King of Wands in 6 decks
The same card as 6 decks draw it, five and a half centuries apart. What stays the same is the card’s core; what changes is where a reading can find something new. The meanings are written for the Rider–Waite–Smith picture; the descriptions here are of each deck’s own. Not in Oswald Wirth, which has no King of Wands card.
Side by side
Choose any two decks and read the pictures against each other.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A king sits forward on a throne decorated with lions and salamanders, holding a tall sprouting staff and looking off to the side as if already planning the next move. A small salamander crawls at his feet. He is not relaxed; he is poised to stand.
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
A king in a wide blue and red hat topped with a crown sits on a red throne, gripping a long green tapering club with a yellow knob. He wears blue armour with yellow shoulder pieces and red and grey leggings, his feet in green shoes on a yellow floor. Titled ROY DE BATON.
Rider–Waite–Smith
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A king sits forward on a throne decorated with lions and salamanders, holding a tall sprouting staff and looking off to the side as if already planning the next move. A small salamander crawls at his feet. He is not relaxed; he is poised to stand.
Tarot de Marseille
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
A king in a wide blue and red hat topped with a crown sits on a red throne, gripping a long green tapering club with a yellow knob. He wears blue armour with yellow shoulder pieces and red and grey leggings, his feet in green shoes on a yellow floor. Titled ROY DE BATON.
Tarot de Viéville
Jacques Viéville, c. 1650
A ruler in a broad red hat ringed with a crown sits on a low chest, wearing grey armour decorated with scrolls and a yellow and red skirt. He rests his left hand on his hip and holds a long red baton planted on the ground.
Visconti-Sforza
Bonifacio Bembo, c. 1450
A young crowned king with fair curls sits on a gold hexagonal throne painted with dark flowers. He wears a dark tunic with a broad gold fur skirt and green gloves, his purple-hosed legs crossed at the ankles. He holds a tall gold sceptre with an ornamented head in his left hand and a thin rod in his right.
In the Visconti-Sforza deck the number cards show only their suit symbols, and the trumps are unnamed and unnumbered.
Sola Busca
c. 1491
A crowned young man in a blue breastplate and red skirt sits on a throne whose arms end in lion heads, holding a club and pointing to himself. A winged helmet lies at his red-stockinged feet under a purple canopy. Lettering reads LEVIO at the left and PLAVT, O, R at the right, with 14 below.
Soimoi
Mike Koz, 2025
A bearded man with a topknot stands on a wooden veranda in a red robe patterned with waves and a dark sash, holding a tall wooden staff that burns like a torch at the top. A tattoo shows on his forearm. Behind the railing, pines stand against a red evening sky over blue hills.