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Knight of Wands
The Knight of Wands is fire in motion: daring, impulsive, charismatic and rarely still. As a person, he can describe someone adventurous and passionate who acts first and thinks later. As a situation, the card often points to travel, a move, a sudden change of direction or a bold leap into something new.
The image
A knight in armour, with a tunic patterned in salamanders and a plume like a flame, rides a rearing horse across a desert past pyramid-shaped mounds. He carries a short, leafy staff. Waite notes that he is "not on a warlike errand" and that "the motion of the horse is a key to the character of its rider" — the "precipitate mood". The rearing horse is usually read as energy that is hard to rein in.
Upright
It tends to describe boldness and movement: an adventure, a journey, a burst of enthusiasm, the courage to go for something. Waite's divinatory meanings are "departure, absence, flight, emigration" and "change of residence", along with a friendly young man. Its gift is momentum; its risk is that the fire burns out before the job is done.
Reversed
Reversed, it is often read as recklessness, frustration, a journey delayed or a passion that fizzles. Waite lists "rupture, division, interruption, discord". Some readers do not use reversals.
Correspondences
A court card of the Wands, element Fire. In the Golden Dawn system, which most English-language decks follow, the mounted figure is the true King: this card is the Lord of the Flame and the Lightning, King of the Spirits of Fire, Fire of Fire — the purest, swiftest form of the element. The Golden Dawn gives this court rule from 20° Scorpio to 20° Sagittarius. Some modern authors, keying the elements to the Rider–Waite names, make the Knight Air instead.
In a reading
In the past it can show a sudden move or bold decision; as an obstacle, haste or a restless partner; as advice, to act with courage but finish what is started. With the Eight of Wands it is often read as rapid travel; with the Six of Cups, a return home.
In astrology
The Golden Dawn's correspondences, which most English-language decks follow (French, Marseille-based tradition differs for some Major Arcana).
Element: Fire — the element of Aries, Leo and Sagittarius