To understand the Knights, we need to remember that they are always on the move. These characters are in some phase of arriving or departing at all times. The Knights are educators because their travels teach them techniques used by people from outside of their own communities and this gives the Knight a perspective that is continuously shaped and reshaped by those they break bread with during their travels.
In the case of the Knight of Wands, we meet an inspired and active presence with the power to help us see something within ourselves that we may have overlooked or have not perceived from a certain angle. The essence of this Knight is a combination of keen observation, inspired imagination, and motivation. When we meet a Knight of Wands type, we are likely to be not only captivated by their presence but also changed for the better by our interactions with them.
In Amy Heckerling’s cult classic Clueless, we meet a Knight of Wands personality in Cher Horowitz. Though this character is primarily contained in her small world of Beverly Hills, she does manage to gain perspective from those who enter her bubble from outside its privileged walls.
Confidence and a sense that rules were made to be broken are essential for boundary shifting of every variety.
Cher Horowitz drives her white Jeep through the neighborhood recklessly and without a proper license. She has no doubt that she can not only drive effectively but that because of her ability itself the licensure procedure is really just a formality. While it is true that this attitude comes with her privilege, it is also the exact mindset of a Knight of Wands personality. Confidence and a sense that rules were made to be broken are essential for boundary shifting of every variety.
When Tai Fraiser shows up as the new girl at school, she is clearly an outsider to the Beverly Hills culture. Cher invites Tai immediately into her social circle. In this we see Cher engage two characteristics that can be associated with the Knight of Wands. The first is a sincere lack of judgment emanating from a sense that everyone belongs and the second is the desire to engage in a project which Cher states aloud because she is also self-aware.
…the Knight of Wands in the fact that she learns by leading others across thresholds or through cutting-edge movements.
Cher and Dionne (about whom Cher says: “Dionne is my best friend because we both know what it’s like to have people jealous of us.”) set about to give Tai not only an outward makeover but a means of social and personal evolution too. In a funny exchange, Cher coaches Tai through a Buns of Steel workout and tells her that on top of this they are going to read one non-school book per week in order to care for their minds and bodies. Tai’s assigned book is Men are from Mars, and Women are from Venus. Despite the content of Cher’s teachings, we see the Knight of Wands in the fact that she learns by leading others across thresholds or through cutting-edge movements.
Cher pokes her nose into everyone’s life and tries to influence the course they follow. While her goals for others are set for self-serving reasons, she does have their best interests in mind when she applies her insight to her meddling. At the end of the film, we go to a wedding of two people she manipulated into seeing themselves in a lover’s story together.
Despite Cher’s seeming shallowness and preoccupation with appearances, she is genuinely hurt when she sees Tai becoming cruel. Similarly, she catches herself being insensitive to the family housekeeper and apologizes. Through the story arc she created around herself, Cher grows as a person. The Knight of Wands and personality types that follow a similar character pattern will often find themselves in the situation of having to rise to meet the very changes they have caused.
May we use non-judgment to innovate our human world.
By Michelle Embree
Author of Daydream Tarot: A Basic Guide For Visionaries
Learn more: michelleembree.com
READ Michelle’s Monthly Tarot Column in ANTIGRAVITY MAGAZINE
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