How You Do You Best? Self-Expression with the Knight of Wands
- Meredyth
- Apr 24
- 9 min read
Updated: Apr 24
On Friday, May 1st at 10:23 AM PDT, we'll have a Full Moon in Scorpio.
May 1st is also Beltane, the Celtic fire festival that marks the beginning of summer.
This is a potent pairing. Scorpio asks us to look honestly at what is true beneath the surface, and Beltane invites us to light that truth on fire and dance with it.
When the Wheel of the Year turns to Beltane, we step into a season of sensuality, creativity, and play. The crops are in the ground, the flowers are open, and our energy gets to move outward into the world.
What creative expression wants to come forward in you this season?
Tarot, Creativity, and the Knight of Wands Meaning
I want to use this Full Moon as an invitation to explore how far the phrase "you do you" might take us on a journey of self-expression...
Exploring the practice of self-expression naturally begs the question, what is the self?
No biggie 😬
I’ll share my thoughts on this question, and how the Knight of Wands is a fantastic teacher, but Charles Wright really says it perfectly in the lyrics:
“It’s not what you look like when you’re doin’ what you’re doin’ It’s what you’re doin’ when you’re doin’ what it looks like you’re doin’ Express Yourself!”
If you aren’t familiar with this song, do yourself a favor and check it out on my Knight of Wands playlist here. Let the horns explain…
To state it without the benefit of funk: we intuitively recognize true self-expression when we see it in others, but being seen isn’t a condition of authentic self-expression.
For example, my grandmother loved to admonish/brag to my mom about the time when I was a little girl, sitting in the grocery cart, singing a made-up song.
A kind stranger said to my grandmother, "What an adorable little grandchild you have!" Always courteous and wanting to teach me my manners, grandma instructed, "Meredyth, say thank you to the nice lady." I turned to the stranger and flatly replied, "You ruined my song."
Children are always expressing their authentic and creative voices with no desire for recognition or fear of impropriety. Even if they behave like little jerks, they're their own jerks.
As we grow up, we begin to confuse our experience of self with how likeable we are to others. No wonder so many people casually state, “I’m not creative.” They’re afraid of judgment.
Most definitions of self-expression stop at personality, but personality is closer to what Carl Jung called the persona- the social mask we wear between ego and society. True self-expression goes deeper than the mask.
In other words, if the persona is the social mask we wear, true self-expression, of the highest ‘self’, isn’t limited to personality.
In spiritual terms, the self isn’t just a physical being. It’s a spiritual being having a physical experience that’s connected to a larger universal consciousness.
In that case, self-expression goes far beyond personality. It becomes an expression of both individual creativity and universal creation.
Tarot is such a fantastic example of this.
Each deck’s creator brings a unique perspective and talent to the artistry of the cards’ historic and symbolic language. Each practitioner adds their own connectivity to Spirit in their interpretations. Each recipient receives this collective wisdom through that artistry and interpretation, and then creates a unique understanding from their ‘self’.
Any one of the cards in the Tarot can become a teacher of self-expression, but on a Beltane Full Moon, the Knight of Wands is especially well positioned to lead the charge.
The Knight of Wands Meaning: Fire and Air
In the Smith Rider Waite, we see a red-headed figure astride a buckskin horse. Is the horse rearing, or are they practicing dressage perhaps?
There are beautiful feather plumes on the armor, and the tunic is emblazoned with salamanders. Alchemists used the salamander to represent the element Fire. Because the salamanders’ tails aren’t touching their mouths, as they do in the King of Wands, we know that this mission is not yet complete.
Knights are on a quest, and so it makes sense that the Knights of the Tarot speak to us about movement and change.
How are we proceeding through any given situation?
What is the quality of that movement?
What is the message of our quest?
At Sea Tarot, all Knights are ruled by Air, which represents the intellect and communication. Wands represent Fire, which is our passion and creativity. That means the Knight of Wands is Fire and Air-elemented.
