Page of Wands
The page of wands in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a young man standing with a wand, in the act of proclamation. A. E. Waite read it as a faithful young man, a lover, an envoy.
Meaning
Waite's description of the picture: "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."
What does the Page of Wands mean?
Waite's meanings are "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"; reversed, "anecdotes, announcements, evil news. Also indecision and the instability which accompanies it". His list of additional meanings adds "young man of family in search of young lady", and reversed, "bad news".
In older decks
The Italian suit is bastoni, clubs, among the marks of the earliest cards in the British Museum's catalogue of 1876. Papus, who calls it the Knave of Sceptres, reads it as a dark child or messenger, good.
Read next
- Next in Tarot cardsKnight of WandsThe knight of wands in the tarot's Minor Arcana: an armed rider on a journey, a short wand in his hand. A. E. Waite read it as departure, absence, flight and change of residence.
- The same shape in Chinese radicalsMù 目The character for ‘eye’, and radical 109 of the 214 Kangxi radicals, under which characters for looking and seeing are filed.
See also
The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant.
Sources
- The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, by A. E. Waite, William Rider & Son, London, 1910 (the sacred-texts.com transcription, on the Internet Archive), The Lesser Arcana; Some Additional Meanings of the Lesser Arcana
- The Tarot of the Bohemians, by Papus, Chapman & Hall, London, 1896, translated by A. P. Morton (scan on the Internet Archive), The Divining Tarot, second lesson: the minor arcana
- A Descriptive Catalogue of Playing and Other Cards in the British Museum, by W. H. Willshire, Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1876 (scan on the Internet Archive), General history: the marks of the suits
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from letters and numbers, lines or squares and rectangles.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 30, 2026. How we research
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