The Ten of Wands Tarot Card Meaning: Love, Career, Feelings & More

The Ten of Wands

The Ten of Wands has appeared in your reading to tell you that you have taken on far more then you can handle.

The image of the young man carrying ten wands seems like so much, yet he continues to walk, heavily burdened to the city. In this the pressure that you have been under is clear. Your plate is too full, and you are overburdened by the expectations that you have placed on yourself. Now you feel utterly blocked both emotionally and physically, and your spirit is downtrodden. At this point, the idea of making a change might seem impossible for you, because the load that you are carrying is so heavy. However this is the time in your journey where you must complete a major spiritual initiation. Initiation periods in life are extremely uncomfortable, but if we didn’t have to experience them, we would never make any progress. These are the times that feel the most constricted, the most painful, and the most difficult to work through.

The initiation phase for the Suit of Wands is placed in this part of the tarot because you have traveled through the suit, making different choices and have ended up here. Now you have put so much on your shoulders that you have set yourself up for failure. You simply cannot continue on trying to carry all of these sticks across the entire desert nor should you try. You are making life too difficult on yourself. Consider this lesson that the Ten of Wands is preparing for you: Do you enjoy living this way or are you afraid to change?

As of now you have no time for yourself, you are helping too many people at once and you are stuck in a cycle of perpetual self sabotage. Just because you are busy, does not mean that you are functioning in a healthy, productive manner.

The initiation period of the Ten of Wands tells you that it is time for you to begin the process of reconnecting to your inner self through meditation and direct communication or prayer to a higher source energy. The reason for this is the situation you have gotten yourself into, carrying the burdens of everyone else; you require time in the presence of the sacred energy of reverence and prayer to help you through.

The merging of God inside of you and the God that is all around you is necessary so that you might recognize the importance of slowing down, and letting go of that which does not truly belong to you. You deserve to have a fruitful life. The cycle that you are in right now will not help you do that. You must put the wands down, stretch out your body and drink a glass of cool water from the Fountain of Wisdom.

The Ten of Wands is asking you now to consider the quality of life that you have. Has your willingness to help others proved to make it impossible for you to do much for yourself? Do you feel at this time that you have the freedom that you would like to travel or venture out and pursue new things? When you are in a relationship, do you take on the entire burden alone? If so, why do you do this? Do you feel that you are living a full life for yourself?

Take some time to yourself to start breaking out of the limits of these boundaries that you have placed on yourself. Work through the fear that you have of acquiring success in your life and release yourself. Allow yourself the pleasure of experiencing the unfamiliar so that you can move to the next phase. If you do not give yourself this time to learn from this lesson, you will continue to repeat the cycle over and over again. Better to let yourself move on. Practice makes perfect!

Ten of Wands in Love

In love the Ten of Wands is telling you that you have taken on too much in your relationship and that you are not appropriately communicating your needs or expressing yourself and you are creating a passive aggressive spiral that would be avoidable if you would only allow yourself to open up and be honest. You need help, everyone does. In the pursuit of love, vulnerability is of key importance. You cannot continue to be the only one taking on the responsibility. You are robbing yourself and you are robbing your loved one of the opportunity to be there for you. If you are single, this card is telling you that you are too busy and therefore setting yourself up for failure. You want what you are not willing to create for yourself. The first step is to start to make room in your life for a valuable person. Seek counseling if the concept of letting go or being vulnerable with someone in a real healthy relationship is too hard for you. Having a third person, an outsider’s perspective can help tremendously in letting go, one step at a time.

Ten of Wands in Health

In health the Ten of Wands is depicting you as someone who is a tense ball of nerves, whose immune system could be breaking down leaving you open for all manner of sicknesses and diseases. If you want to live a long and healthy life, you must remove all that causes you tension in the center of your being, usually felt the most in the solar plexus. If you feel tense more then half of the day, then you are not pursuing a healthy life and this is going to catch up with you fast. Learn to let go via meditation, gain freedom from what burdens you and you will live a long and health life.

Ten of Wands in Work and Wealth

As we have mentioned, the Ten of Wands represents a time in your life that is overburdened. In work, the symbolism is the same; you are doing too much and are not getting enough reward. Let go of some your work load, a little bit at a time. Keep in mind you are not being asked to negatively affect your financial stability but could evaluate your life style and may want to see if you can live with less. Even if you will have some adverse repercussions, you need to have more free time so you can relax and get to you know yourself. Anything that makes you work more than the required amount of time and is not paying you appropriately is something that should be let go. If you are the type to work overtime without getting paid: stop it right now. Try going home and sitting in silence for a half-hour and see what happens. Can you do it? Was it uncomfortable? Question your work-a-holic ways. If you are looking for work, question what thoughts/chores you are doing that stop you from attracting work because you are too emotionally overburdened.

Ten of Wands As An Action

In love, as action, the ten of wands means you need to keep the love afloat rather than do nothing. It means your the one who has to do all the running in order to change it into the relationship that you want and need. The success of love does carry a price and you need to ask yourself if you are ready to do all the chasing. If it is worth it, go for it. If not, move onto someone else. In other parts of life the ten of wands represents that you need to do all the work to chase the goal, it may be worth it or it may not.

Reversed Ten Of Wands In A Reading

When you have received the Ten of Wands in the reversed position, this means that you are ending a phase in which you were overburdened, thankfully and are finding your way out. You learning what freedom is and you are beginning to delve into a life of self reflection and joy. The card is still showing up in your reading, because there are still elements from this phase that you are purging. This card is telling you to check in with yourself to make sure that goals you have set for yourself are being accomplished. If so, great, if not, fine-tune the process so that you do not add more then you can handle and will get in the way.