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Tarot Wands According to A. E. Waite

The Wands Tarot Suit.

The 14 Cards of the Tarot Wands Suit in Divination


Here is what the occultist Arthur Edward Waite, co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck, had to say about the Wands Minor Arcana suit in divination.


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Tarot Minor Arcana card: Ace of Wands

Ace of Wands

Description:

A hand issuing from a cloud grasps a stout wand or club.


Divinatory Meanings:
Creation, invention, enterprise, the powers which result in these; principle, beginning, source; birth, family, origin, and in a sense the virility which is behind them; the starting point of enterprises; according to another account, money, fortune, inheritance.


Reversed: Fall, decadence, ruin, perdition, to perish also a certain clouded joy.


Additional meanings:
Calamities of all kinds.


Reversed: A sign of birth.



Tarot Minor Arcana card: Two of Wands

Two of Wands

Description:

A tall man looks from a battlemented roof over sea and shore; he holds a globe in his right hand, while a staff in his left rests on the battlement; another is fixed in a ring. The Rose and Cross and Lily should be noticed on the left side.


Divinatory Meanings:
Between the alternative readings there is no marriage possible; on the one hand, riches, fortune, magnificence; on the other, physical suffering, disease, chagrin, sadness, mortification. The design gives one suggestion; here is a lord overlooking his dominion and alternately contemplating a globe; it looks like the malady, the mortification, the sadness of Alexander amidst the grandeur of this world's wealth.


Reversed: Surprise, wonder, enchantment, emotion, trouble, fear.


Additional meanings:
A young lady may expect trivial disappointments.



Tarot Minor Arcana card: Three of Wands

Three of Wands

Description:

A calm, stately personage, with his back turned, looking from a cliff's edge at ships passing over the sea. Three staves are planted in the ground, and he leans slightly on one of them.


Divinatory Meanings:
He symbolizes established strength, enterprise, effort, trade, commerce, discovery; those are his ships, bearing his merchandise, which are sailing over the sea. The card also signifies able co-operation in business, as if the successful merchant prince were looking from his side towards yours with a view to help you.


Reversed: The end of troubles, suspension or cessation of adversity, toil and disappointment.


Additional meanings:
A very good card; collaboration will favour enterprise.



Tarot Minor Arcana card: Four of Wands

Four of Wands

Description:

From the four great staves planted in the foreground there is a great garland suspended; two female figures uplift nosegays; at their side is a bridge over a moat, leading to an old manorial house.


Divinatory Meanings:
They are for once almost on the surface — country life, haven of refuge, a species of domestic harvest-home, repose, concord, harmony, prosperity, peace, and the perfected work of these.


Reversed: The meaning remains unaltered; it is prosperity, increase, felicity, beauty, embellishment.


Additional meanings:
Unexpected good fortune.


Reversed: A married woman will have beautiful children.



Tarot Minor Arcana card: Five of Wands

Five of Wands

Description:

A posse of youths, who are brandishing staves, as if in sport or strife. It is mimic warfare, and hereto correspond the


Divinatory Meanings:
Imitation, as, for example, sham fight, but also the strenuous competition and struggle of the search after riches and fortune. In this sense it connects with the battle of life. Hence some attributions say that it is a card of gold, gain, opulence.


Reversed: Litigation, disputes, trickery, contradiction.


Additional meanings:
Success in financial speculation.


Reversed: Quarrels may be turned to advantage.



Tarot Minor Arcana card: Six of Wands

Six of Wands

Description:

A laurelled horseman bears one staff adorned with a laurel crown; footmen with staves are at his side.


Divinatory Meanings:
The card has been so designed that it can cover several significations; on the surface, it is a victor triumphing, but it is also great news, such as might be carried in state by the King's courier; it is expectation crowned with its own desire, the crown of hope, and so forth.


Reversed: Apprehension, fear, as of a victorious enemy at the gate; treachery, disloyalty, as of gates being opened to the enemy; also indefinite delay.


Additional meanings:
Servants may lose the confidence of their masters; a young lady may be betrayed by a friend.


Reversed: Fulfilment of deferred hope.



Tarot Minor Arcana card: Seven of Wands

Seven of Wands

Description:

A young man on a craggy eminence brandishing a staff; six other staves are raised towards him from below.


Divinatory Meanings:
It is a card of valour, for, on the surface, six are attacking one, who has, however, the vantage position. On the intellectual plane, it signifies discussion, wordy strife; in business — negotiations, war of trade, barter, competition. It is further a card of success, for the combatant is on the top and his enemies may be unable to reach him.


Reversed: Perplexity, embarrassments, anxiety. It is also a caution against indecision.


Additional meanings:
A dark child.



