Minor Arcana, the Wands

King of Wands

The King of Wands, as Pamela Colman Smith drew him in 1909, sits in profile, facing left, on a high throne whose tall back is hung with black lions and salamanders. He holds a sprouting staff as tall as himself in his outstretched hand, and a small black salamander walks on the stone floor at his feet.

What Waite wrote it means (1910)

Divinatory meanings: Dark man, friendly, countryman, generally married, honest and conscientious. The card always signifies honesty, and may mean news concerning an unexpected heritage to fall in before very long.
Reversed: Good, but severe; austere, yet tolerant.

Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London, 1911), p. 170. Read it in the chapter

The physical and emotional nature to which this card is attributed is dark, ardent, lithe, animated, impassioned, noble. The King uplifts a flowering wand, and wears, like his three correspondences in the remaining suits, what is called a cap of maintenance beneath his crown. He connects with the symbol of the lion, which is emblazoned on the back of his throne.

Waite's description of the card, from the same book.

What's in the picture

The crown. A gold crown with points shaped like flames sits over a red cap dotted with black. Waite calls the cap a "cap of maintenance" and says all four kings wear one.
His face. We see him from the side, with a straight nose and a firm mouth, looking out to the left past his staff.
The throne back. A tall orange panel rises behind him above the throne, printed with black lions and with salamanders curled into rings. Waite mentions only the lion.
The staff. His arm is stretched out to hold a tall wooden staff, its foot resting on the step. Leaves sprout near its top. Waite says the king "uplifts a flowering wand".
The resting hand. His other hand rests loosely in his lap, half closed, as if he has just put something down.
The green cape. A short green cape with a jagged hem covers his shoulders, and a heavy gold chain hangs round his neck.
The yellow cloak. Behind him falls a yellow cloak covered with black salamanders, the same curled creatures that cover the tunics of the Page and the Knight of Wands.
The live salamander. A small black lizard walks on the stone floor beside the throne, head to the left and tail stretched out behind. It is the only creature in the picture that is not part of a pattern.
The green shoes. Green shoes show under his red robe, one foot set forward on the step.

The card in brief

In the deck: Card 36 of 78
Arcana: Minor Arcana, Wands
Number: King
Element (Golden Dawn): Fire
Title in Book T: The Prince of the Chariot of Fire
Drawn by: Pamela Colman Smith
Planned by: Arthur Edward Waite
Published: London, William Rider & Son, 1909
Scan: Pam-A printing, c. 1910, Wikimedia Commons

In the old books

Book T (1912)
A Kingly Figure with a golden, winged crown, seated on a chariot. He has large white wings. One wheel of his chariot is shewn. He wears corslet and buskins of scale armour decorated with a winged lion's head, which symbol also surmounts his crown. His chariot is drawn by a lion. His arms are bare, save for the shoulder-pieces of the corslet, and he bears a torch or fire-wand, somewhat similar to that of the Zelator Adeptus Minor. Beneath the chariot are flames, some waved, some salient.
Swift, strong, hasty; rather violent, yet just and generous; noble and scorning meanness.
If ill dignified—cruel, intolerant, prejudiced and ill natured.
Book T, “A Description of the Cards of the Tarot”, The Equinox I.8 (London, 1912), pp. 160–161. See the source
Papus (1892)
The King of Sceptres symbolizes a dark man, a friend. He generally represents a married man, the father of a family.
Papus, The Tarot of the Bohemians, tr. A. P. Morton (London, 1892), p. 311. See the source