Card of the Week: Nine of Rods

It is said that experience is the best teacher.  But that experience may be hard-earned.  An ancient Hindu proverb suggests that no physician is really good until he has killed one or two patients.

The Nine of Rods underscores the importance of experience.  Training, discipline, and strict adherence to norms have their place in established settings, but the wisdom to know when to follow the rules and when to break them can guide creativity to find new solutions when facing unfamiliar or unexpected challenges.  Don’t let barriers erected for protection also constrain and limit you. 

Inverted, this card suggests some kind of adversity that your experience may be required to overcome.  It may be tiring, but this is not a time to rest on your laurels.

In “The Deadly Years” the Enterprise visits Gamma Hydra IV, where a landing party finds all the members of the planet’s scientific expedition suffering from extreme old age.  Everyone transports up to the ship to be examined.  Then the landing party begins to show signs of rapid aging, all but one member, who becomes a focus of the medical research.  Commodore Stocker takes command from the aging Captain Kirk and orders the ship to the nearest starbase, including a shortcut through the Romulan neutral zone.  Despite their own rapid aging, Doctor McCoy manages to isolate the cause of the affliction and Spock synthesizes a serum to halt and reverse the process.  When Romulan ships arrive to capture the Enterprise and the inexperienced Stocker is unable to negotiate with them, Kirk resumes command and gets the Enterprise free.