Ten of Staves (Wands) Tarot Card Meanings

Ten of Staves Upright Meaning

This suit, most often called "Wands" and sometimes called "Rods" or "Staves," represents initiative, ambition, drive and desire. This is the suit of enterprise and risk-taking.

The Ten of this suit represents an all-out effort, an obsessive commitment to a task which demands everything you've got. The person shown in decks with pictures is in no position to rest until he makes it inside the stout walls of the well-defended castle in the distance. If he fails, he will become prey for the highway robbers after dark.

It doesn't matter that he's overloaded and underfed. With this card, you have to do whatever it takes to get to completion -- nothing can be allowed to interfere.

Ten of Staves Reversed Meaning

Lack of perspective on your life may impair your progress. The Ten of Wands reversed suggests that you are struggling to get a sense of perspective on the situation. A lack of objectivity may impair your ability to follow through and bring things to closure.

Try to rest yourself. Then step back to take another look at the big picture. If you feel too exhausted to work toward long-term goals, rest until your vision clears and you remember why it's worth the effort. Clear perspective leads to stronger motivation.

Ten of Staves Advice Position

The Ten of Wands in this position advises you to remember the true, simple heart of your youth and all the idealism it held. Now may be the time to reach deep into yourself and identify your purest, most wholesome impulses. As you do this, allow your optimistic and honorable side to see what's good about the world.

Look beyond the challenges, setbacks, disappointments and frustrations you tend to see so easily. As you reawaken your high minded inner child, you will refresh your daily life with a joyful purpose.

Ten of Staves Love Position

When the Ten of Wands is in this position, it's clear that the path of action you have taken is ultimately not as important as the state of being it can produce. You are beginning to realize that what you have been pursuing -- such as your romantic and relationship goals -- may actually be based on something internal, which when kindled and awakened actually replaces your need to seek satisfaction in the external world.

This is not to invalidate all that you have been engaged in, because it has ultimately led you to this valuable realization. But when you assimilate what you are learning about Being, action will no longer seem as imperative. Take this opportunity to learn to meditate and find within what you previously looked for outside yourself.

Ten of Staves Career Position

The Ten of Wands in this position suggests that this is a time of stability and security in your career or work place. Accordingly, this may offer you and coworkers an opportunity to rest on your laurels and contemplate your accomplishments. You may find that so settled a situation is somewhat resistant to transformation, even when change represents progress. Your recent surge of career-related creativity is winding down. Ambitions that once seemed boundless may now be better aimed towards conserving past gains.

Your next assignment has yet to be discovered. Consider the likelihood that it will be found within you, rather than in the external work environment. Relax in this moment of serenity and appreciate how far you have all come, both individually and together.

Ten of Staves in a Yes or No Card Reading

The Ten of Wands is a card of overwhelm. If you're looking for simple Yes or No guidance and receive the Ten of Wands, the answer is NO. Think carefully about your capacity and resist the urge to take on more than you can carry.