Phallic Symbolism in Tarot: What all Those Wands and Swords REALLY Mean by Veronica Noir

My evil twin Veronica Noir is back with a vengeance and she’s writing about her favorite topic – penis symbols in the Tarot. Why do I let this depraved woman write guest posts on my blog? I will never know…

Have you noticed how there seems to be a suspicious amount of phallic imagery in the Tarot? No? It’s just me? Well anyway…

Wands, swords, scepters, torches, pillars and walking sticks – it seems like anyone whose anyone in the Tarot is triumphantly grasping some kind of pole.

Before you scoff at this idea, I want to you grab your Tarot deck and have a gander. You will notice that nearly every Major Arcana card features someone holding a long, hard object. I am not being crude here – just telling it like it is!

king of cups
In case you were doubting this King’s potency, he is wielding a giant phallus in this left hand (Rider-Waite Tarot)

The Minor Arcana cards are no exception to this rule, either. The entire suit of Wands and Swords feature numerous phallus-like symbols on every card.

So what’s with all the phallus’s????? This is a question I have been meticulously pondering all week.

So lets start with talking about what a phallus (aka penis-shaped object) symbolizes.

A phallus represents male energy. Think power, potency, fertility, passion, action and extroversion.

The suits of Swords and Wands are “male” suits. The Swords suit deals with thought/mind/rationality, which are stereotypically associated with maleness in our culture (even though we all know that’s just silly!) And the Wands suit symbolizes passion and action which is, again, is often associated more with masculinity than femininity.

The other two suits in the Tarot – Pentacles and Cups – are female suits. The Cup and Pentacle both symbolize the womb. The suit of Cups is all about emotion, feeling and relationships, while Pentacles is about home, health and the body – all things typically associated with women.

judgement
Trumpet or phallic symbol? You decide… (Crystal Visions Tarot)

To sum things up, the Suit of Swords and the Suit of Wands represent extroverted qualities – and the penis is the perfect symbol of extroversion since it is literally extroverted. Vaginas and wombs are literally introverted, therefore, the female suits of Cups and Pentacles stand for introverted qualities.

I hope I haven’t lost you in all this rambling about penis and vagina symbols. Anyhow…

Try this:

Ask yourself “what is my relationship to power?” Now, choose a Tarot card. Notice if there is a phallic symbol on your card.

What is the phallic symbol doing? Is it penetrating someone from behind like in the Ten of Swords? Or laying limply on the floor like in the Four of Swords?

How is this symbol being held? Proudly or nonchalantly? Is the phallus a burden like in the Ten of Wands and Two of Swords, or is it something you want to steal, like in the Five of Swords and Seven of Swords?

Some other cool questions to ask are:

  • What role does passion play in my life right now?
  • What do I need to know about “taking action” in my life?
  • How is my masculine energy showing up for me?

Whenever a penis-like object shows up in a reading ask yourself what role it plays in that card. Then relate it to either power, passion or action. And voila! Magical insights explode onto the scene!

In the comments below, tell me what card you chose and what you think the phallus symbol means to you….can’t wait to read these comments 😉

Veronica Noir is a lover of Tarot, writer of erotic fiction and The Daily Tarot Girl’s evil twin. She lives for cappuccino cheesecake, bitchy cats, eavesdropping in coffee shops, conspiracy theories and the occasional skinny dip.

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