MINOR ARCANA
Four of Wands Tarot Meanings
The Four of Wands is a place of rest, just like a lot of the other fours in the tarot. It holds stability and safety within the realm of fire, meaning that we feel in control like things are going our way and ticking along according to plan.
You’ll remember that in the Three of Wands, we were standing on that threshold and solving those final problems in order to push forward on our quest.
With the Four of Wands, we’ve overcome the kinks and bumps in the road and reached our first resting spot. It’s a place to celebrate our successes thus far, gather ourselves and recharge ready for the next leg of the journey.
This is a space where you can enjoy the results that come with collaboration and finding a community that feels like home.
Four of Wands Upright Meanings
In the upright position, the Four of Wands is very stable energy and asks us to take action to maintain where we are at instead of trying to push straight onto the next stage of our journey. Some of the key meanings of the Four of Wands are:
Maintenance
Stability
New home
Celebration
Boundaries
The Four of Wands is like reaching a motel on a long car journey. We are able to rest and relax, not fully settle, but find a place to recharge and prep for the next leg. It’s also a good time to celebrate the things you have overcome to get to this point and recognise those achievements, using them to fuel your motivation to keep going.
Four of Wands Reversed Meanings
In the reversed position, the Four of Wands asks us to spend some time readjusting and refocusing. It might be the journey so far has taken its toll on us and we need to recalculate our movements from here on out. Some of the main reversed meanings of the Four of Wands are:
Readjustment
Loss of power
Need for focus
Unrealistic outlook
When the Four of Wands appears in the reversed position, we may be in a place where we’re not sure if we want to continue pushing towards our goals or seeing our goals closer than they really are. We need to take a moment to rest and take another look at the path we’re on, to decide if it’s the right path to continue down.
Reading Four of Wands in a Tarot Spread
The Four of Wands is usually a very welcome card due to its positive energy and cause for celebration. When it appears in a spread, it’s best to see it as a pause or moment of rest. The fact that you’ve reached the Four of Wands is a cause for celebration on its own, but other cards surrounding this one can give us more information on why this celebration is needed. Often the Four of Wands pops up to remind us that we’ve been through a lot to get to where we are and we need to show gratitude, both to the universe and to ourselves for getting us here.
Four of Wands as An Invitation
When the Four of Wands shows up as an invitation, it’s a bit like an invitation to come home or to arrive at a destination where you can let go and recharge your batteries.
For Four of Wands, this invitation could be the following:
An invitation to maintain the motivation you currently have as you step out onto this next chapter of your journey
An invitation to enjoy this moment of stability and comfort and use it to realign ready to continue forwards
An invitation to set boundaries in order to preserve your energy
An invitation to readjust your plans to ensure a more successful road ahead
Four of Wands as Sage Advice
The advice that the Four of Wands offers is often around gratitude, setting firm boundaries to protect yourself and always notice the stability you have on offer to you, especially when things feel out of your control.
Some advice Four of Wands may offer is:
Enjoy this moment of stability and use it to rebuild that motivation you need to keep pushing forward
Always keep your eye on the prize, but be realistic about what lies between you and your goal
Remember to celebrate all the work you’ve done thus far, even if it’s only small things
Setting boundaries can often be the best course of action to make sure you stay on track and preserve your energy
Four of Wands as a Lesson
The Four of Wands holds a lot of lessons around understanding our ideas around stability and what is worth celebrating. We need to decide for ourselves what success means and stay mindful of the small wins as well as the big ones.
Some lessons that Four of Wands may offer you are:
A lesson in celebrating the little wins and smaller goal achievements in order to maintain motivation
A lesson in holding onto your power
A lesson in setting realistic goals and plans in order to reach them
A lesson in maintaining focus as we battle various obstacles and challenges
Four of Wands as a Redirection
If the Four of Wands appears as a redirection then it could be time to reassess the plan you have for yourself. It may be that the road you chose to go down is a little rockier than you had anticipated and you need to have a rethink in order to move forward smoothly.
As a redirection, Four of Wands could symbolise a need to:
Take this stability and look at choosing a different route than you had originally planned to take
Look at your current focus and decide whether you’re looking at the right thing
Readjust your outlook as it may not be as realistic as you first thought
Take a pause and recharge in order to gain clarity on how to proceed
Wands
The wands are the keepers of our inner fire. It powers our instincts, our sense of personal power, passions and creativity. It is the energy that motivates us to put one foot in front of the other. It is the excitement we feel when something we feel passionate about is brought up.
With the wands we have the ability to wield all these parts of ourselves. This is why it is often the suit that corresponds with the ideas of manifestation and creative expression.
Fire
Each of the four elements in the Tarot correspond with one of the four elements. The wands corresponds with the element of fire. It is a burning within our inner world that can either consume us or motivate us to do amazing things.
Just like with fire, we need to be very careful when trying to use it. Not respecting this fire can lead us to get burned. We need to have ways of manipulating this energy so we can channel it into the areas it will be most useful and not abuse it.
Fours
The number four in numerology is the number of stability and strong foundations. When dealing with any of the fours in the Tarot we are gifted a feeling of safety and security.
In the Four of Wands, we are able to feel a sense of creative and personal freedom. This is why it is often a card that is related to community and teamwork. It offers us the chance to think about what support we need in order to feel confident building or creating what we feel we need to create.
