Ten of Wands

By the time you get all the way to ten, the idealism and ambition of the suit of Wands have started to lose their charm. Success can ruin you, after all; if you blaze through challenges with optimism and vitality, you wind up taking on bigger and bigger challenges and bearing greater responsibilities. Thus, this card is often entitled "Oppression," and people have mixed feelings about drawing it. On one hand, you got everything you wanted -- on the the other hand, you now bear the weight of the world on your shoulders. This card is a handy warning to re-assess your priorities. Get a grip on your ambition before it runs away with you; distribute authority evenly so that others can help with the burden; try to rekindle the enterprising spirit that you had when you started. You don't want to become consumed by the the very fire that used to nourish you.

Your incentive is the video linked above; in "Corporate Cannibal" Grace Jones expertly personifies this ravenous and obsessive force that feeds on humanity from the inside out. When I interviewed the video's director, Nick Hooker, I was intrigued by his description of Jones as someone who has been famous for so long that she has really learned how to master her own charisma. "I've been out with her at times when she's dialed it down, and she becomes practically invisible... anonymous," Hooker told me. "And then I've seen her turn it on and turn it up, and when she does that, within 5 minutes people are suddenly starting to pay attention, and within 10 there's a crowd. After about 15 it's like, 'How are we going to get out of here?'" It's Jones' control over herself, not others, that makes her seem powerful and alluring. Remember that the next time you find yourself struggling to move mountains.