulthood and the dream of a permanent home or home ownership fell by the way a very long time ago. It is just not in the realm of things that I will ever be able to realistically pursue. So I carry my sense of home in my heart and no one can take that home away from me unless I let them. This is my house with me in it.

I fantasize sometimes when I am watching home improvements shows on what it would be like to have a nice home with room for my children and the children of my heart. A place we would never have to leave. It is then that I realize that any house would be a fine house if it was a house with them in it.

Now I must ask you, when you struggle for harmony in your life, when you are twisted into a pretzel of pleasing and appeasing, when you lack harmony and balance, when you feel like you are just going through the motions or housework is stopping you from enjoying your home and holding back your creative life - where is your house with you in it?

Higher Self Tarot Layout (c) Cheryl Lynne Bradley 2004

 




This page was updated on 2007-5-14.