This card explores how we bring our passion to life with support from the mind.
Beltane is a fire festival. Traditionally, communities lit great bonfires and leapt over them for blessings of luck, fertility, and protection. The Knight of Wands feels right at home around that fire. He is the part of us that's willing to ride toward our passion, with our intellect cheering us on rather than holding us back.
The Scorpio Full Moon is the perfect light to see those fires by. Scorpio doesn't let us stay on the surface. It will show you which of your flames is authentically yours and which one you've been performing for someone else's eyes.
The Knight of Wands IRL
I like to describe the Knight of Wands as the Elton John of the deck.
Just in case you're not familiar with Elton (there have been a few instances where my clients have given me blank stares upon hearing this), you're in for a treat, and the 2019 biopic Rocketman is worth a watch.
Sir Elton John is a virtuoso pianist and composer known for heartfelt ballads and outrageous costumes. He’s one of the best-selling artists of all time. He raises money for many charities, including his own HIV/AIDS foundation.
Though he went so far as to date and marry women, he came out as bisexual in 1979 and later as gay in 1992. He’s stated in his autobiography that while married to a woman, he was “living a lie”.
So how does this relate to the Knight of Wands? When Elton John is behind an enormous grand piano in a feathered sequin costume playing Crocodile Rock, it’s the fullest extension of his authentic self.
Yes, he’s a showman in a costume, but it’s more than a performance. It’s authentically Elton John.
That said, during the time of his life that he was inauthentic about who and how he loves, his life was filled with addiction and over-consumption.
In nature, if we blow air into a fire, we can help it to burn brighter; however, if we blow too strongly, we can extinguish the flame or start a wildfire. The same goes for the Knight of Wands.
When our intellect serves our passions, they become brighter; but when the mind whips us with judgment and criticism, our passions can dim or lead to toxic behaviors.
As you consider how to access the Knight of Wands to guide your passions, you can rest easy knowing that you don’t need to be anything like Elton John. That’s his flow and expression, not yours. You get to be you.
A different but no less exemplary Knight of Wands IRL is Miranda July.
Miranda July is a performance artist, director, screenwriter, actress, and author. Her work is spectacular, sardonic, and odd. She expresses anxiety and shyness with a creative voice that is inimitable, bizarre, slightly uncomfortable, and perfect.
To get a taste of her genius, check out this video, “A Handy Tip for the Easily Distracted”.
One of her books, It Chooses You, was written from interviews she collected by meeting people who posted in a penny-saver. In it, she writes:
“I’ve been trying for so long now, for decades, to lift the lid a little bit, to see under the edge of life and somehow catch it in the act — “it” being not God (because the word God asks a question and then answers it before there is any chance to wonder) but something along those lines.”
This is the fluency of authentic self-expression, I think we all long for.
Again, self-expression is a manifestation of your unique creativity and creation writ large. No two individuals will have the same expression of self, and everyone’s unique expression is a manifestation of our universal oneness.
That expression of the universal, communicated uniquely through the individual, is how we get an Elton John, a Miranda July, and a you.
If the expression “you do you” sounds like a judgment to you, I’d like to change that. No one ever needs to tell a child, “You do you”. As children, we get a constant stream of edits and corrections on how we should behave differently.
Some of that guidance is useful, but the takeaway often resonates in adulthood as, “You’re not enough, you are too much, you are imperfect and need to be altered.”
The Knight of Wands would like to replace that script with those Charles Write lyrics and instruct you to express your passion and play, as your authentic self, your perfect spirit.
The self-expression that the Knight of Wands invites is different than the brand of individualism that we hear so much about, often from companies selling an image via mass-produced retail items.
Of course, you are an individual, but only within the context of being connected to the universal. You don’t need to assert your independence to express yourself, you were born uniquely you.
I love the maxim, “Why try to fit in when you were born to stand out?” It suits me.
Standing out doesn't have to be loud. The Knight of Wands cares whether your fire is real, not whether anyone else can see it. Quiet self-expression is self-expression. You get to do you.
