Six of Wands Tarot Card Meaning

Six of Wands upright

A rider crowned with laurel carries a staff tied with a laurel wreath, with attendants walking beside him. Waite says it can mean a victor's triumph, or great news, such as might be carried in state by the King's courier. Hope crowned: share the credit and enjoy it.

Six of Wands reversed

Waite reversed gives apprehension, fear of an enemy at the gate, treachery and indefinite delay. Make sure your team is truly behind you, and do not count the win before it lands.

A reversed card (What does Upright / reversed card mean?) is one drawn upside-down.

Is Six of Wands a yes or no?

Upright: Leans yes. Yes — a clear success card.

Reversed: Reversed, Six of Wands reads as a gentle no: apprehension, disloyalty, delay.

The yes/no lean is BornClock’s reading convention drawn from the card’s meaning — Waite himself did not assign one.

Symbolism in the Six of Wands card

What appears in the 1909 Rider–Waite–Smith picture, as Waite describes it:

• Laurel-crowned rider — the victor
• Laurel wreath on his staff — success displayed
• Attendants on foot — support and recognition from others

In Waite’s own words (paraphrased)

Upright: a victor triumphing; great news; expectation crowned with its own desire; hope.

Reversed: apprehension, fear (as of an enemy at the gate), treachery, disloyalty, indefinite delay.

Source: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910, public domain). Some of Waite’s 1910 fortune-telling meanings are old-fashioned; the plain-English reading above is ours.