The Two of Wands was one of the cards that I had the most trouble with 
interpretation when I first started studying Tarot. The initial meanings I learned for this card dealt with enterprise, boldness, and pride, but I just didn’t feel these things when viewing this card. He seemed, to me, a man who longed to be somewhere else. There’s a whole world out there to explore and even though he holds it in the palm of his hand, for some reason, he feels stuck behind that low wall – trapped – and this makes him very unhappy. But this wasn’t an interpretation I had ever read in any book, so it must be wrong, right? Wrong!
For the longest time, I ignored those first impressions whenever this card came up in a reading and tried to force the “correct” meanings to fit. It never quite made sense.
Then came the reading where this card was practically screaming “Trapped! Trapped! She’s feels trapped!”
This impression was so strong that it couldn’t be ignored and I decided to run with it. It made perfect sense to the lady receiving the reading and she was stunned that such personal thoughts she kept hidden from others could be revealed through Tarot.
That particular reading was a turning point for me – a “breakthrough,” so to speak – and I fully understood why my first Tarot teacher always emphasized going with that first impression even if it does not coincide with the traditional meaning of the card. It’s all about what the card is saying to you and not what another reader says it means.
Do you have a card (or cards) that the books say means that, but you feel it means this? How do you interpret it (or them) when they appear in a reading?
2 of Wands from the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck used with permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc., Stamford, CT USA. Copyright 1971. Further reproduction prohibited.