Bohemian Gothic Tarot

SEVEN OF WANDS

Lighter or more conventional meanings

A battle that you know you can win * A fight against the odds * Getting a buzz out of winning through in a hard situation * A struggle where you come out on top.

Darker, shadow or more hidden meanings

Going out of your way to start a fight with someone because you know you're the stronger * Enjoying a "punch up" * Aggressive, egotistical behaviour.

This is an alarming image. It shows a snarling demon leaning from a castle window and swinging his vicious-looking flail at the wands below - these, presumably, are held by those who are trying either to attack him or, just maybe, to keep him in the prison.

The Seven of Wands indicates a fight that the protagonist knows they can win, and that they therefore relish. It's depicts the "Come on, let's see what you can do!" challenge of the fighter who loves to fight. We've all met people like this, and while they can be great to have on your side if there really is a battle, on the other hand they often start trouble when there's really no need. Ask yourself if this is you (or your querent) or if it's someone in your life. Either way, question whether the fight is either necessary or justified.

This card can be positive when there is a fight on hand that needs to be won; it could be that you're going through a legal battle or, alternatively, simply trying to defend your self-respect in a combative and damaging relationship. Maybe you are fighting for a cause you very much believe in, or defending a friend who you feel is unjustly under attack. In any such situation, the Seven of Wands is a heartening card as it assures you that you can win, even if you feel that you are largely alone in the fight and without much support. We can see clearly that the wooden sticks wielded against the demon will be no match for him and his fearsome weapon. But there is another possibility when you're interpreting this Seven. Perhaps the fight is a sham, done just because you, or whoever the demon represents, simply wants to demonstrate superior power and loves to scare and oppress others. This is a much nastier picture and if it in any way resonates with you or your querent then take this card as a warning. Remember that it's co-operation, negotiation and compromise, not force, that often provides the only real and lasting victory.

Some further ways to consider this card

Who is wielding the other wands, and why?

In another infinitesimal flash he had taken it in. Pale, dusky skin, covering nothing but bones and tendons of appalling strength; coarse black hairs, longer than ever grew on a human hand; nails rising from the ends of the fingers and curving sharply down and forward, grey, horny, and wrinkled. He flew out of his chair with deadly, inconceiv�able terror clutching at his heart. The shape, whose left hand rested on the table, was rising to a standing posture behind his seat, its right hand crooked above his scalp. There was black and tattered drapery about it; the coarse hair covered it as in the drawing. The lower jaw was thin - what can I call it? - shallow, like a beast's; teeth showed behind the black lips; there was no nose; the eyes, of a fiery yellow, against which the pupils showed black and intense, and the exulting hate and thirst to destroy life which shone there, were the most horrifying features in the whole vision. There was intelligence of a kind in them - intelligence beyond that of a beast, below that of a man.
- M.R. James, "Canon Alberic's Scrapbook", Ghost Stories of an Antiquary.