Minor Arcana, the Wands

Nine of Wands

Pamela Colman Smith's Nine of Wands (1909) shows a man with a bandaged head gripping a tall staff close to his chest and glancing sideways, out of the card to the left. Behind him eight more wooden staffs stand upright in a straight row, like a fence, with low green hills beyond them under a pale sky.

What Waite wrote it means (1910)

Divinatory meanings: The card signifies strength in opposition. If attacked, the person will meet an onslaught boldly; and his build shews that he may prove a formidable antagonist. With this main significance there are all its possible adjuncts—delay, suspension, adjournment.
Reversed: Obstacles, adversity, calamity.

Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London, 1911), p. 180. Read it in the chapter

The figure leans upon his staff and has an expectant look, as if awaiting an enemy. Behind are eight other staves—erect, in orderly disposition, like a palisade.

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

What's in the picture

The bandage. A white cloth is tied around his head, just above the eyebrows. The cloth is clean, and the picture gives no clue to how he was hurt.
The sideways look. His head is turned a little to the left, and his eyes look hard that way, toward something outside the card. His jaw is set and his mouth is a straight line. Waite saw "an expectant look, as if awaiting an enemy".
The grip. He holds his staff with both hands close to his chest, one fist above the other, and its foot is planted on the ground by his boots.
The row of staffs. Eight staffs stand behind him, five on the left and three on the right, all upright and evenly spaced. Waite compared them to "a palisade". Each has a few leaves at the top, and some have leaves along their sides.
His clothes. His brown-red tunic has a dark belt, and under it a white shirt puffs out at the shoulders, leaving his forearms bare. His pale green leggings are tucked into soft boots that fold over at the top.
The pale strip. The front of the card is a flat, pale grey strip, like a floor or a road. He stands on it alone, feet apart; the staffs stand on the grass behind.
The hills. Low green hills run along behind the row of staffs, under a pale blue, cloudless sky. Beyond the fence of staffs the land is empty.

The card in brief

In the deck: Card 31 of 78
Arcana: Minor Arcana, Wands
Number: Nine
Element (Golden Dawn): Fire
Astrology (Golden Dawn): Moon in Sagittarius
Title in Book T: Lord of Great Strength
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)
Four hands, as in the previous symbol, holding eight wands crossed four and four; but a fifth hand at the foot of the card holds another wand upright, which traverses the point of junction with the others: flames leap herefrom. Above and below are the symbols ☽ and ♐︎.
Tremendous and steady force that cannot be shaken. Herculean strength, yet sometimes scientifically applied. Great success, but with strife and energy. Victory, preceded by apprehension and fear. Health good, and recovery not in doubt. Generous, questioning and curious; fond of external appearances: intractable, obstinate.
Book T, “A Description of the Cards of the Tarot”, The Equinox I.8 (London, 1912), p. 187. See the source
Papus (1892)
Realization of success. Success is continued.
Papus, The Tarot of the Bohemians, tr. A. P. Morton (London, 1892), p. 312. See the source