Card of the Week: Four of Rods

If a previous venture began with a departure, it must conclude with an arrival.  The completion of any important phase of a larger project can be a cause for celebration.

The Four of Rods represents the order, structure and stability inherent in rites and ceremony.  It may suggest a start-up group laying the groundwork for a larger endeavor, a grand gift to future generations.  It could symbolize the celebration of teamwork and achievement at reaching an important goal.  Or it might refer to a seasonal rite or simply a vacation.

Inverted, this card’s meanings are similar, if somewhat muted.  Overall, things are still going well.  Consider it a reminder to think of your alliances, both friendly and tenuous.

In “The Omega Glory”, the starship Exeter is found in orbit around Omega IV, its crew dead of a mysterious disease.  Rather than risk contaminating the Enterprise, Kirk and his landing party beam down.  They find a native Cohm village hosting the Exeter’s Captain Tracey, who has violated Starfleet law by using his phaser to protect the village from attacks by rival Yang savages.  After Kirk and his landing party are captured by the Yangs, their leader Cloud William performs a ceremony which includes reciting an ancient but now-garbled scripture.  Kirk eventually recognizes it as resembling an important text from ancient Earth, and recites part of the original text to earn Cloud William’s trust.  The now-fully-immune landing party returns to the Enterprise with Tracey in custody, leaving the Yangs to relearn the true meaning of their holy words.