Queen of Wands
Upright confidence · warmth · magnetism · independence · determination
Reversed jealousy · self-doubt · a demanding streak · burnout
- Arcana
- Minor · court card
- Number
- Queen
- Element
- 🜂 Fire
- Sub-element
- Water of Fire
- Yes or no
- Yes
Queen of Wands upright
The Queen sits facing us on a stone throne whose arms end in lions' heads. Behind her rises a tall panel showing two red lions standing on their hind legs, with sunflowers below. She wears a gold crown set with green leaves, a deep yellow gown and a pale grey cloak. In one hand she holds a tall leafy wand, in the other a sunflower. At her feet a black cat sits looking straight out of the card.
Waite describes her as matching the King in temperament but more magnetic. She is the suit's fire held steady: confident, generous, lively and very much herself. As a person she might be someone who runs things without seeming to try, a host whose kitchen is always full, a friend whose belief in you is contagious. As an approach to a situation, she asks you to step in with warmth and self-assurance rather than wait to be invited.
She is not soft. The lions and the cat's level stare say there is power in her, and an edge. Her confidence includes knowing what she wants and saying so. The sunflower is a good emblem for her: a flower that turns toward the light, open, growing, unembarrassed by its own brightness.
Queen of Wands reversed
Reversed, the Queen's fire can turn inward or sour. Confidence becomes self-doubt, or warmth becomes demand: the person who needs to be the centre, who resents others' success, who takes over rather than encourages. Waite's reversed meanings include opposition and jealousy, though he says this applies only in certain positions and alongside certain cards.
Other readers see depletion: a capable person running on empty after giving too much to too many. Waite also offers a kinder reversed reading, good, economical and obliging. Taken together, the reversal asks whether your energy is going into what you love or being drained by what others expect of you.
In love and relationships
In love the Queen of Wands is attractive in the fullest sense: confident, affectionate, playful and clear about what she wants. She may describe a partner like that, or your own capacity to be bold and open in love. She suits relationships with warmth and independence on both sides. Reversed, she can point to jealousy, possessiveness, or a confident front covering real insecurity. It may also show someone who gives so much warmth to everyone else that little is left for the person closest to them.
In work and purpose
At work the Queen of Wands is a natural leader of people: a manager who lifts a team, an entrepreneur, a performer, someone who can sell an idea because she believes in it. She does her best work with autonomy. The card encourages visible confidence and backing your own judgement. Reversed, it may show a domineering boss, someone stretched across too many roles, or a capable person whose confidence has taken a knock.
As advice
Show up as yourself, fully. Speak with warmth and conviction, take up the room you need, and let your enthusiasm bring others along. Pair it with the cat's kind of attention: watchful, independent, missing nothing. Confidence that also notices what is happening around it is much harder to knock over.
Yes or no?
Yes A card of confidence and warmth, the Queen of Wands reads as a yes, especially if you act with conviction. How yes-or-no readings work here.
Questions to sit with
- Where am I holding back my warmth or confidence, and why?
- What do I want, stated plainly?
- Am I giving my energy to what I love, or to what is expected of me?
Symbolism in the card
The black cat
A small black cat sits at the foot of the throne, facing straight out at us. Waite does not mention it. Readers take it as independence, intuition and a hint of the uncanny: the Queen is warm, but she is nobody's fool.
The sunflower
In her left hand she holds a sunflower on a long stem with broad leaves, and more sunflowers decorate the throne behind her. Sunflowers turn to follow the light: joy, vitality and an open, sunny nature.
The lion throne
The arms of her throne are carved as lions' heads, and two red lions rear up on the panel behind her. Lions belong to fire and to Leo, and stand for courage and strength held calmly.
The leafy wand
She holds a tall wand in her right hand, sprouting leaves near the top. Waite chose this card to remark that the wands of this suit are always in leaf, a suit of life and animation.
The crown
Her gold crown is set with green leaves or blossoms, more garland than metalwork. It suits a queen whose authority feels lively and natural rather than ceremonial.
The yellow gown and grey cloak
She wears a deep yellow gown with a pale grey cloak over her shoulders, fastened at the throat. Yellow, the colour of sunlight, runs through the whole Wands court.
“The Wands throughout this suit are always in leaf, as it is a suit of life and animation. Emotionally and otherwise, the Queen's personality corresponds to that of the King, but is more magnetic.”
Numbers, elements and astrology
Queen
Queens hold the suit inwardly: mastery that is receptive, nurturing and self-possessed.
Fire: the suit of Wands
Fire is will, energy, desire and creativity: the drive that starts things.
In the Golden Dawn system each court card is an element within its suit's element. Pages and Queens are agreed; Knights and Kings are Fire or Air depending on whether you follow the Golden Dawn's names or later practice. They are a symbolic system, not astronomy. How we checked them.
A little history
Queens sit among the court cards of the earliest Italian tarots, as the regina, and of the Tarot de Marseille, as the reine, where the Queen of Batons is usually shown simply holding her staff. Smith's black cat, sunflowers and lions have no counterpart on the Marseille card. The Golden Dawn called this card the Queen of the Thrones of Flame. Waite's additional meanings link her with a good harvest, which he says may be taken in several senses.
