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

Minor Arcana · Wands

Three of Wands

• established strength
• enterprise
• effort
• co-operation

Upright meaning

Established strength, enterprise and effort. Waite sees ships setting out, and able co-operation: plans in motion and help within reach.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, Waite reads the end of troubles, toil and disappointment: a strain that may be easing.

• the end of troubles

Symbolism

A calm figure on a cliff edge watches ships pass over the sea, leaning on one of three staves.

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.