We have come to the Wolf…..I don’t think I have to mention how much this card makes me swoon. The Wolf is a formidable animal, and powerful spirit to channel for your own wild spirit.
This card resides at the twelfth position, bringing focus and energy of growth in the mind, expansion of the self, and relinquishment of mental limitations or un-serving perspectives.
This article discusses in detail the numerology of 12 / 3 and its connection to the Hanged Man in the tarot deck, but here, as we will get into, the Wolf is calling on you to channel your wildness into holding space for the Other. The Wolf is devoted to the pack: the small and immediate packs, and the large encompassing packs of a shared world.
Guarding the Pack, the Magick, and the Ritual with the Wolf
The Wolf is a symbol of wildness, with a unique balance placed on the fulcrum of sovereign and communal. Wolves invoke a deep yearning within towards our wild reclaiming. They speak to us in the language of tree, wind, storm, snow, darkness, and mystery.
Their howls shake our bones into lineage, legacy, time beyond keeping, and reverence for the ones that came before. Wolves represent the ability to walk alone when needed. Some times our journeys are only ours. Other times, we must lean into the strength of the pack. In the bloom of health, numbers, and entities, the magick keeps stirring. The ritual and retreat endures during the harshest of times. The Wolf guards and reveres all this as sacred.
The Wolf brings us into our higher selves, into a space of caring for, protecting, guarding, and guarding our pack. Here, we use our keen intellect and deep intelligence to act from a place of love and connection. The Wolf invites us to consider what is really important to us, and how we can use that as fuel for growth and change. The Wolf is no stranger to adversity (physically and metaphorically). They know how to find and cultivate safe spaces, while also being aware that the concept of freedom is not something given to you. It is something you take and hold as sacred, even when it feels scary, pushes you to the fringe, or challenges your ego or external connections.
The Wolf card invites you to lean into your courage to relinquish what is not true for you, while simultaneously upholding your values, beliefs, and commitments in this world. Much of this card comes from a place of activism and the strength needed to rise to the occasion, do what is right, and be of service. Your wild reclamation is not merely for you. It needs to come from you, but from there, you can help others find their wild homecoming back to self. Your wild reclamation tells the systems, people, and entities that want to sell out, oppress, or cause harm that your rage is sacred, and will be used as the most feral form of magick to right the wrongs, stand up for the underdogs, and create needed change. Your howl will be heard for miles.
Guidance from the guidebook
Some key references from the guidebook
Keywords / phrases: Guardian of Family & Tribe, Activism, Ritual
When in balance: reliable, democratic, fearless
When out of balance: judgmental, dominating
To bring into balance: practice letting go
Following the guidance from the guidebook, working with the Wolf asks you to show up for your pack. How can you be a guardian for others right now, or who needs your strength to lean on? The Wolf can at times be a teacher in where we need to leave and walk alone as the lone wolf, but to the end of finding our own tribe, our kin, and the places that allow us to howl without apology.
One great invitation with this card or this animal is that you can’t show up for others if you aren’t practicing your own wild reclamation. You must first find your sovereignty. Only from there can you be reliable for others. This is not to say that you can’t ask for help, or that you must always be the strong one. A strong wolf pack is a living unit with each playing their role, but by you doing your own wild reclamation, you will know when you are able to rise and hold the space, and where you need to yield and rest.
Another thing to consider with the wolf is the element of mystery, magick, and ritual. Wolves today are still on the fringe of society, with many not welcoming to them, even though they are needed in the ecology to help all thrive. This card speaks to the magick in the wild, the feral mysticism that only comes when you are moving from that deep instinctual place within spirit that no one can touch.
This card is about finding your gifts, strengths, beliefs, and magick. Once you find that within you, use it to show up for your community and kin in a way that creates a profound shift towards a thriving ecology for all. This is how you lead from a place that is both powerful and humble, free and interconnected.
As the guidebook mentioned, take care not to let the dynamic shift towards intolerance for another’s difference. Wolf energy in shadow becomes distrusting, judgmental, and superior. In the light, the wolf is a reminder that we are all stewards and guardians for something. When we all show up and defend what is ours to protect, the world naturally shifts back into a place of safety, trust, companionship, and ritual. To bring all this into balance, use the energies of releasing. The power of the mind that is with this card means that when you experience an edge in life, shift towards a place of perspective. Use the power of your mind to not get stuck on details that would hold you down. Shift towards a place of nurturing and safeguarding what you can control. Use your actions to relinquish and let go. Act from your center. Let your values be your anchor.
Did you connect with the Wolf?
Ashlie McDiarmid
Hello there! I hope you liked this blog post. As a tarot and oracle reader, my goal with my blogs is to offer you content, resources, and access to the tools that have transformed my life.
I believe that your own intuition is the deepest form of knowing, but here in my little corner of the internet, I share insights based in intuition and instinct. I share my love for nature, witchcraft, and the wild spirit.
- If your spirit is at home in wild places
- If you feel the need to claim your autonomy as ritual
- If you want to more deeply trust your own intuition
- If you want resources or connections to tarot, oracle, witchcraft, and wild sovereignty, then welcome!
