Queen of Wands tarot card meaning: upright, reversed and symbols

The Queen of Wands sits on a throne carved with lions, a wand in one hand and a sunflower in the other, with a black cat at her feet. She is warm, confident and very much herself. She knows the fire element so well that she can hold it calmly. This page covers what the Queen of Wands means upright and reversed, what Pamela Colman Smith drew and how to read her as a person or as an energy.

At a glance

• Upright keywords: confidence, independence, warmth
• Reversed keywords: jealousy, insecurity, demands
• Rank: Queen, one of the four court cards of Wands
• Suit and element: Wands, Fire Later tradition
• Astrology: Moon, Aries Modern
• Yes or no: Yes Modern

The pairing of suits and elements comes from French occult writers of the 1800s, and the Golden Dawn fixed the version used here in the 1880s and 1890s. The astrology line is the pairing printed on my first tarot deck. Other books pair the Aces and court cards differently, so if yours disagrees, follow your own deck. The yes or no lean is a modern reading habit. Use these layers if they help you remember the card, and skip them if they get in the way.

The card: what Pamela Colman Smith drew

Waite wrote: “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.” Smith added the sunflower and the cat, two details that make this one of the best loved court cards.

The sunflower

Sunflowers turn toward the sun. Her flower stands for warmth, joy and a life that faces the light. It also links her to the Sun card.

The black cat

The cat at her feet is Smith’s addition, and Waite did not explain it. Modern readers often see independence, intuition and a touch of witchiness. I like to read it as the part of her that keeps its own counsel.

The lions on the throne

Lions decorate her throne. They connect her to courage and to the sign of Leo, and to the Strength card, where a woman calms a lion with her hands.

Upright meaning

Upright, the Queen of Wands holds warm authority: confidence, creative independence and a presence that makes room for others without shrinking herself. She attracts through vitality more than through performance. Her fire is social and self-possessed at once.

Stand in your competence and let people feel welcome near it. Say what you want and what you can offer. If this Queen describes someone in your life, she is likely the person who lights up a room and gets things moving, and who also has firm boundaries.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, the Queen of Wands can show jealousy, insecurity or demands that come from feeling unseen. Her fire may turn into burning: sharp words, competition or controlling behavior.

Ask what you need that you are not asking for directly. Confidence that depends on being the brightest person present is fragile. Return to the work and the joy that made you shine in the first place.

Reversals are optional. Many readers never use them and read every card upright, and that is a complete way to read. If you do use them, decide before you shuffle what a reversed card will mean for you, and keep to that choice for the whole reading.

In love, work and spirituality

Love

Upright, confident, warm attraction and a partner who knows what they want. Reversed, jealousy or needing constant attention.

Work and money

Leading with charisma, running your own creative business, being the person people come to. Reversed, burning out by doing everything yourself.

Spirituality

Owning your path with joy, including the parts of witchcraft others find odd. Reversed, hiding your practice out of fear of judgment.

As feelings

As someone’s feelings, the Queen of Wands shows confidence, warmth and attraction. They like you and are not shy about it.

The Queen of Wands as past, present, future and advice

• Past: A confident, warm person or attitude shaped your path.
• Present: Step into your confidence. You are ready.
• Future: A time of visibility and creative independence is coming.
• Advice: Lead warmly and say what you want.

A Minor Arcana card usually describes the everyday texture of a situation: a mood, a conversation, a task or a step. If the Queen of Wands appears next to a Major Arcana card, let the Major name the big theme and let this card show how it is playing out in drive and the other things Wands rule. If it keeps coming back over several days, write down what was happening each time.

Is the Queen of Wands a yes or a no?

In modern yes or no readings, the Queen of Wands leans yes. Her confidence points to yes. Tarot is better at showing the shape of a situation than at handing down verdicts, so if the question really matters, turn it into an open question such as “What do I need to know about this?” and draw again.

Affirmation and journal prompts

Affirmation: I lead with warm confidence and keep my independence intact.

