Eight of Wands: tarot card meaning

In A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), the Eight of Wands upright means: 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.

The picture

“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.” A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1910

Upright

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.

Waite's additional meanings: Domestic disputes for a married person.

Reversed

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

In one line

Swiftness and great hope: things in motion. (Esbat's own summary of Waite's meaning and picture.)

Where it sits in the deck

The Eight of Wands is the eighth card of the suit of Wands, one of the 56 Minor Arcana. The other Eights: Eight of Cups, Eight of Swords, Eight of Pentacles.

In Esbat

Esbat deals a card of the day, face down until you turn it, and holds all 78 cards in the 1910 pictures with Waite's meanings, upright and reversed. The Eight of Wands can be shared as a picture. All 78 tarot card meanings.

Sources

Meanings and picture descriptions: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1910), public domain, checked against the Wikisource transcription. Picture: Pamela Colman Smith, 1910, public domain. Like the app, this page records what the book says; it does not promise outcomes.

Last updated October 25, 2026.

Esbat: Tarot & Book of Shadows, on Google Play

A card of the day, face down until you turn it, and all 78 cards in the 1910 pictures with Waite's meanings, upright and reversed. For Android.

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