King of Wands: tarot card meaning

In A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), the King of Wands upright means: Dark man, friendly, countryman, generally married, honest and conscientious. The card always signifies honesty, and may mean news concerning an unexpected heritage to fall in before very long. Reversed: Good, but severe; austere, yet tolerant.

The picture

“The physical and emotional nature to which this card is attributed is dark, ardent, lithe, animated, impassioned, noble. The King uplifts a flowering wand, and wears, like his three correspondences in the remaining suits, what is called a cap of maintenance beneath his crown. He connects with the symbol of the lion, which is emblazoned on the back of his throne.” A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1910

Upright

Dark man, friendly, countryman, generally married, honest and conscientious. The card always signifies honesty, and may mean news concerning an unexpected heritage to fall in before very long.

Waite's additional meanings: Generally favourable; may signify a good marriage.

Reversed

Good, but severe; austere, yet tolerant.

Waite's additional meanings, reversed: Advice that should be followed.

In one line

An honest, conscientious friend, and news of an inheritance. (Esbat's own summary of Waite's meaning and picture.)

Where it sits in the deck

The King of Wands is the fourteenth card of the suit of Wands, one of the 56 Minor Arcana. The other Kings: King of Cups, King of Swords, King 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 King 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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