What does the Queen of Wands mean?

She means being fully yourself in public, and having it work: charisma, social confidence, and the power of someone who is the same person in every room. Waite called her friendly, loving, honorable, and more magnetic than her King. She usually suggests the version of you being held back may be the one that works.

What does the black cat mean in the Queen of Wands?

It is the only cat in the deck, and it faces the viewer directly. Something independent and a little unnerving sits with her in plain sight instead of being hidden. That openness is part of why she comes across as trustworthy, beyond just charming.

What does the Queen of Wands mean in love?

A relationship with real warmth and attraction, or being wanted for exactly who you are. It favors saying what you want, instead of making yourself easier to like. Reversed it points to jealousy, or a constant need for reassurance.

What does the Queen of Wands reversed mean?

Usually confidence acted more than felt, which is exhausting to keep up and often obvious to others. It also covers competitive jealousy, and warmth withdrawn as a punishment. Waite's reversed meanings were mostly kind, adding jealousy and deceit only next to certain cards.

Queen of Wands meaning (upright & reversed)

A black cat sits at her feet, facing straight out at you. It is the only cat in the deck.

She has not tucked it away or tried to make it cute. Whatever it stands for sits in the open next to the sunflower, in full view. That is roughly how she handles everything else about herself.

She fills the whole width of the throne, sitting for nobody’s comfort but her own.

Queen of Wands upright meaning

Being fully yourself, in public, and having it work.

The Queen of Wands sits facing straight forward, with a staff in one hand and a sunflower in the other, and a black cat at her feet. She is warm, funny, confident, and has no interest in making herself smaller. Waite said her personality matches the King's but is more magnetic. His meanings were friendly, loving, and honorable, and also a love of money and success in business. In readings she points to charisma, social confidence, and the power of someone who is the same person in every room. As a person, she is the one others gather around without her arranging it. Her focus is usually on being seen. The card appears for people who have been managing how much of themselves to show. It suggests the version you are holding back may be the one that works. The cat matters. She keeps something independent and a little unnerving in plain sight, and her openness about it is part of why people trust her.

Queen of Wands reversed meaning

Confidence acted, or jealousy under the warmth.

Reversed, the Queen of Wands loses her ease. The most common reading is confidence as a performance. The charisma is produced on purpose instead of coming naturally. That is exhausting to keep up, and others can often tell. It usually points to someone whose sense of self now depends on how people respond to them. Her second problem is jealousy, especially the competitive kind between people who move in the same circles. The card is fairly direct about this and does not treat it as shameful. It tends to come from insecurity, more than spite. A third version is warmth turning cold: charm withdrawn as a punishment, or a quick temper in someone usually generous. Waite's reversed meanings were mostly kind: good, thrifty, and helpful. Only next to certain cards did he add opposition, jealousy, deceit, and unfaithfulness. What is consistent is that her fire has become something she manages, more than something she simply has.

A reversal is rarely the upright card's opposite. Reversed tarot cards covers the four conditions a reversal usually describes, and how to tell which one a spread is asking for. Every card's reversed meaning sits beside its upright one on reversed tarot card meanings.

Queen of Wands in Waite's 1910 key

The meanings above are Reflecta's reading. These are the ones A. E. Waite gave in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), the guide he wrote for the deck Pamela Colman Smith drew. He wrote them for fortune-telling, a use tarot took on centuries after it began as a card game in fifteenth-century Italy. Some of his words are blunt, and none of them can tell you what will happen.

Upright: 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: 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.

Symbolism in the card

The black cat sitting at her feet: A black cat sits at her feet, facing out at the viewer. It is the only cat in the deck. Something independent and a little unnerving sits with her in the open. She does not hide it.
The sunflower held in her left hand: A sunflower turns to follow the light. She holds one, and she is also a source of warmth herself. That is why people turn toward her.
The leafy wand in her right hand: Waite notes that the wands in this suit are always in leaf, because it is a suit of life and energy. Her staff is alive, like the rest of the suit, held openly as she faces straight out.

Queen of Wands in love and relationships

Upright. A relationship with real warmth and attraction, or being wanted for exactly who you are. Waite said she is well disposed toward whoever is next to her. The card favors saying what you want, instead of making yourself easier to like.

Reversed. Jealousy, or a relationship where one person needs constant reassurance. It can also mean acting a version of yourself you cannot keep up.

Queen of Wands in career and work

Upright. Leading through charisma, work that needs you to be seen, or a role where your personality is an asset. Strong for anything public or persuasive. Waite listed success in business among her meanings.

Reversed. Office politics driven by insecurity, or a work persona that has become tiring to keep up. It can also mean competing with a colleague you would rather like.

Queen of Wands in money

Upright. Money made through personal presence: sales, clients, and reputation. The card favors charging for who you are as much as what you do. Waite named a love of money among her meanings.

Reversed. Spending to keep up an image, or money decisions driven by worry about status more than by the numbers. Waite read thrift and good sense into the reversal, which may be the corrective.

Queen of Wands as feelings

Upright. Warmth and attraction, shown openly. The card describes enjoyment that is not being subtle. That makes it one of the warmer readings in this position, though only the person can say what they feel.

Reversed. Insecurity about where things stand, or interest shown through testing you. The card describes warmth that may be real, with something underneath it not yet settled.

Is Queen of Wands a yes or a no?

Upright, it leans yes. Reversed, it leans no.

Upright she leans toward a warm, confident yes, especially for anything that asks you to be seen, to persuade, or to be fully yourself in front of others. Reversed she leans no, often because the confidence is acted more than felt, or because insecurity is driving the decision.

Every card's leaning in one table, upright and reversed, is on yes or no tarot, along with what a maybe is asking you to do.

Queen of Wands card combinations

+ Queen of Wands and King of Wands: The two mature forms of fire, one magnetic and one commanding. Together they can point to a partnership with a lot of presence and very little quiet.
+ Queen of Wands and The Sun: Warmth, twice over. About as positive as this suit gets. It suggests being seen in a way that is welcome, and confidence that is earned, never faked.
+ Queen of Wands and Queen of Cups: Two kinds of warmth, outward and inward. Often the reading is that the situation needs both the magnetic and the receptive, and is only getting one.
+ Queen of Wands and Five of Wands: Presence in the middle of competition. It often points to holding your own in a crowded field by being clearly yourself, more than by out-arguing anyone.

Every pairing on this site, Queen of Wands's included, is collected on tarot card combinations.

I can take up the room I am in.

Queen of Wands: common questions

What does the Queen of Wands mean?: She means being fully yourself in public, and having it work: charisma, social confidence, and the power of someone who is the same person in every room. Waite called her friendly, loving, honorable, and more magnetic than her King. She usually suggests the version of you being held back may be the one that works.
What does the black cat mean in the Queen of Wands?: It is the only cat in the deck, and it faces the viewer directly. Something independent and a little unnerving sits with her in plain sight instead of being hidden. That openness is part of why she comes across as trustworthy, beyond just charming.
What does the Queen of Wands mean in love?: A relationship with real warmth and attraction, or being wanted for exactly who you are. It favors saying what you want, instead of making yourself easier to like. Reversed it points to jealousy, or a constant need for reassurance.
What does the Queen of Wands reversed mean?: Usually confidence acted more than felt, which is exhausting to keep up and often obvious to others. It also covers competitive jealousy, and warmth withdrawn as a punishment. Waite's reversed meanings were mostly kind, adding jealousy and deceit only next to certain cards.