Tarot card meanings › Wands
Nine of Wands Tarot Card Meaning
The Nine of Wands tarot card means resilience, persistence and the last stand. Tired, but still standing.
Upright
- Resilience
- persistence
- the last stand
Reversed
- Exhaustion
- defensiveness
- wanting to quit
Yes or no
Maybe
The Nine of Wands is one of the 14 cards in the suit of Wands. Wands are the suit of fire: energy, ambition, work you care about and the drive to get things moving.
What the card shows
A man with a bandaged head leans on a wand and looks warily to one side. Eight more wands stand in a row behind him like a fence.
This is the card as drawn by Pamela Colman Smith for the 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck, which is in the public domain.
Upright meaning
The Nine of Wands is read as resilience near the end of a long effort. You are tired and bruised, and you are still on your feet. One more push is usually what it asks for.
Nine of Wands reversed
Reversed, it is read as running on empty, being too guarded, or being close to giving up.
Yes or no?
In a yes or no question, the Nine of Wands is usually read as a maybe: the answer depends on something not settled yet. Readers differ on some cards, so treat this as one common reading. You can ask a yes or no question and draw a card for it.
Draw a card yourself
More Wands cards
Ace of WandsTwo of WandsThree of WandsFour of WandsFive of WandsSix of WandsSeven of WandsEight of WandsTen of WandsPage of WandsKnight of WandsQueen of WandsKing of Wands
‹ Eight of WandsAll 78 cardsTen of Wands ›
Want more than one card? Leave your email for Free Premium access when we open.