The deck · Wands · Fire

Two of Wands, from the 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck

Two of Wands

RichesFortuneMagnificenceMortification

Upright

Between the alternative readings there is no marriage possible; on the one hand, riches, fortune, magnificence; on the other, physical suffering, disease, chagrin, sadness, mortification. The design gives one suggestion; here is a lord overlooking his dominion and alternately contemplating a globe; it looks like the malady, the mortification, the sadness of Alexander amidst the grandeur of this world's wealth.

Reversed

Surprise, wonder, enchantment, emotion, trouble, fear.

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §2

The picture

A tall man looks from a battlemented roof over sea and shore; he holds a globe in his right hand, while a staff in his left rests on the battlement; another is fixed in a ring. The Rose and Cross and Lily should be noticed on the left side.

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §2

Older readings

A young lady may expect trivial disappointments.

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §4. Waite collected these and says they often disagree with the main meanings.

Waite wrote in 1911 and some of his meanings show it. Tarot is a tradition of reflection, not a prediction, and no card decides anything for you.