Four of Wands: tarot card meaning

In A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), the Four of Wands upright means: They are for once almost on the surface: country life, haven of refuge, a species of domestic harvest-home, repose, concord, harmony, prosperity, peace, and the perfected work of these. Reversed: The meaning remains unaltered; it is prosperity, increase, felicity, beauty, embellishment.

The picture

“From the four great staves planted in the foreground there is a great garland suspended; two female figures uplift nosegays; at their side is a bridge over a moat, leading to an old manorial house.” A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1910

Upright

They are for once almost on the surface: country life, haven of refuge, a species of domestic harvest-home, repose, concord, harmony, prosperity, peace, and the perfected work of these.

Waite's additional meanings: Unexpected good fortune.

Reversed

The meaning remains unaltered; it is prosperity, increase, felicity, beauty, embellishment.

Waite's additional meanings, reversed: A married woman will have beautiful children.

In one line

Harvest-home: refuge, repose and peace. (Esbat's own summary of Waite's meaning and picture.)

Where it sits in the deck

The Four of Wands is the fourth card of the suit of Wands, one of the 56 Minor Arcana. The other Fours: Four of Cups, Four of Swords, Four 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 Four 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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