1. Tarot
2. Card meanings
3. King of Wands

Minor Arcana · Wands

King of Wands

• friendly
• honest and conscientious
• honesty

Upright meaning

Honesty and leadership with warmth. Waite says the card always signifies honesty: an ardent, noble nature.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, Waite reads good but severe; austere, yet tolerant. A prompt to keep high standards kind.

• austere, yet tolerant

Symbolism

A king on a throne marked with a lion raises a flowering staff.

Group

Minor Arcana · Wands

Element, astrology

Not given by Waite, so we give none

Source

Our own plain-English summary of A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1911), Part III §2 (The Lesser Arcana). The keywords are Waite’s own words. Waite’s fortune-telling lists also contain harsher terms; we keep to the reflective readings he gives and never state an event as certain.

Tarot is a tool for reflection, not a prediction of fixed outcomes. This is not medical, legal or financial advice.