Seven of Wands
The seven of wands in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a young man on a height brandishing a staff against six raised from below. A. E. Waite read it as valour, discussion, competition and success.
Meaning
Waite describes the card: "A young man on a craggy eminence brandishing a staff; six other staves are raised towards him from below."
What does the Seven of Wands mean?
Waite's meanings are "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"; reversed, "perplexity, embarrassments, anxiety. It is also a caution against indecision". His list of additional meanings adds "A dark child".
In older decks
In Italian packs the suit is bastoni, clubs: the earliest suit marks, the British Museum's catalogue of 1876 records, were coppe, danari, bastoni and spade, "cups, money, clubs, and swords". Papus, who calls it the Seven of Sceptres, reads it as "certain success to the enterprise".
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
Last reviewed September 28, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research