5 Ways to Channel the Knight of Wands This Beltane
The Knight of Wands, the Full Moon in Scorpio, and Beltaine are all invitations to feel passion, fuel our fire, and make certain that the mind is in support of that flame. Here are five easy ideas to help you:
1. Get Dressed
Beltane is a holiday of flower crowns and ribbon-tied maypoles for a reason. Start from the outside in.
Weave yourself a flower crown from your garden or the farmer's market. Tie ribbons around your wrists. Pull out something red for fire or green for the greening earth.
What would "you do you" look like in its biggest expression in your closet?
Do you feel at home in a black tie sequin gown? Put it on and dance around. You don’t need (but you can!) to wear it to the grocery store, just enjoy being fancy for an afternoon.
Go to a thrift shop and try on something different than what you’d normally wear to work. How does it feel?
The Knight of Wands is all about fun and feeling good, and Beltane is all about getting dressed up to greet the summer. Dress accordingly.
2. Write
A poem, a story, or a simple journal entry can be a conduit for our spirit’s expression.
Beltane is a season for love notes and wishes thrown into the fire, so let your writing carry some heat.
What would a rap battle about your upstairs neighbors be? What adventures would you have in time travel? What love note would you like to receive?
Write a wish on a small piece of paper and burn it in a candle flame (safely please). Write a love letter to summer or a thank-you note to the first flowers of May.
When we put pencil to paper, the brain can become engaged in its favorite activity, problem-solving through imagination! Don’t criticize your work; this is just for fun and just for you.
3. Create something visual.
When we play with colors, shapes, textures, and lines, we get to see what delights our spiritual self.
Beltane has a long tradition of green-fingered crafts: hawthorn wreaths on the door, ribbons wrapped around the maypole, pressed flowers for the altar.
You don’t need to have the skill of an illustrator to draw a picture. You don’t need Hollywood to make a short video. If finger-painting was fun as a kid, try it again!
Tie red and white ribbons around a stick and call it your own little maypole. Press the first flowers of May between the pages of a heavy book.
Make a sculpty-clay animal and then squish it if that sounds fun. Take a photo with your phone, then try it with film.
What medium does your biggest expression of self want to play with?
4. Move
Beltane traditionally celebrates sensuality and embodied joy, so let your body lead. Walk barefoot in the grass. Wash your face in the morning dew on May 1st (yes, that's a real Beltane tradition for beauty and blessing).
Dance around a candle. Jump over a small fire if you have one going safely.
Yoga, hiking, jumping, skipping, walking- all of these are expressions of the spiritual self in physical form. If you can do the splits or pirouette, that’s incredible. If not, who cares?
The Knight of Wands is all about sensual movement. How does your body help you do you?
5. Sing
Beltane has always been loud with song. Drums and fiddles around the fire, voices raised at sunrise to welcome summer in.
Take it from one who was grooving to her own beat at the check-out. When we vocalize, it feels good. Try this Cass Elliot song to start! Did I mention I have made an entire Knight of Wands playlist??!
Sing in the car, hum at your desk, belt out a ballad in the shower, or croon to Sinatra at karaoke. If you're feeling festive, check out this Beltaine playlist.
The notes you hit, or miss, have nothing to do with the musical expression of your authentic self. When we combine our voice (air) with our passion (fire) we’re literally exemplifying the Knight of Wands.
And those are just five ideas to get you started!
If other people's voices and opinions (real or imagined) pull you into self-criticism and judgment, get on that horse and ride away. Feeding your fire with support leaves no oxygen for haters.
Beltane and the Scorpio Full Moon is going to ask you what you are really doing when you're doin' what it looks like you are doin'. Answer honestly. Then, express yourself!
Wow Meredyth, another banger!
Truly fascinating detail about the salamanders…and the music and artists you chose were illuminating.
Made me think how San Francisco may also be representative of the knight of wands, what do you think?