Minor — Wands

Seven of Wands

For the first time in the suit, the figure looks straight at us: the son defends his palisade from the high ground, wearing his father's straw hat, the radiant Book on his back. The Seven of Wands is the defence of what has been won.

Symbolic reading

The frontal gaze is no accident: whoever defends what is theirs calls the world to witness — and we are placed on the attackers' side, made to measure his determination. The higher ground gives him the advantage of terrain: one defends better what one can survey. His father's hat on his head says what he is fighting for — not for himself alone, but for the lineage. And the Book in the backpack neatly reverses the roles: protected by the bag, it covers the back of the one carrying it. What we protect protects us.

Reversed reading

The defence becomes exhausted or misguided: fighting on every front, seeing attackers everywhere — or yielding the palisade at the first assault, tired of standing alone in one's conviction.

• defence
• courage
• tenacity
• advantage
• conviction
• resistance