The Eight of Wands as Intentions: To Make Contact, Fast

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Eight of Wands as intentions is a plan already flying. Here is what I would read in it, upright and reversed, and why it is one of the few cards that predicts a message.

If you want the short answer, I would read the Eight of Wands as intentions that are in rapid motion toward you. In an intentions position the card suggests the person means to act soon and quickly: to message, to call, to make a sudden move. The intention has momentum and little reflection. It is about to arrive. What it says when it lands is not in the card.

This is eight staves flying through clear air. The person has let them go. They intend them to land near you.

The Eight of Wands upright as intentions

Tina Gong's the Eight of Wands guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with speed, movement, swift action and news arriving. When the card lands in a position that asks what someone intends toward you, I read those meanings as the shape of their plan rather than as a promise about what they will do. Feelings and intentions are different questions; the Eight of Wands as feelings covers the first, and this page covers the second. The general card meanings at Biddy Tarot are a useful second reference.

Upright, I read the Eight of Wands as a person whose intention toward you has gathered speed: they have been thinking about you, the thinking became urgency, and the urgency is about to become contact. They are not planning carefully. They are planning to act, now.

What I would not read into it is what happens after landing. Eight wands in the air are a wonderful sight. Eight wands on the ground are just wands, and the person's follow-through is a separate question.

What the card does not tell you

The card does not confirm the contact will be warm, that the momentum lasts, or that the person has thought about what they want once they have your attention. No card lets a reader see another person's plans. What a card can do is describe the kind of intention that fits the person's behaviour, and give you something to check against what they actually do.

The Eight of Wands reversed as intentions

Reversed, the Eight of Wands as intentions describes a move stalled or scattered: a message meant and not sent, a plan to reach you that is delayed or misdirected, or a person whose intentions fly in several directions at once. It can also describe contact that arrives garbled and causes more confusion than it resolves.

In your own question, ask whether the person seems on the verge of something that never arrives, or whether their interest seems to scatter across several people or plans. A reversed card as intentions is a prompt to compare what is said with what is done, not a diagnosis of bad faith.

The Eight of Wands as an ex's intentions

Asked about an ex, the Eight of Wands as intentions is one of the few cards I would read as a real likelihood of sudden contact: a message out of the blue, a call, a surge. What the contact intends beyond itself is not in the card. Surges from an ex are often exactly that, and they settle fast. My guide to asking a psychic whether an ex will come back explains what a reading can and cannot say about that question.

The Eight of Wands as a new person's intentions

For someone new, this card describes rapid, enthusiastic intent about to make itself known. Enjoy the speed. See whether the person slows down afterward to get to know you, because speed is not the same as attention.

What their intentions look like in action

Look for sudden movement: a flurry of messages, an unexpected invitation, a person who was quiet and is now very present. An Eight of Wands intention arrives all at once. What it becomes depends on whether there is a second week.

What to record before drawing again

Keep three short notes: the question you asked, whether contact has in fact arrived or increased, and what you want to do with it when it does. The third note is worth having ready before the wands land.

For comparison, the Three of Wands as intentions and the Knight of Wands as intentions describe different intentions. The the Eight of Wands card meaning page covers the card in full, and the Eight of Wands as timing and the Eight of Wands as a yes or no cover the other questions people most often ask of it. For a personal interpretation, my guide to a love psychic reading online explains how I work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.