King of Wands: tarot meaning, upright and reversed

A king holds a living staff on a throne decorated with lions and salamanders.

Upright

leadership · vision

Direct strong creative energy toward a purpose others can understand.

Reversed

domination · impatience

A forceful vision may leave too little room for other people.

In a reading

The position gives this card a particular task: a description of the situation, a challenge, or guidance. Read its image and meaning alongside the other cards and the question that brought them together.

Golden Dawn correspondence

King (mounted): Fire of Fire. 20 degrees Scorpio to 20 degrees Sagittarius. Court naming differs between decks; this identifies the Book T rank explicitly. This is the attribution in Book T.

Sources

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. These notes are original interpretations of the Waite–Smith imagery, informed by that text.