"Strokes Of Genius, Both Grand And Small..."

The scale on this image is a little hard to determine, so this may help: that silver segment on the rocket's body is a keg of beer. And balanced at the very tip of the rocket, just a couple of pixels wide, is a single donut. Does that help?

This is the kind of thing you'll see a lot of in Steve Jurvetson's contributions to the blog Photo Synthesis. He's obsessed with model rocketry writ large -- so large that participants have to schlep their nosecones all the way to the Black Rock desert, where airspace is uncontrolled and civilian rockets can fly as high as they please. The beer-keg pictured above reached a height of over 6,000 feet before parachuting (sort of) to the ground and bouncing to a full stop:

The Ace of Wands is the root of all singularly outrageous strokes of genius, both grand and small; it's the vine that inspiration and experimentation blossom from. Whether they produce any sort of practical or durable results is irrelevant -- the personal momentum that they grant you is all that really matters. Whether you're writing your first novel, discovering a new career opportunity, or burning 60 lbs of Alumaflame solid rocket propellant ("looks like gray styrofoam, but burns in a violet flame") to launch your beer a mile high before you drink it, for one brief and improbable moment you will find yourself no longer bound to the same restrictions that limit everyone else around you. It's fine to strategize as you fly, but don't overthink it or get bogged down asking questions: if you hesitate, this window of opportunity may close in your face.

Previously On Arcanalogue: The Ace of Wands