Six of Wands
The six of wands in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a horseman crowned with laurel riding among footmen with staves. A. E. Waite read it as victory, great news, and expectation crowned.
Meaning
Waite describes the card: "A laurelled horseman bears one staff adorned with a laurel crown; footmen with staves are at his side."
What does the Six of Wands mean?
Waite's meanings are "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"; reversed, "apprehension, fear, as of a victorious enemy at the gate; treachery, disloyalty, as of gates being opened to the enemy; also indefinite delay". His list of additional meanings adds "servants may lose the confidence of their masters; a young lady may be betrayed by a friend", and reversed, "fulfilment of deferred hope".
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 Six of Sceptres, reads it as "realization of the opposition: failure of the enterprise in the midst of its execution".
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