Tarot Minor Arcana card: Eight of Wands

Eight of Wands

Description:

The card represents motion through the immovable-a flight of wands through an open country; but they draw to the term of their course. That which they signify is at hand; it may be even on the threshold.


Divinatory Meanings:
Activity in undertakings, the path of such activity, swiftness, as that of an express messenger; great haste, great hope, speed towards an end which promises assured felicity; generally, that which is on the move; also the arrows of love.


Reversed: Arrows of jealousy, internal dispute, stingings of conscience, quarrels; and domestic disputes for persons who are married.


Additional meanings:
Domestic disputes for a married person.



Tarot Minor Arcana card: Nine of Wands

Nine of Wands

Description:

The figure leans upon his staff and has an expectant look, as if awaiting an enemy. Behind are eight other staves — erect, in orderly disposition, like a palisade.


Divinatory Meanings:
The card signifies strength in opposition. If attacked, the person will meet an onslaught boldly; and his build shews, that he may prove a formidable antagonist. With this main significance there are all its possible adjuncts — delay, suspension, adjournment.


Reversed: Obstacles, adversity, calamity.


Additional meanings:
Generally speaking, a bad card.



Tarot Minor Arcana card: Ten of Wands

Ten of Wands

Description:

A man oppressed by the weight of the ten staves which he is carrying.


Divinatory Meanings:
A card of many significances, and some of the readings cannot be harmonized. I set aside that which connects it with honour and good faith. The chief meaning is oppression simply, but it is also fortune, gain, any kind of success, and then it is the oppression of these things. It is also a card of false-seeming, disguise, perfidy. The place which the figure is approaching may suffer from the rods that he carries. Success is stultified if the Nine of Swords follows, and if it is a question of a lawsuit, there will be certain loss.


Reversed: Contrarieties, difficulties, intrigues, and their analogies.


Additional meanings:
Difficulties and contradictions, if near a good card.



Tarot Minor Arcana card: Page of Wands

Page of Wands

Description:

In a scene similar to the former, a young man stands in the act of proclamation. He is unknown but faithful, and his tidings are strange.


Divinatory Meanings:
Dark young man, faithful, a lover, an envoy, a postman. Beside a man, he will bear favourable testimony concerning him. A dangerous rival, if followed by the Page of Cups. Has the chief qualities of his suit. He may signify family intelligence.


Reversed: Anecdotes, announcements, evil news. Also indecision and the instability which accompanies it.


Additional meanings:
Young man of family in search of young lady.


Reversed: Bad news.



Tarot Minor Arcana card: Knight of Wands

Knight of Wands

Description:

He is shewn as if upon a journey, armed with a short wand, and although mailed is not on a warlike errand. He is passing mounds or pyramids. The motion of the horse is a key to the character of its rider, and suggests the precipitate mood, or things connected therewith.


Divinatory Meanings:
Departure, absence, flight, emigration. A dark young man, friendly. Change of residence.


Reversed: Rupture, division, interruption, discord.


Additional meanings:
A bad card; according to some readings, alienation.


Reversed: For a woman, marriage, but probably frustrated.



Tarot Minor Arcana card: Queen of Wands

Queen of Wands

Description:

The Wands throughout this suit are always in leaf, as it is a suit of life and animation. Emotionally and otherwise, the Queen's personality corresponds to that of the King, but is more magnetic.


Divinatory Meanings:
A dark woman, countrywoman, friendly, chaste, loving, honourable. If the card beside her signifies a man, she is well disposed towards him; if a woman, she is interested in the Querent. Also, love of money, or a certain success in business.


Reversed: Good, economical, obliging, serviceable. Signifies also — but in certain positions and in the neighbourhood of other cards tending in such directions — opposition, jealousy, even deceit and infidelity.


Additional meanings:
A good harvest, which may be taken in several senses.


Reversed: Goodwill towards the Querent, but without the opportunity to exercise it.



Tarot Minor Arcana card: King of Wands

King of Wands

Description:

The physical and emotional nature to which this card is attributed is dark, ardent, lithe, animated, impassioned, noble. The King uplifts a flowering wand, and wears, like his three correspondences in the remaining suits, what is called a cap of maintenance beneath his crown. He connects with the symbol of the lion, which is emblazoned on the back of his throne.


Divinatory Meanings:
Dark man, friendly, countryman, generally married, honest and conscientious. The card always signifies honesty, and may mean news concerning an unexpected heritage to fall in before very long.


Reversed: Good, but severe; austere, yet tolerant.


Additional meanings:
Generally favourable may signify a good marriage.


Reversed: Advice that should be followed.


More about the Wands Tarot suit



The Tarot Minor Arcana According to A. E. Waite



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