King of Wands

Vision and the strength to make it happen.

Meaning

The King of Wands is Fire that has become leadership. He has passed through the enthusiasm of the Page, the courage of the Knight and the warmth of the Queen, and made something of them that holds: vision, decisiveness and the ability to win others over to a goal. As part of your personality, he is the side of you that thinks big, takes responsibility and makes decisions without endlessly putting them off. As a person in your life, he is someone who leads a business, a team or a family with energy and conviction, inspiring, impatient, rarely at a loss for a direction.

In life the card shows up when you take on a leading role or are offered one, when a new venture is about to be founded, when an idea is so mature that it demands structure. It stands for the interplay of Fire and maturity: the King is seated, but leaning forward. He acts not on impulse but out of conviction, and his decisiveness gives others something to hold on to.

The King of Wands invites you to take your vision seriously and give it shape. Ask yourself what you want to take responsibility for, and whether you are ready to carry it even when the shine wears off. Leading with fire doesn’t mean being louder than everyone else, but clearer. Listen before you decide, and then decide.

Reversed

Reversed, leadership turns into a craving for control. The King no longer listens, tolerates no contradiction, mistakes his own will for the common goal. Speed becomes impulsiveness, decisions are made from the gut and never corrected, and allies are driven away because their concerns are seen as weakness. As a person in your life, this can be someone who dominates, flares up quickly or announces grand plans and leaves others to bear the brunt of carrying them out.

Turned inwards, the reversed King shows a capacity for leadership that you don’t trust yourself to have. You have visions but prefer to leave the decisions to others, or you turn your severity against yourself. Ask yourself where you hand over responsibility that really belongs to you, and where you seize it when it would be time to listen.

As the card of the day

As your card of the day, the King of Wands invites you to take responsibility today instead of waiting for someone else to do it. Make the decision that has been open for days, give a venture direction, say clearly where you want to go. While you are at it, resolve for once to listen more than you talk. Leadership also shows in what you don’t say.

The image

The King sits in profile on a throne and looks out of the picture to the left, as if watching something we cannot see. He wears a golden crown over a red cap, an orange-red robe, a green collar and over it an olive-yellow cloak printed with black salamanders. In his right hand he holds a tall wand that rests on the ground; his left hand lies in his lap. The orange back of the throne shows lions and salamanders. On the grey stone floor at his feet a small salamander is crawling; on the cloak and the throne the salamanders form closed circles by biting their own tails, an ancient image of completion. Behind him are a blue sky and reddish hills. He sits leaning slightly forward, ready to rise at any moment.

Questions for you

• What do you want to take responsibility for, and what are you still shirking?
• When did others last follow one of your decisions, and why did they go along with it?
• Where do you stop listening as soon as you are convinced?