Knight of Wands
Cavalier de Bâton (Tarot de Marseille) · Prince of Wands (Golden Dawn, Thoth) · Knight of Rods
An armoured rider on a rearing horse crosses a desert of pyramids: the Knight of Wands is read as bold action, adventure and impetuous energy.
Upright action · adventure · passion · impulsiveness · travel · courage · charisma
Reversed recklessness · haste · scattered energy · frustration · delays · hot temper
- Astrology
- 20° Cancer – 20° Leo (Golden Dawn Prince)
- Element
- Air of Fire
- Golden Dawn title
- Prince of the Chariot of Fire
- Yes or no
- Yes
Upright
Knights carry their suit's element into motion, and in the fiery suit the motion is headlong. In the Waite–Smith tradition the Knight of Wands stands for adventure, daring, a change of residence or a journey — Waite listed departure, absence, flight and emigration — and for a person who acts first and plans afterwards. He brings energy, charm and courage to whatever he touches.
Love and relationships: an exciting, passionate attraction, often fast-moving and not always lasting; a partner who loves freedom.
Work and money: bold initiatives, travel or relocation, entrepreneurial risk, a burst of productivity; enthusiasm that can sell an idea.
Advice: go — but know where. Courage is this card's gift and haste its danger; give your momentum one clear target and you will cover remarkable ground.
Reversed
Reversed, the knight's charge goes astray. Readers describe recklessness, plans abandoned halfway, a temper that flares at obstacles, or journeys and moves that are delayed. Waite gave rupture, division, interruption and discord for the inverted card. An inward reading sees restless energy with nowhere to go, frustration building because action is blocked. Many readers do not read reversals and would gauge this knight's wildness by the cards around him. When the reversal is read, the advice is to rein in the horse before it bolts: channel the urge into one worthwhile effort, and let tempers cool before acting.
The image
A knight in armour, wearing a yellow surcoat patterned with salamanders, rides a chestnut horse that rears up on its hind legs. Flame-like plumes stream from his helmet and from his arms. He holds a short, leafy wand raised in one hand. Behind him the land is a sandy plain, and pyramids stand on the horizon, as on the Page's card. Waite described him as shown upon a journey, armed with a short wand, and although mailed, not on a warlike errand. The impression is of speed, display and youthful daring.
History
Mounted knights belonged to Italian tarot packs from the start, adding a fourth court figure to the king, queen and page of ordinary playing cards, and the Marseille Cavalier de Bâton rides with a great club over his shoulder. In the Golden Dawn's rearrangement of the courts, the mounted figure of each suit was the most active and fiery of the four, called King in some documents and Knight in others. Waite restored the familiar rank names in 1910, and Pamela Colman Smith's horseman — racing, decorated and theatrical — gave the suit one of its most memorable images.
Symbolism
In the widely used scheme popularised by Paul Foster Case, which matches the Waite courts to the Golden Dawn's by rank name, the Knight of Wands is Air of Fire: flame driven by wind, quick, mobile and changeable. He then corresponds to the order's Prince of the Chariot of Fire, with the span from 20° Cancer to 20° Leo. Readers should know that the pairing is disputed. Because the Golden Dawn's fiery court was the mounted one, some authors swap King and Knight and make this rider Fire of Fire. The rearing horse is untamed force, the salamanders the elemental emblem, the pyramids the far lands and old wisdom that lure the adventurer onward.
In a reading
He is often read as a real person — energetic, charming, perhaps unreliable — or as a phase of rapid change. With the Eight of Wands or the Six of Swords travel or a house move is likely; with the Two of Wands a long-planned departure finally happens. Beside the Chariot the drive is strong but needs steering. In questions of timing he suggests that things will happen quickly, perhaps sooner than expected.
The Knight of Wands is also commonly used as a significator for a querent who is about to embark on a move, a journey or a bold career change. Readers then look at the cards around him to see whether the road ahead is open or crowded with obstacles.
Sources and further reading
- The Pictorial Key to the Tarot — A. E. Waite, 1910
- The Book of Thoth — Aleister Crowley, 1944
- The Golden Dawn — Israel Regardie, 1937
- The Game of Tarot: From Ferrara to Salt Lake City — Michael Dummett, 1980