10 is the number of perfection, completion and wholeness. It can mean something is over but not finished and about to begin again.  Wands are associated with inspiration, energy, passion, feeling, enterprise, ambition, matters pertaining to the "spark of life", and the element of fire.  Traditionally this card symbolizes a time of burdens being released and accepting our limitations. 

Fairfield:  You realize that you need to make some choices about the ways you view yourself.  You can decide to re-invest in the self-image that you’ve been affirming or you can take some risks with how you see yourself now and reach for a deeper sense of self-worth.

Renee:  A need to backtrack.  A project may need to be reorganized or reworked, or you may come to the recognition that your entire life's work needs to take a new direction or start new.  The 10 of Wands reversed may also suggest a need to draw some person boundaries to limit the amount of responsibility you are willing to take on.  Evaluate which of your burdens serve personal goals, and which have been imposed by family and society.  Successful perseverance and the motivational nature of the Wands cards favor inner-directed objectives.

Most of the time when I see this card the first thing that pops into my head is the line from  "you've got to carry that weight, carry that weight a long time" from The Beatles song Golden Slumbers.  It just brings home to me the burdens of family obligations, personal obligations, etc. that we all carry.  Of course right now the family obligations are weighing on my pretty heavily.

Instead of looking at these things as a burden, maybe they are the tasks to which I must tend in order to have the life I want.  They are responsibilities which we must accept so that we will enjoy the benefits.  It is like tending a garden or building a house - we have to be willing to do the hard work in order to achieve our goals.  The 10 of Wands reminds me of the expression "paying your dues".  In almost any job you have to be willing to put in time doing grunt work before you can enjoy the benefits of promotion.  That's what I need to focus on with this card. 

Maybe that's why I've been so drawn to vampire/zombie stories lately.  Not those sexy vampires that seduce the unwary but those pestilential, verminous creatures that infest and disgust - Nosferatu, Barlow from "Salem's Lot and Sardu from The Strain.  These are creatures of darkness and decay.  They are not seductive nighttime lovers who seduce us and offer pleasures greater than any orgasm.  They corrupt the soul and devour the body.  They are an disease that must be eliminate before they overwhelm us. I have the same feeling about zombies.  I think what horrifies me the most about both these genres is not the gore and violence.  It's the sense of utter isolation and hopelessness as we slowly realize that all of our loved ones, our neighbors and the rest of humanity are being transformed into foul creatures and even if we can defend ourselves for any length of time, with each day that passes our hope for long term survival diminishes at a dramatic pace. 

This too ties in with the 10 of Wands.  The protagonists in these tales carry the burden of preventing the destruction of humanity as we know it.  They are trying to beat back the darkness and preserve the light that sparks the human spirit.  They continue slogging along, despite the obstacles that lie in wait and the other responsibilities that burden them.  No matter how desperate the odds become, they refuse to give up hope and keep moving forward to their ultimate goal.

Maybe that's the key that I need to take away from this card today.  That I can keep going on now matter how overwhelming the odds may seem.