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's description of the picture: "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, war of trade, barter, competition"; 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, one of the four suit marks the British Museum's catalogue of 1876 gives for the earliest cards. Papus, who calls it the Seven of Sceptres, reads it as "Certain success to the Enterprise."
Read next
- Next in Tarot cardsEight of WandsThe eight of wands in the tarot's Minor Arcana: eight wands flying through open country. A. E. Waite read it as activity, swiftness and haste.
- 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
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Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 30, 2026. How we research
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