Card Meaning: Four Of Wands




Four of Wands



General

   This card exudes a celebration and an atmosphere that is a bit jovial. The wands in the front are standing in the perfect balance holding a wreath of fruits and flowers, symbol of a stable achievement and success. People in the front are waving bouquets of flowers up in the air and all imagery clearly suggests we are literally on a party. Further confirmation we see in the background where there is the same castle we can see on the Ace of Wands card. This motif suggests that visions and insipration starting in the first card of the suit, after partial maturation in the Two of Wands and the Three of Wands now come to the stage where we can rest and celebrate for a while. The Wands suit is very dynamic and fiery in its disposition, so a rest is not in its nature, nevertheless, the rest is the integral part of an advancement. While the attainment is symbolically displayed in the background, the celebration in the left part of the card; on the right part of the card is something that we could interpret as a bridge. This is proably a hint that this celebration is temporary and that soon will be the time to move on. These wands in the front also have an interesting similarity with the doors, maybe some kind of passage, alluding that after we attain some goal we have settled for ourselves, it is time for a temporary rest and regeneration of energy.




Reading

Positive: satisfaction, celebration, rest, new home or new beginning, joy.

Negative: decadence, delay, impatience, success after waiting.

   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. Divinatory Meanings: 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 Pictorial Key to the Tarot, by A.E. Waite


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Minor Arcana