Four of Wands At A Glance
Keywords: Celebration with others, honoring traditions, spending time with loved ones, rest-bite between work, seclusion, community, safety together, returning home, reunited
Season: Summer
Element: Fire (creativity, passion and will power)
Four of Wands Tarot Card Description
The Four of Wands is the fourth card in the suit of Wands and a minor arcana card in the tarot system. The original artwork shows a scene of serenity: a couple dance under 4 upright wreathed wands which make a building construction. There are people preparing feasts and the wreathed wands serve like an arch to welcome home the viewer/reader.
It gives us the feeling of returning home after a long journey and being met by our loved ones as they celebrate our return. There is a strong sense of welcoming reunion, acceptance and love.
Four of Wands Upright Meaning
To see this card in a tarot reading is often a very uplifting sight. It can suggest a celebration with all our nearest and dearest but it can also suggest someone we haven’t seen for a while returning to our lives. It is the card for celebrating community in the form of public events, this can be a marriage or partnership or any other gathering that brings people together from afar.
It is a reminder to stop and enjoy the things that really matter. For many of us work can be a large part of our lives and take a lot of time but seeing this card reminds us to prioritize the people we value and celebrate with them. If not for a formal or specific occasion then just to get together and celebrate being alive.
“Life is for the living.” - Langston Hughes
Four of Wands Reversed Meaning
When the Four of Wands meets us in its reversed position unfortunately it is not the same joyous meaning as its upright counterpart. Here we can see cancelled events, a feeling of isolation or loneliness or having to leave the home or even an unhappy home filled with tension and unrest.
Community is usually a joy to be immersed in but sometimes we find the people around us are not those we enjoy spending time with. This card reminds us that the right people are out there somewhere and that even spending time alone can be sacred and enjoyable if we choose it.
It is a reminder to take stock of our relationships and set boundaries around the ones which make us feel worse and instead to refocus our energy on the relationships we enjoy being a part of. Though this is a sad card on the surface its message is quite pleasant if we learn to analyze and apply it.
“Let go or be dragged” - Zen proverb
Four of Wands: Yes or No
The Four of Wands is definitely a yes card when upright. It suggests saying yes could lead to a positive situation and a cause for celebration. If reversed it is a no. It warns us that this could cause unrest in the home and disrupt the harmony we have.
Let’s Break Down the Four of Wands In Our Lives
How the Four of Wands meanings change when discussing the different areas of our lives.
Four of Wands In Love
When we are gifted the Four of Wands card in a love ending it is exactly that, a gift. It reminds us to prioritize the people we love and spoil them. Not necessarily with gifts but with our time, attention and adoration. Make them very aware of just how much we love them.
Reversed the 4 of Wands can mean unfortunately our love life is not all happy families as we wish it was. Our dreams of the relationship do not match the reality we see and we might feel disappointed. But the card’s message is that we can communicate our dreams with our loved ones and discuss steps which could take us closer to this in time.
Four of Wands With Money
We are being asked to celebrate the small and big wins we’ve had recently. If we have a financial goal then we are beginning to see it progress and we should allow ourselves a pat on the back or a small reward to keep us incentivized to continue making progress.
Reversed when we spin lots of plates for long enough at some point we are going to drop one. That has happened now in a financial situation. Though we may naturally turn to chiding ourselves we are being reminded with the Four of Wands reversed that it is human and normal to make mistakes.
All we can do is learn from them and try to move on. Take what we have learned and apply it so this situation is less likely to happen to us again.
Four of Wands At Work
When we receive the Four of Wands regarding work or career questions we can be very sure that a promotion or advancement of some kind in our area of work is heading towards us. It is important not to let up and celebrate too early.
We must maintain a high standard of work. But soon it will be official and then we can take some time to plan a celebration of this wonderful event.
Reversed a situation at work blindsides us and we are forced to take time away from the bulk of our work to instead fix our mistake. It is frustrating but we will feel better once we have this work done. It is best to knuckle down and plow through it as soon as possible.
Four of Wands With Others
The 4 of Wands urges us to return to a community we may have been absent from for a while. It says when we do we will immediately feel at home as if we never left. This may look like our childhood group of friends reuniting or another social group we haven’t met with for a long time coming together. It reminds us that just because time has passed our hearts remain the same.
Reversed it can imply that we may be feeling excluded or different from others as if we don’t fit in. The Four of Wands reversed reminds us it could be because we haven’t found our people yet.
Thanks to the online world it is possible to find any number of forums and groups and we can begin to interact with them and develop friendships with people we truly vibe with.
Four of Wands With Self
This card asks us what win(s) have we recently experienced and how will we celebrate? Making time to celebrate our wins lets us mark the occasion and remember them more clearly. Over time this changes our mindset as we can easily recall all the times we succeeded because they standout so starkly in our memories. This bolsters our confidence and self-esteem.
Reversed it can suggest we are being overly negative on our outlook of life and that this is the main factor contributing to our feelings of dejectedness and isolation.
We have plenty of love and people around us yet we may be pushing them away. There are many reasons why we may do this so looking within and finding our own personal and specific reasons will be really insightful for us.
Four of Wands As Feelings
The Four of Wands feels like being surprised by our loved ones at the airport. They’re holding up a sign with our names on, shouting that they missed us and crying and laughing as they hug us.
We are enveloped in warmth and love and we feel at home because they are with us.
