Page of Wands: the faithful bearer

Start with the picture: a bearer looking up at his staff

Waite's description of this card is two sentences. In a scene similar to the former, a young man stands in the act of proclamation. He is unknown but faithful, and his tidings are strange. The "former" is the Knight of Wands, whose entry has the rider passing mounds or pyramids.

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BaZiFlow original Page of Wands with three labels

On the original RWS card the young figure stands in profile in a feathered cap and cloak, both hands on a staff from which a few leaves are sprouting, and tips his face up toward the top of it. Behind him are sandy ground, orange hills in the distance and a small tree. "Proclamation" is Waite's word; what the picture shows is looking. That gap is where the exercise below starts.

What Waite lists: a faithful envoy, and strange tidings

The divinatory meanings run: a dark young man, faithful, a lover, an envoy, a postman. Beside a man, he will bear favorable testimony concerning him. He is a dangerous rival if followed by the Page of Cups. He has the chief qualities of his suit, and may signify "family intelligence", a phrase in which "intelligence" then commonly meant news.

Dark young man, faithful, a lover, an envoy, a postman. Beside a man, he will bear favourable testimony concerning him.

The list mixes roles (envoy, postman), a quality (faithful) and two conditions that depend on neighboring cards. The reversed list is on its own line: anecdotes, announcements, evil news, and also indecision with the instability that comes with it.

The additional meanings are what other readers say: "Young man of family in search of young lady. Reversed: Bad news." It does not overlap with the main entry's envoy and faithfulness, so the two should not be blended into one passage of the original.

Dark young man, envoy, leafing staff: three points, three origins

Three things are the easiest to take for settled facts, and each comes from somewhere different:

How to read it: two columns, the bearer and the words

Waite writes this figure with a turn: unknown, but faithful; the tidings strange. Two adjectives sit on two different things, one on the person and one on the message. The reading starts from there, and only three steps remain:

1. 1

   Is the bearer reliable?

   "Faithful" speaks of the bearer: he does not alter what he was given. It does not vouch for what the message says.

2. 2

   What is the message itself?

   "Strange" can be read as unseen and unverified. A message without a source goes into the "to check" column first.

3. 3

   Whom is he testifying about?

   The entry says he bears favorable testimony beside a man: the subject is a third person, not the bearer himself.

An example: a friend in your writing group tells you, "I heard the magazine's editor read your submission and liked it." Split that sentence into three rows:

Reversed and neighboring cards: "proclamations" stays in the reversed list

Waite's reversed main entry reads: anecdotes, announcements, evil news; also indecision and the instability that accompanies it. "Announcements" is the same word as upright, so here the reversal is not an opposite; what is added is anecdotes (idle talk), evil news and indecision. The additional list's reversed entry is shorter: just "bad news". If you use reversals, say which entry you follow.