The maypole is the descendant of an ancient religion based in nature in which tree-spirits were believed to have fantastic powers. The trees carried the energy of the green earth skyward to their branches and returned the energy of the sun and sky into the soil through their roots. They were the symbol of the relationship between the Goddess and her virile forest God partner. These ancient forests of Europe, represented at the base of the maypole, covered vast tracts of the land. The people lived in amongst these great woods and used the trees as building materials and in some cases, as medicines. The trees were the oldest living things to be seen in the natural world and they were seemingly unchanging - through season after season - losing leaves and regrowing them in an endless cycle. The trees of the forest embodied the tribe's aspirations for long life and continuity. The ancient European pagans worshiped their nature gods in the sacred groves because they felt the ongoing fertile spirit of the earth in the midst of the ancient forest. The destruction of the sacred groves by the Christian Priesthood did a great deal to destroy these ancient religions.

The ritual of the medieval maypole was symbolically linked to the fertile principle of the ancient forest God. A young sapling full of the fertile energy of the green woods was chosen and cut. The maypole was brought into the center of the village and decorated by young maidens with flowers and greenery. Ribbons were attached and people intertwined the ribbons around the pole in the maypole dance. In the traditional dance young women took the ribbons that moved widdershins (counterclockwise) and young men facing them moved deosil (clockwise). The dance was a visual reminder of the fertility of spring, symbolizing the favorite part of the May eve or May day ritual which were the "mad merry marriages under the greenwood tree" . These marriages were celebrated by a night spent in the wood with the partner of your choice, celebrating the gift of pleasure given by the forest God and his Goddess lover. The maypole had become the erect phallus of the forest god as the ribbons wrapped around it embodied the Goddess who encloses him. May is the fertile time of the year when flowers bloom in field and tree, the birds sing their songs of love and small animals are awakened in their fertile time. Because human beings are a part of the natural world and embed within its rhythms we are also drawn together in 'spring fever' and the ritual of the maypole celebrates sex as a part of life, acknowledging the power of our need and joy in its expression.

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No one knows how old these rituals are but there is ancient evidence all through Europe of the story of the forest God and the Goddess in her maiden form, who are joined in the sacred marriage around the first of may and who produce a child born at the winter solstice with the sun. This God, the god of fertility, was bonded to the forest animals who enjoyed the power of the rut, thus he was pictured with goat hooves and horns or with the antlers of the deer. He was celebrated by the remaining pagans and witches of the middle ages for the sexual joy and power he represented, which was reviled by the Catholic church hierarchy. Through the power of this church he became the Devil.

The May 1st ritual of Beltane was one of the great fire festivals of medieval times; its activities included the late evening bonfire over which lovers would jump with hands intertwined. The element fire is associated with the Suit of Wands. It symbolizes the energy within the living plant, best represented by flowing sap and the bursting leaves of spring growth. The symbolic wand has often been represented by a sprouting branch or club of wood. In modern playing cards the symbol for the Suit of Clubs is a stylized tree symbolizing its strength and power. The wooden rod represented the phallus of the forest God, and its power was revealed as the fuel for the sacred fires of Beltane. Wood kept the people warm; it cooked their food and it symbolized the spirit of the God, who dwelt within the wood. It was his potent and creative spirit, alive in his semen, which he gave to the fertile earth to ensure its productivity. The wand became the symbol of the living spirit and creativity of humanity, as expressed in our skill and artistic invention. Fire was also connected with the passion involved in lovemaking. Our uncontrollable desires sustain the creative spirit of the planet as they bring pregnancy and the birth of a new potentially creative being. It is this creative aspect of the Suit of Wands, developed out of the Suit of Disks, that creates the family represented in the following suit, cups, which will symbolize emotion and family bonding.

The ribbons of the maypole are the colors of the twelve signs of the zodiac (see appendix) and they symbolize the multiple outcomes of creativity. They are symbolic both of the semen of the God as it streams out of the wand as well as the enclosing Goddess that will wrap and enclose the phallic totem. The golden ball representing the sun symbolizes the potential for selfhood that comes from the creative exertion of the God on Beltane. The sun represents the self and the unity of personality and this is the creative goal of the Suit of Wands.

When the Ace of Wands is drawn as a part of a reading look at the creative, passionate spirit of the issue you are dealing with. Remember the connection with the forest God and his worship in the ancient groves, where the people celebrated the power of their physical bodies (disks) expressed through creative action and passion (wands). This celebration of the creative power of our biology translates into the joy we feel when we find creative ways of living. We need to create new things and use our hands and bodies in order to lead full and valued lives. Just as the spirit of the forest God lived in the trees, our creative spirit lives in that which we create. The act of creation and the passion we feel expand our spirit and make us happier. This is a card of creative potential. It shows us the creative possibilities in the colors of the maypole ribbons. The act of creation is like the dance itself; it is joyful and helps us recognize the ways in which we are bound to the varied life around us as what we create reflects the world we see. Use creative solutions; use your physical energy to create and expand your life and to express your spirit in creative ways. Like the solar sphere at the top of the maypole, you are a unique individual with a creative spirit and the infinite potential of the sun to radiate warmth, light and creative growth.