What does the Seven of Wands card mean in Tarot?

Seven of Wands, Minor Arcana, Wands VII

The Seven of Wands represents a person, most likely you, feeling strongly defensive against imagined enemies. You are in the fight-or-flight mode, and you’re choosing to fight. But there isn’t a real opponent to take down. Nobody is after you.

There could be many reasons behind this state of affairs. A heart that has been broken many times might now find it difficult to trust new dates, expecting the same lies and betrayals. A mind reliving Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after having experienced real danger, violence, or harm might now find it difficult to let go of negative thoughts. The nervous system of a body that has gone through disease, an accident, or hunger, might not know how to let health and abundance in.

Don’t despair, no person has 100% trust in the universe regarding every life area anyway – so don’t worry if your ability to trust is being tested in your love life, career, family life, finances, or in any other area. The trick is to notice what’s happening in you, and then to be able to take a truly realistic look at the outer events and identify whether there really is danger or potential heartbreak involved.

If your reading is about your career and finances, the Seven of Wands might mean you don’t trust your work environment, coworkers, bank, and/or the economy. You don’t feel supported by the universe, to be able to create the abundance you so deserve.

If your reading is about your social circle and friends, the Seven of Wands points at your growing inability to trust people. Those around you probably really love you and want to be with you, but your past bad experiences with back-stabbers make you unlikely to trust new people today.

If the reading is about your wellbeing, the Seven of Wands means you see the world through a negative prism. You see all the bad in the world, such as war, hunger, terrorism etc., and find it very difficult to see all the good that’s happening around you and around the world. It could also be that you’re failing to see how good you are. Look in the mirror of your soul and feel better.

What does the Seven of Wands Tarot card mean for love?

For singles, having Seven of Wands in your reading might represent your distrust of the opposite sex (or same sex, depending on your orientation). You were most likely burnt badly in the past, or it could be that your parents didn’t have the kind of relationship you’d like to create for yourself. So now, when you date someone, you’re waiting for that moment to come and ruin everything – whether it’s catching them lie, cheat or engage in other types of betrayal. Remember, people are different. There are good, reliable ones too; the trick is trusting that you can find such a person.

For couples, the Seven of Wands might point at a relationship where you both bring your past fears and hurts into the current love mix and muddy the waters. Your emotional baggages are tagging along wherever you go, even when you are away on vacation, affecting what you have – either slowing the natural progression of the relationship or creating distance. To remedy the situation, you can try to be more open with one another and share your deepest vulnerabilities.

What does Seven of Wands reversed in Tarot mean?

Seven of Wands reversed points at extreme denial. You might actually be in relationships and environments that are bad for you, yet your utter denial about it keeps you stuck at the disadvantaged end. When a date consistently forgets to call, you think “maybe they are busy,” instead of realizing that they are not that into you. Or, everyone else gets promoted at work and you get criticized instead – could there be discrimination?

Denial is a defense we develop in childhood. We get so accustomed to it that we don’t even notice it when we do it as grownups. It’s a subconscious thing we do to avoid having to change the situation. As a child, we were part of so many situations we didn’t have the power to change; denial made sense then, as an emotional coping mechanism. But today things can be different.

Astrological association

All wand cards in the Minor Arcana are associated with the fire element, which is associated with the signs of Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius.

Because the Seven of Wands is about how one is experiencing the world, sensitivity, and being open to outside influences, it indicates “mutable” energy – therefore, this card is most associated with Sagittarius – the mutable fire energy that feels like a candle in the wind (Sagittarii don’t have to be like this; this is just a possible Sagittarian state of mind that comes to the fore in Seven of Wands).

While the card might represent you experiencing this type of Sagittarius energy in you these days, it could also indicate a Sagittarius in your life, depending on where the card is in your reading. Your psychic reader would know this by looking at the card’s position in your spread and all the other cards that showed in the reading, especially the ones next to it.

If it’s about a Sagittarius in your life, see if the card is upright or reversed. If it’s upright, this Sagittarius might have lost their ability to go with the flow. They might be distrusting of the flow completely! If the card is reversed, this person is super adventurous and thrives on danger. But they might be in denial about the state of other, possibly more important aspects of their lives, such as their finances or love life.

Either way, the Seven of Wands suggests a dire need to realize that the universe is neither positive nor negative – it’s all about what you project onto it. The gods aren’t out to get you, nor are they in a race to shower you with divine grace. All good and bad energies coexist, they are all there for your taking – so the decision is 100% yours to make. Which will you take and let in?