Queen 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 Queen of Wands card.
Side by side
Choose any two decks and read the pictures against each other.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A queen sits squarely on a throne carved with lions and sunflowers, a staff in one hand and a sunflower in the other, her knees apart and her gaze direct. A black cat sits at her feet facing outward. The throne is set in open, sunlit country.
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
A crowned queen with long grey hair sits facing forward, holding a long green club that rests against her shoulder. Her other hand lies on her lap, gathering a grey skirt. She wears a blue bodice, a red gown and yellow sleeves, with a green-lined cloak behind her. Titled REYNE DE BATON.
Rider–Waite–Smith
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A queen sits squarely on a throne carved with lions and sunflowers, a staff in one hand and a sunflower in the other, her knees apart and her gaze direct. A black cat sits at her feet facing outward. The throne is set in open, sunlit country.
Tarot de Marseille
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
A crowned queen with long grey hair sits facing forward, holding a long green club that rests against her shoulder. Her other hand lies on her lap, gathering a grey skirt. She wears a blue bodice, a red gown and yellow sleeves, with a green-lined cloak behind her. Titled REYNE DE BATON.
Tarot de Viéville
Jacques Viéville, c. 1650
A crowned woman with long fair hair sits facing slightly left in a red cloak and striped gown. She holds a long pink baton upright against her right shoulder and rests her left hand on her lap.
Visconti-Sforza
Bonifacio Bembo, c. 1450
A fair-haired woman sits facing forward on a pale hexagonal step, wearing a dark blue gown over green sleeves and a long grey mantle. She holds a thin gold staff upright in her left hand and a slender pointed rod in her right. Red shoes show beneath her hem, and the background is dark tooled gold.
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 woman in a pale gown with a red drape sits on a throne topped with purple finials, holding a large club. Her other hand is raised and a shield rests behind her. The name PALAS is at the top, the letters D.P. are on the throne and the numeral 13 is at the right.
Soimoi
Mike Koz, 2025
A woman with pinned-up black hair and a gold flower above her ear sits on a stone seat in a red kimono with a gold sash, gazing out. She holds a wooden staff topped with white blossoms in her right hand, and her other hand rests on a black cat with yellow eyes sitting beside her. Pine, chrysanthemums and red maple leaves surround her in golden light.