Reversed affirmation: I release jealousy and demands that come from insecurity.

Journal prompts:

• Where do I play small when I could shine?
• What does my own black cat know that I do not say aloud?
• Who feels warmer and braver when I show up fully?

The queen in the tarot court

The Queen holds the suit from the inside: embodied fluency, receptive mastery, care and discernment. She knows the element well enough to work with it calmly. Court cards are not limited by the gender of the figure on the card: a Queen can describe a man, and a Knight can describe a plan rather than a person. You can read the Queen of Wands as someone in your life, as a part of you, or as an approach to the situation.

Here is how the Queen looks across the four suits:

• Queen of Wands (this card): confidence, independence, warmth
• Queen of Cups: compassion, intuition, emotional security
• Queen of Swords: independence, clarity, intellect
• Queen of Pentacles: practicality, nurturing, financial security

Learning a rank across the suits is one of the fastest ways to learn the Minor Arcana: the number or court rank gives you the shape, and the suit gives you the setting.

The history and art behind the card

In most decks before 1909, the number cards showed only a pattern of suit symbols, the way a playing card does. The Sola Busca deck from late 1400s Italy is the famous exception. Pamela Colman Smith gave every Minor Arcana card a scene with people in it, and that choice is a big reason the Rider-Waite-Smith deck is still the easiest deck for beginners. In Italian decks the suit is Bastoni (batons) and in the Tarot de Marseille it is Bâtons, plain cudgels or clubs. Smith drew every staff in leaf. Waite explained that the wands are “always in leaf, as it is a suit of life and animation”, and that small detail is a good memory key for the whole suit.

When A. E. Waite published The Pictorial Key to the Tarot in 1910, he listed these divinatory meanings for the Queen of Wands: “A dark woman, country-woman, friendly, chaste, loving, honorable. If the card beside her signifies a man, she is well disposed towards him; if a woman, she is interested in the Querent. Also, love of money, or a certain success in business.” Reversed, he gave: “Good, economical, obliging, serviceable. Signifies also, but in certain positions and in the neighborhood of other cards tending in such directions, opposition, jealousy, even deceit and infidelity.” Waite said he was offering “a harmony of their meanings” gathered “from all sources”, which means older fortune-telling lists, not his own reading of the picture. On this site I read the picture first and treat lists like this as history.

A spread for the Queen of Wands

Use this spread when you want to step into your confidence.

1. Where do I already shine? The strength to own.
2. What makes me shrink? The fear or habit that dims me.
3. How can I lead warmly? One way to use my fire for others too.

Lay the three cards in a row, read each one on its own first, then read them together as a short story. Write one sentence for each position and one small action you will take.

Common questions

Is the Queen of Wands a yes or no card?

It leans yes. She is confident and decisive.

Who is the Queen of Wands as a person?

Often someone warm, outgoing, creative and independent, with natural charisma. Court cards can describe any gender.

What does the Queen of Wands mean in love?

Confident attraction and an open heart. Reversed, jealousy or insecurity.

Related cards

• Strength: the Major Arcana card of a woman calming a lion
• The Sun: the Major Arcana card that shares her sunflowers
• King of Wands: her partner on the fire throne, leading through vision

Keep learning

The Queen of Wands is part of the lesson Meet the court in my free Tarot for Beginners course. To see the whole suit on one page, go to the suit of Wands. To keep walking the suit, read the card before it, Knight of Wands or the card after it, King of Wands, or go back to all the card meanings. For more on the court, see Tarot court cards without confusion. For every card with keywords, affirmations and examples, see my book The Novice’s Guide to Tarot. If you would like a printable cheat sheet for all 78 cards, my 45-page Tarot Workbook is on Etsy.

Sources

• A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1910), Part III, sections 1 and 2.
• Pamela Colman Smith and A. E. Waite, the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot (London: Rider, 1909).
• Nicolas Conver, Tarot de Marseille (Marseille, 1760).
• Lauri Mukkala, The Novice’s Guide to Tarot, entry for the Queen of Wands.